My parents bought me my first car. 1977 Pntiac Bonneville. They paid for the PLPD insurance and that was it. Gas was my responsibility and it was the first thing yanked from me if I fucked up. Which, I did.

We plan on making our kids save for their own cars. We'll try to match what they saves, so that they can get a decent car, but a $50k car for a 17 year old? Fuck that. Hilton ain't my last name.

I did not get a car. Had to borrow from the 'rents if I needed (which was not terribly hard in the evenings, usually, but meant I did not get to drive to school or anything--also, luckily, my sister was younger enough that she did not have her license til I left for college...would've been battles, otherwise!). I had friends who got cars (though most had to share with siblings), but it was generally "my parents have a 15 year old beater that they've been hanging on to because they knew we'd be old enough to drive ourselves around soon and then they wouldn't have to", rather than "my dad bought me a car" kinda thing.

That said, given how much cars cost (even cheap ones), I can't imagine requiring my kids to pay for a car payment and insurance, surely that's gotta be like, $500 a month? Dunno. My parents also didn't make me (or let me) work a job in high school, figuring I had schoolwork and shit. Which was good. (Could've/did have jobs in summer)

Aims! My sistah! My first car was a 1987 Pontiac Bonneville! It was a hand-me-down car. My mom wanted a new one when I turned 16, so her 4-year-old station wagon went to me.

And I felt LUCKY AS SHIT for it. The sad thing is, that parent you're dealing with? Could be one of the ones at my school. Most of them--even the really rich ones--are super nice. But some? @@

ETA: My parents paid for everything, but it was contingent on me keeping my grades up. They wanted my emphasis to be on school (which was "my real job"), so they wouldn't let me work, except in the summer (during which I was a camp counselor and made shit for money) or at Christmas in the mall.

I didn't have a car. During the time that I was in high school, my parents had three cars (well, two that actually worked -- the third was still OK, engine-wise, but nothing else worked: no radio, no air conditioning, one of the windows wouldn't roll down, and the bottom was rusted out.) My father usually took the train into work, and my sister was away at college, so that left two cars at home, so I could pretty much use one of them whenever I wanted during the day on weekdays. On weekend or after my dad got home from work, I'd need to ask to make sure my parents didn't need it.

Brendon's HS doesn't let you drive until you are a senior. If my cars last until the boys drive I would turn over my car and get a new one for myself. Insurance for teens is insanely expensive. I'll figure out a plan when the time comes I suppose. Mostly I'm just terrified about them driving on I-95 in the big city. It is crazy out there and it just takes time before you learn that the people you share the road with are likely to do the most unlikely things.

That just reminded me. There was a girl in my sister's class who got a brand new convertible for her 17th birthday. About two days later, she crashed it into the garage door and totalled it. Her parents bought her a new one.

Poor baby. Bad garage door!

In conclusion, I very much dislike BMW's. And a lot of the people that own them. Present company excluded, naturally.

My uncle that I bitched about all summer got a BMW for his birthday.

I got my car the very next day, but between the ticket and the tow fee, it was $250-plus.

Yep, same here.

I believe the "storage" fee was $100/day and I didn't even have to pay that since I retrieved it so fast.

Thankfully, we walked over immediately since, you know, not much we could do since I needed my damn car.

And this is my first car, ever.

I haven't yet had a car of my own. For now, I'm using Zipcar when I need wheels, since I really can't afford car payments and garage space in DC on a grad student salary. Once I do get an actual job and if I'm living somewhere where I need a car, it'll probably be a Mini Cooper.

My first car I got after graduating from high school. I drove mom and dad's car before that. And, I bought my first car--a 1988 Honda Civic Hatchback (BEST. CAR. EVAH!). I was on my parents' insurance, but I paid for it. I also paid for the down payment and the payments. Not very successfully, I'll admit, though. Screwed up dad's and my credit on that one. They did things differently with my brothers.

I had that car, though, for a long time--until it was viciously murdered by a 16-year-old who'd had his license for two weeks (and it was his second accident).