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yes. if i can do something to keep them safer when traveling at 70mph, i will. i would rather them drive than trust that their friends are good drivers, and i want them in a safe car. i will expect them to contribute in though.

I'd like to do what my parents did - they bought the car, but I was expected to be home by X time, have a job, have good grades, and drive my siblings when necessary.

They did the same for my brother, and when his grades slipped, he was responsible for his insurance and gas.

Yep, we will either match what they save, or they will get one of our cars handed down.

We will also have the same sort of policy that @AmandaB8: is talking about. There will be a code of conduct to go along with it. If behavior/grades slip, poof goes the car!

I will do the same as my parents did for me. They bought my car, paid insurance, and gave gas money as long as I kept my grades up. We plan on doing the same for our LO's.

We're hoping our car will last until she's able to start driving. I'd rather she just borrow our car than have her own.

I don't think we'll buy her a car when she's a teen. We'll probably do a matching fund up to a certain amount. No way am i paying for insurance or gas. We live in a central location for a reason. If they want to buy a car when there are other means of getting around (train, bus, bike) then they have to deal with the responsibilities of one.

Not sure. My parents made us buy our own first car. Or they have us money towards it for our high school graduation gift. I absolutely will not pay for their insurance

I will match or buy something cheap. Maybe I'll pay for their insurance or maybe I won't.
They will definitely pay for gas.

If they really need a car, yes. However, DH and I currently share one car and it works fine where we live. I imagine we'll have added a second car well before our kids are old enough to drive, so at this point I see no reason why we couldn't all share the family cars. But my parents did buy me my first car (and second, actually) because we lived in the middle of nowhere and it was pretty much a necessity, so if there's a real reason for our kid to have his or her own, I'd want to do the same. My parents also paid the insurance until I graduated from college, with the understanding that if I EVER drank and drove or if I did something intentionally stupid and caused an accident, they would drop me faster than I knew what had happened. I think we'll do the same.

Nope. If I needed the car, I'd borrow my parents' car and I had strict curfew and rules AND I had to pay my own insurance (to ensure I was safe and responsible). When I started working, I saved enough to lease a new car.

DH and I have talked about this because our parents did very different things. My parents bought my car (used, about 4 years old, but in great condition) and did the same for my little sister 3 years later. We were expected to keep our grades up, worked in the summer (parents wanted us to focus on school during the school year), and I drove my sister around when asked. We both never got into any trouble and we always came home by our curfew. We kept our grades up (my sister was valedictorian of her HS class) and everything was fine. My parents were financially able to do this, though.

DH's parents didn't make as much money as mine. He started working during the school year at age 15 in his dad's restaurant. His parents "gave" him his moms car when she got a new one,but he was responsible for the payments, as well as insurance and gas. He would often come home from school and work 3-4 days a week until 10pm. We were dating during this time and I saw how it really stressed him out. I think he would have probably been working to help his family even if he didn't have to pay for his car, though.

So. We may not be financially able to do it exactly the way my parents did (we won't be making as much as they did), but that's the direction we're leaning.

Yes. I set aside money each month for her to either use on a car, a trip after high school, or a big sweet 16, or whatever she wants. If her grandparents are all still around, she'll have all 3 with leftovers. But DH is against her getting a new and nice car. He thinks a crappy car will motivate her. I kind of agree.

We would help. It's interesting, because DH and I had very different experiences. He had his car purchased in full... the exact car he wanted. I worked after school and got approved for a car loan with my dad as the cosigner. My parents gave me $1,000 to use as a down payment for graduating.

I think we'd help him purchase a good, reliable, safe car. He would need to contribute financially in some way, so that he can take pride in it as something that he helped purchase. Our parents both paid our insurance until we were on our own, so we would do the same. He would be responsible for his insurance if he got a speeding ticket, which would hopefully be an incentive for him to drive safely!