So your kid is getting older and they’re a teenager now, and the time has come, not only to get them a car, but to get them on your car insurance policy as well. It might seem like you’re losing control of the world, especially your child’s piece of it, at this point, but calm down. You and your young adult probably actually have more in common when it comes to choosing a car than you think, and that should be enough to set your mind at ease at least a little bit.
According to studies by Consumer Reports National Research Center, kids actually tend to have a lot in common with their parents’ taste when shopping for that first car. The only real problem is trying to balance budget with desire. If you can afford a newer car with more up to date safety features, as well as the higher insurance premiums that will come with your child being behind the will of a newer model, then more power to you. Most parents, however, must compromise.
Parents and their teens agreed the most on the size car that they wanted, usually going for a smaller, more fuel efficient vehicle, second choice being a family sedan. SUVs were far behind, coming at the bottom of the list, probably because of higher gas prices. Twice as many kids as parents wanted a sports car, though. Ford and Chevrolet were the first picks, followed by Toyota and Honda.
Both parents and teens were very interested in safety features, and ranked safety as one of their biggest concerns when looking for a vehicle. Reliability also came in, along with durability and ease of drive. Parents were a little bit more worried about making sure that all of the safety connections were the best and the newest than the teenagers were. Parents and teens also coincided on the price, thinking that around seven thousand dollars was reasonable price for a first car.
Where the disagreement came in was when talking about accessories. Teenagers were much more likely than their parents to feel they needed such things as a hook up for their iPod, a navigation system, or a DVD player in their car. Parents thought these things weren’t so important.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.