Buying Your Teen's First Car? 3 Things To Consider
As a parent, you want the best for your child. From a healthy lifestyle and good education to a safe home environment, it is easy to see the challenges of parenting. Unfortunately, the stress only worsens as your child grows into a teenager. If your teenager receives their driver's license, you will want them to have a reliable mode of transportation to get them to and from school, extracurricular activities, and home. However, buying your teen their first car does not have to make you bankrupt. Here are a few things to consider when looking at Hyundais for sale for your teen.
Gas Prices
Your teen will most likely not do a lot of driving, but focusing on the average miles per gallon is smart if you want to save money. This is even more important if your teenager will be taking the car with them when they head to college and move out of the house.
Avoid buying your teen a sport's car with a high-powered engine that will consume too much gas. Four-wheeled drive vehicles have higher fuel costs, as well.
Hybrid vehicles are excellent options to consider, since they allow your teenager to drive more miles per gallon than most other gas-powered vehicles. If you are unable to find a hybrid that works with your budget, focus on a simple sedan for your new driver.
Insurance
Adding your inexperienced teen driver to your auto insurance policy will be shocking due to the increase in your premiums. If you buy a vehicle specifically for your teen, it may increase insurance costs even further. Because of this, researching the most affordable vehicles to insure is imperative.
Avoid high-end luxury cars, sport's coupes, and large SUVs. These vehicles cost more to repair and replace, making them more expensive for insurance companies to insure.
If your teen is even involved in an accident while driving one of these vehicles, the cost to repair or replace the vehicle would be dramatic.
Cars with less horsepower and affordable repair costs are the best for both you and your inexperienced driver because they are the most affordable to insure.
Safety
You will also need to focus on safety when choosing a car for your teen driver. Even if you feel they are smart and responsible, certain vehicles are more difficult to maneuver than others.
Again, avoid larger vehicles, such as full-size pickup trucks and larger sport utility vehicles. Opt for a mid-sized sedan that is equipped with automatic lights, cruise control, blind spot monitoring, and even a lane departure warning.