HELP!! I need to convince my parents

[Justin]

Originally Posted by DGthe3

And one thing to remember, many of the members that are advising caution are less than 25.

I'm almost 20, and I can't remember how many stupid things I did when I was 16, and completely sure of how much better a driver I was than the rest of the world, and I'm sure in five years I'll be saying the same thing about myself as a 20 year old.

Everyone does stupid things. Maturity is knowing when to do stupid things. The open road is not the place to drive like a DB. If you want to drift, race, etc, put it on a track.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/712080317

The driver of that pickup truck was found to be drag racing and is currently in prison.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/806030326

That's what happens when you do stupid crap on the open road.

[Mattsack789]

Yeah, this is not a good idea for sixteen year old, and for a first car! Yeah right, there is no way you can convince your parents to get you one. I would wait until after college when you have a responsible job and can definitely afford it.

[Mattsack789]

Originally Posted by Justin

I'm almost 20, and I can't remember how many stupid things I did when I was 16, and completely sure of how much better a driver I was than the rest of the world, and I'm sure in five years I'll be saying the same thing about myself as a 20 year old.

Everyone does stupid things. Maturity is knowing when to do stupid things. The open road is not the place to drive like a DB. If you want to drift, race, etc, put it on a track.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/712080317

The driver of that pickup truck was found to be drag racing and is currently in prison.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbc...NEWS/806030326

That's what happens when you do stupid crap on the open road.

Nice post!

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by jakemaxx

well the insurance companies are retarded i drove a 2004 saleen the other day that pushes 400hp and i was drifting at 34 to 40 and didnt hit any thing so yeah. you can consider me an experienced driver and i am only 16

No, you're not experienced at all. Just because you can drift and not hit anything doesn't make you experienced.

I've been driving for two years and I still don't consider myself that experienced.

Get a Cobalt or something. You don't need 400 HP, you don't even need 304. I appreciate the fact that you want one, but you're going to want to wait a few years before getting one.

[drivingincamaro]

If you absolutely need a camaro buy a 2lt and wait until your 18/19

[manimsoblack]

Originally Posted by jakemaxx

well the insurance companies are retarded i drove a 2004 saleen the other day that pushes 400hp and i was drifting at 34 to 40 and didnt hit any thing so yeah. you can consider me an experienced driver and i am only 16

And that's exactly why full coverage for you in a car like that would be pushing 10k a year. When i was 16 i did stupid sh*t like that too and thought i was the man. I would get on the interstate with friends and show them how my car could go past 125. I ended up flipping my first car while going up a curved overpass a bit over the speed limit, I was 18 when that happened and had put over 50k miles on the car in the 2 yrs i had it. A couple of my friends that had graduated a few year before me were the guys who got called to the crash (EMT/Firefighters) And the told me it was a miracle that i had absolutely nothing wrong with me. Not even glass cuts. And you'll think, "Well that's you i wouldn't do that" or "it won't happen to me" but that's your hormone raging slightly underdeveloped brain talking. It can and likely will happen to you or worse. And that is based on the fact that you've already stated that you drive like an idiot.

[camaro5]

It goes round and round...

[The_Blur]

Having looked back at some other young driver threads on the forum, I think we all need to rethink our stance. It is clear that most of us are more mature users here, but that maturity has not given any of us the right to refuse someone a car. Despite this one's poor delivery, I think he has a point that we forgot to consider. Allow me to explain what I call The Trap. After reading this, ask yourself if you think you deserved a car that was, at the very least, nice between the ages of 16 and 25.

The Trap starts when a person wants something as a young teenager. Parents start giving allowances in order to teach about finance, but kids will not understand immediately. They will buy new clothes, movies, CDs, and games over saving because they finally have the freedom to do so on their own. Many of us still do these things later, and yet we feel the need to criticize our youth for following in our footsteps.

When parents see this trend, they realize that their allowance is not enough to teach financial responsibility, so they encourage, sometimes more harshly than others, their children to get jobs, but most states won't hire someone until the age of 16 years. This is the first major point in The Trap. A teen must get to work somehow, but that teen has no access to a car because cars are expensive.

Now the parents, feeling obligated to help with this financial lesson, must buy a car, but no immature teen can handle a fast, cool, or luxurious car, so they buy a beater. Afterwards, the child is expected to pay insurance, cell phone bills, and still save for the all-important college education that will cost $50k in just over 2 years. This is the next major obstacle in The Trap. College is too expensive for anyone to reasonably save for it in the 2 years that he or she can be reasonably employed.

2 years later, that 16-year-old is 18, in a state school, taking out loans, and loving life in a college town that encourages underage drinking and a sports team whose jerseys cost $60 despite the thousands already spent on tuition. Everyone loves the team to which he or she belongs, and 4 years of happiness ensue. This is part of The Trap. These 4 years, whether graduation is reached or not, put the person so deep into debt that the next 25 years tend to be spent paying back loans in small payments.

Having now spent the last 4 years in college, the part-time work experience that even the most ambitious college academics pursue does not qualify as management or administrative experience. As a result, these poor souls have to go to work at the entry level, making hourly wages alongside the other poor souls who couldn't afford college or qualify for financial aid. In effect, you've got an entire social class of workers who, based upon their age and lack of money, take jobs for which they are overqualified. In the end, whether this person went to college or not, at the age of 23, the person is still working entry level jobs. The only difference is that all of these people either have 2-4 years of work experience or a 2-4-year degree. Unless you have both a degree and experience, promotions are unlikely, if not impossible. Ultimately, The Trap is a monetary ploy to get people into school in order to trap them in financial insecurity for a third of an entire generation's life.

Allow me to recap what has just transpired in The Trap. A 12-year-old grew up, learned that savings will never suffice for what he or she needs to succeed, and is still driving a car that was already a beater when he or she turned 16. At the age of 23, it is very reasonable for this very beater to still be the car of necessity for this individual who is too busy paying for college at the job they have to take in order to pay back those loans. Success is a rare fact, based on networking with family and friends, not job experience, college major, or a job placement agency. The Trap is money, education, and the social rules our parents follow, thinking that they are doing a good job.

The sad truth is that we've paid our dues, eventually getting out of The Trap just in time for our children to be 12 years old, asking for money, and wanting a new pair of jeans, and we, just having paid off our college loans, will tell them to get a job in order to pay for what they want. It's cyclical, and we are so worn out from getting out of our trap that we forget that we're putting our children through about 30 years of debt, frustration, miserable work, and financial insecurity.

[Jamie Mac]

Originally Posted by whitestripes17

i know how to drive ive been driving all over for at least 2 1/2 years but they dont know that

Well then you sound completely trustworthy and responsible

[Jamie Mac]

The Blur, good post on the Trap. Unfortunatly they start that cycle at 12 or if the parents pay for everything then much older and get out from it much older. My 12 year old daughter asked us the other day "when I turn 16 will I get to drive the Sky or the Camaro?" My wife and I looked at each other and started laughing our asses off. I told her maybe mom's jeep if we still have it. We started her "earn it to burn it" cycle at 10. She's doing pretty well it didn't take her long to save money for what she really wants instead of just buying crap. Nope she won't be driving my Camaro unless she snags the keys for my funeral prosession.

[CynAgain]

agreed. they can drive it when I'm dead.

[S-eatin-grin]

This is a great discussion! Thanks White Stripes!!! I'm willing to bet that most of the disgust pointed your way on here is at least a little bit based on jealousy. I know my folks didn't have that kinda bread when I was in the market for my first car! Everyone telling you that you're just a kid is probably like you turning off the volume on the radio...you don't want to hear that! I remember having freinds that age with blowers of 70' challengers, NO2 chevelles, 67 camaros with 400" hp and I thought...damn!! I wanted it too. I looked through autotrader mags daily! I will argue that if they would have let me get a 67-69 camaro and I didn't wreck it, the ting would be worth 10x as much right now!! Anyway...just remember that everyone on here was once a sixteen year old too (believe it or not we remember it like yesterday) and not a dmn one of us would have listened either back then...if we could get our hands on a beast of a car like the SS camaro! Everyone is right though...you are going to test the thing out, show off to your buddies/ girlfriend...whatever. maybe you have good driving skills..I don't know. I thought I had/have skills. I wrecked my first 2 cars (78' monte carlo, and 84' Renault <--punishment for the Monte Carlo) Man I beat the piss out of those cars..and it was great!!! No way I could have gotten away with driving the Camaro the way I drove those cars!
Whatever happens...good luck and have fun! Just know your limitations and be at least a little cautious. Remember...insurnace companies have you by the balls! #1 you/or your parents will be paying 10% or more the value of that car every year in insurance for you to drive it. You get in an accident or a few tickets and I don't even want to think of what insurance will cost...and that will stay with you for 5 years!! Sounds like your dad has nice cars....borrow them for dates with the ladies and get something that you drive hard for yourself...I miss the way I beat that little renault alliance and it took it!

[Skyblu]

Originally Posted by whitestripes17

my dad has brought me home corvettes, roush, g8s to drive before and now he says i dont need it cause my mom doesnt want me in it he would get it for me but its always the mom

That's cause the moms are usually the only one with any sense! I know because I'm a mom and my 9 yr old daughter and husband usually think along the same lines about "toys" somebody has to put the breaks on at some point LOL. I think 16 is a little young for the big bad ass, either get the v6 or pick nother car, sounds like money in your family is no object so when you turn 18 get something bigger bader but do yourself and family and everyone else that will be using the same insurance carrier as you a favor and wait.

[helmincamaro]

Wanna see how great of a driver you really are? Go take a performance or defensive driving class. Take some of that money you've been given and go take one. You think your a great driver til you hit a wet skid pad and hydroplane and slide out of control. You'll do it probably a dozen times before you get it right (so bring extra shorts!). I did it when I was 18, and I believe everyone should do it at one point or another (the sooner the better). You really have more respect for what a car is after that, and the skills I learned from that saved my rear end countless times on the road. About a year after that class I was driving home late one night with a friend in a really bad storm, doing 55 in a 70 on the highway, hit a puddle and hydroplaned. The car spun around, but I remembered what I had learned and turned it around (did a full 360) never slowed below 40mph. I straightened it up and kept on driving... then looked at the guy in the passenger seat.... he was holding on to anything he could and his eyes looked like . My uncle really convinced me to take that class, he picked is BMW X5 up from the factory and did their training class there that they offer.... he was in his late 50's when he did it, been driving since 14, and learned a lot. Its good for anyone