Should I let my 17 year old son drive my vibe?

[viBert]

My teenage son want's to use the Vibe, I always tell him to take my wifes Montana. Should I let loose in my new baby?

[NovaResource]

Where does he want to take it? Is your Vibe a GT or a base? If it's a base, I don't see why not. The Montana has a 3.4L V6 which is almost as fast as the base Vibe (185-hp vs 130-hp). The Vibe has a better safety rating and there is less room in the Vibe to make whoopie!

[slbpsi63]

quote:there is less room in the Vibe to make whoopie!Dude If I had a Vibe when I was 17 I would've had my freak on more oftern It has more room than my Turbo Daytona with the seats folded down. LOLSeriously though, Its a good car for him to learn to drive in. Its all a matter of trust and that depends on how you two get along.

[Shadow Realm]

If in fact you can't buy him one then you should let him drive yours as long as you are in the vehicle. After a while and with a llittle bit of trust you could let him drive it depending on how he treats it with you in the car. That's how I had to get my driving priveledges with my Dad. If he does something to lose your trust take his diving priveledges away. " You have to learn to crawl before you can walk, You have to learn to walk before you can fly. If you try to crawl into flying to will fall on your face."

[Heh! heh!]

My 17 year old has his own key. He has some conditions, which I made up and we signed, in order to be able to drive it. # 1 He has to come to Mass with us on Sunday or make a good attempt to get there on his own. Needless to say, since August, he has driven it about four times!

[Frosty]

Best to get the boy to get a job, make him pay for his own driver's ed, increased insurance.... and you get him a good used honda for him to play with. No cost to the child = no cares = no responsibility = heartacheI had a good used honda as my primary vehicle when my daughter was learning but otherwise she did all of the above. She did crease up a door and she paid to have it fixed (less than deductible), as agreed upon in the agreement we signed that had the elements as below, (best of my memory). No Alcohol - zero tolerance car is to return before 11 p.m. weekdays, 12 midnight weekends. All trips are to be pre-approved Any damage/deductible will be paid for by the driver parking tickets will be paid for by the driver.Any infractions as above will result in loss of privileges for at least a week, and will ramp up from there for repeat offences.Tough love

[Shadow Realm]

I like what your idea Frosty! That's very much like what I had to do and soon after that I bought a car so it wasn't held over my head.

[viBert]

quote:If in fact you can't buy him one then you should let him drive yours as long as you are in the vehicle. The insurance rates are off the scale for young male drivers. For a Base Vibe with him as primary driver would be about $6000 (Canadian$) a year for his insurance, that's almost double my lease payment for the Vibe.I let him drive while I'm in the car - he's not too interested in driving at all while I'm in the vehicle. I guess the old man yells at him too much.

[Shadow Realm]

Sounds like he needs to get a job and buy him his own car. It is kind of hard to go on a date with daddy as the co-pilot

[d_m_kolb]

I know what I did when I turned 16 and got to drive my parents car. I DROVE IT LIKE I STOLE IT! I went mudding in my moms family car and washed it before going home. I drove the (removed) out of it and never stopped driving like that until I got a car I paid for. I drove fine out of the drive way but once they could seen me I was hell on wheels. I'm surprised I never wreched, killed someone or myself with the Dukes of Hazzard stuff I did. Dukes of Hazzard was a grandma driver compared to me.I just know how I was when I started driving. I was an idiot and since the car wasn't mine and I didn't have to pay for anything on it I had no respect for it. When I purchased a car and I paid for everything. Insurance, maintainace, care care I took care of it and stopped driving like I owned a tank.

[MiamiVibe]

Look am 21, and I got my first car at 18. It was my parents old 1993 Lumina ( the car not the van) and i admit cause I never paid for anything I abused that car. By the way its a good car cause it never died on me. Before I finished High School, got a job, and did good in college I was only able to drive my dad's 1995 Grand Am GT V6 onece and it was to prom (that night i went over 100mph for the first time). Gives you an idea of what he will do. After they saw I was responsiable (a JOB, and in college) they gave me the GT. Kinda had to earn it. And to tell you the truth the car I have treated the best is my Vibe, cause I am paying for it! By the way the GT was great, but some idiot smashed it in front of my girlfriend's house while it was parked, and my baby was never the same. A note to all once you car is crashed trade it in. They are never the same.

[shenandoah24]

I think the son should have to drive a hoopty like everyone else did when they were 17 My first car was a 1980 chevy silverado Long wheel base with some funky lights across the top. Humiliation is all part of growing up Plus--too much room in the Vibe for him to get in trouble... And the insurance is astronomical!!!Just my opinion.If you let him drive it though--you will beup for Dad of the year!!!!!

[Faultline]

MY son turns 17 in april. He does not have his license yet,but, when he does,he will learn to drive in the vibe while i am iin it because I want him to learn to drive a stick. Then I will help him buy a car,which he will get to be added to my insurance,but he will get to pay for it.Then he will have his own car and I wont be mad caue he wont wreck mine. btw, I took out my 10 year old daghter in the vibe to the elmirage dry lake bed about 30 minutes from home. Then I let her drive!!! I taght her how to shift...and she did it! she learned how to launch..then 1st ..then ,2nd..drive, drive drive, then stop. dont stall!! then launch again. she drove in big circles abou 20 to 30mph .What a hoot!!Id give up the vibe for the smiles I saw on her face that day.Good vibrations faultline

[Frosty]

Had to post again...Confession time. I thought I was hard on my dad's vehicles until I got a ride with my brother.We had a 1967 chevy pickup, 10 years old at the time, with a 250 six that I loved to make spin, shoot gravel, do donuts, throw sideways....Big fun, no damage done, learned to manage slides and explore traction.Then I came back home to find out how my brother drove the same truck. Foot to the floor, engine crying uncle, if it had a tach it would have broke. Ouch. If Dad only knew...He may have suspected though. We rarely got to drive Mom's Dodge Dart Swinger. We learned years later that Dad was a wild driver too so in his way he was protecting us from ourselves, and allowing us to make mistakes and learn on a good old "beater". As Fred Eaglesmith says, "$500 cars? No I meant 5, $100 cars"

[csjrishere]

My first car when I turned 16 in '86 was a 1977 chevy vega wagon...my dad paid $500 for it and I am glad because I beat the **** out of it and it still kept running.Now to think about it I guess I have gone back to my first car roots with the purchase of the vibe but it cost quite a bit more than $500 and I don't beat the **** out of it.

[lordyogi]

id say ride with him, my first car was an 85 Buick Century that was Pea Green with Rust colored Highlights all over it. It was a beautiful car. I have treated all of my cars with equal respect but i really like my vibe the most because its kinda my first on my own purchase as an adult away from home.yogi

[Shadow Realm]

To LordYogi, Congratulations on your first grown up car buying desicion. You got a safe, fun to drive, economical, sporty, bad*ss vehicle. You must have more smarts then most people. Most people have to run with the pack and get whatever they have. Way to be smart and independent.

[lordyogi]

its not actually my first new car, i did own a 99 s-10 that i had built and leased brand new but it was a lease so in theory it was never my new car.yogi

[Stang2Vibe]

I got a good laugh out of some of the posts here. I got to drive my dad's 1970 GTO when I was about 3 years old (I sat on his lap and steered the car... hey you couldn't have told me that I wasn't actually driving the car!) That was my first "driving experience". Then I was allowed to do the same thing with his '78 Bonneville. When I was 7, my grandfather took me to a big old cemetary near our house where there was very little traffic. I was allowed to drive his '86 Bonneville all around the cemetary on my own with him in the passenger seat. That ended when an undercover off-duty cop happened to be paying respects in the cemetary and saw me driving one day. Didn't get to drive again until I was 17 on my learner's permit in my mom's '85 6000. I bought my own car the day I got my liscence from my next door neighbor. It was an AWD '89 6000 STE. I went out that night with some of my friends to eat at a place 5 minutes from my house. When I was taking them home, the car broke down and wouldn't restart. After sitting for about 20 minutes, I was able to start the car up again and take everyone home. My mom FREAKED when I got home because I was 1/2 hour late. Even though I payed for the car and the insurance (had to get my own separate policy) myself, she took the keys and grounded me, not just from driving, for 2 months! During that time, her car broke down, so she started taking mine--oh, was I pi@@ed! When my car broke down on her one day, just like I said it did to me, she finally believed me and "reduced my sentence" to one month grounding. After owning it for about 5 months (during which I took great care of it and drove pretty cautiously), I had to trade it in because the engine's main computer went bad and was too expensive for me to fix. That's when I bought my '94 Grand Prix SE with 13,000 miles on it, God I loved that car. I'd still have it today if the tranny didn't sh** itself at 45,000 miles. I drove that one pretty hard, but took VERY good care of it. My Mustang was the first car I bought new in 2000, and I definately drove that car like I stole it. It became a magnet for local cops giving speeding tickets, so it got traded for the Vibe GT I now have (which I actually think my Vibe is a little faster and MUCH more versitile).So as for your son, I guess my decision would be based on how he treats your wife's Montana and your judgement of how much he respects driving your vehicles. If he's a wild *** behind the wheel or has some careless tendencies, then no way should he be driving either of your vehicles. If he treats the minivan well and is a pretty accountable kid, then maybe you should consider letting him take your Vibe out for a spin once in a while.

[Heh! heh!]

to: HahaI believe that you should allow your son to drive your vibe. He sounds like a caring individual, with lots of good characteristics, making him a worthy person to be behind the wheel of your "cool retirement vehicle". Not to mention the fact that he probably doesn't want to drive it that much, and only asks sometimes. Plus, he is extremely good looking, and is probably a more precise driver than the family members that he does let drive it. I remember when I was his age, and I didn't go to mass either, but soon my parents realised that religion CANNOT be forced.Allow him to drive the GD car.