Honest question: are US movies for real with kids having cars?

very common to get a car when you get your license in my experience. you need it to get a job, unless your parents have an extra.
i don't know anyone driving a prius, but i live in a pretty small world.

that being said, my own 3 children didn't get cars until they were out of college, and working or in grad school. but we had 3 cars for my wife and i. my sons first car was my wife's 2005 camry, he paid us $5,000. in 2008. my oldest daughter bought a '96 camry in 2003 for $6,000., and my youngest daughter bought my 2004 prius in 2008 for $12,000 i think.

everyone has a different situation, but i'm sure there are plenty of 16-20 year olds with $10,000. cars.
yes, most likely paid for by their parents.

and yes, it is the movies.

 

I'm sure things are different today, but a million years ago on my sixteenth birthday, I passed my driver's exam that very day, and bought my dad's old clunker with money I'd saved working after school. My dad made it clear that I would have to pay for everything, and the minute I couldn't, or my school grades started to suffer, then the car would be taken away. Needless to say I managed to keep up my end of the agreement.

 

one thing that's changed is, you can't really keep an old clunker in repair anymore.

 

I work at a major university. If you look at my location you can probably figure it out.

Here it is very normal for a kid to be driving a brand new Audi or other high end car. Lamborghinis and Ferraris are not even unusual here.

 

It's quite common for people to replace cars every 5-7 years here, and it's not uncommon for the old car to be handed down to kids, as far as middle-class and above go. (Upper-class, that's where you get into the "buy a luxury car just for your kid" thing.)

That said, outside of urban areas, it's common for all classes to have a car, simply because it's required to participate in society. It might be an incredibly unsafe, polluting, unreliable car, but it'll be a car of some sort. (My first three cars were completely unreliable 20+ year old beaters that I bought with my own money...)

 

First car daddy bought me at age16 for $800. I wrecked it about a year later -- well it was not a total -- just a pretty crumpled fender, but I was going away to college in a month anyway, so Dad sold it for $500.

Went off to college, bought my next car myself. A 1962 Ford Custom for $100. It ran and did not look too bad. It had been owned since new by an elderly couple. I sold it about a year later for $100.

As bhtoo*** wrote, lots and lots of American kids have cars of their own in high school, but the number may be going down. I read a news article a few years ago that IIRC, said that American teens have started delaying or even not getting driver licenses because they had no interest in driving.

BTW, typing and posting is again a major pain. I will refrain from visiting the forum for a few weeks. Not that I expect any improvement.

 

what is customary in the netherlands?

 

Bicycle is my understanding, because of suburban and urban design to prioritize cycle transport, and then mass transit for inter-city travel.

 

It all depends on your mindset and priorities. There are a lot of people that live paycheck to paycheck and any unexpected expense is serious.

The joke was "How can you tell the difference between the student and faculty lots?" The cars are nicer & newer in the student lot.

Some got new cars as graduation presents. Some drove beaters older than they were. I had to walk.

The neighbor graduated high school. I believe his used car was passed down through the family but the car sits. Having a license doesn't mean you drive (much).

 

unless you live near the city, cars are the only option in a lot of places. i had to have a car in college, it was a 6 or 7 mile commute, and a lot of roads around the boston area are narrow and dangerous. and then, there's winter to consider.
but back in those days, i was able to buy a used mgb, and pay for college with a summer and part time year round job. times have changed.

 

THis is all very interesting. I guess it is far easier, and cheaper to interconnect cities in European countries, than the USA, because well the whole of Europe is about as big as the USA

 

It's worth noting that even if you live on campus, if you want to do anything outside of the immediate campus area, you basically need a car in many areas.

And, registration tends to be much cheaper here, many states don't even have inspections, maintenance simply doesn't happen for a lot of people, our powertrain preferences in this country result in much lower engine maintenance requirements (even if fuel consumption is higher as a result), and fuel is much cheaper.

 

Anyone notice, on US made TV and movies, very often nobody's using seat belts? Including cops, kids, families. Not always, but it's very prevalent, like cinematic license.

 

that's how i got in the bad habit. managed not to pick up smoking though.

 

Stay away from video games. Just in case.

 

will do. are they playing them while driving in movies?

 

There's a real uptick in smoking on the screen. Hey, product placement.

 

Interesting. At my first year of uni I didn't have a car. As the uni wasn't in a major city (Most universities are) it took three trains to get there.

One from my town > next big city
One from that city > bigger city
One from that city > the university town

Ordinarily, for most people it would take about two trains I guess, but from the cities the trains come quite often really. In Sheffield, Manchester, and the entirity of the south of England, transport is amazingly good, that you don't necessarily actually NEED a car. Cars are however often a lot cheaper in the fuel, and often more reliable. Our train prices are really expensive, owing to the fact that they're often owned by foreign companies, who are national companies in their own country ie: our train prices subsidise French train travel, which is pretty annoying as we pay through the roof.. I now use "blablacar" if I'm without my car and I need to get to say a city about 60 miles away from me or further

For the nearest city, yes the train is more expensive, however the parking costs mean that it's just not worth going by car. Often you've not only got the cost of the parking but also actually being able to find a damn place in the cities..At the end of the day, we are 65 million people on a small island whilst you're about 300 million people, in a country that's about the size of Europe