6 ms·

The weirdest thing about this story for me is a 17 year old who owns a car. That's just really bizarre to me.

andrewxdiamond 5y ago
sounds like a locality thing. I owned a personal car at 16, like many other mid-west US people.
caymanjim 5y ago
Where I grew up, most 17 year olds had cars. You can't exist without a car in the suburbs, and as soon as you can drive, you get one. Opens up a lot of employment opportunities, and not having one used to be a social death sentence, although these days kids are probably too busy on their phones to even realize they've turned 17.
- asddubs 5y ago
  cars were a lot more mandatory in those days since the hills went upwards both ways
  - dharmab 5y ago
    I actually did have to go uphill both ways to school! My parents house was next to a school at the top of a hill but there was a fence that blocked the most direct route through someone's yard. I had to go all the way down, around and back up.
azernik 5y ago
Chiming in to add - also very common in urban Southern California.
nverno 5y ago
Fairly common where I grew up in rural new hampshire. Buying a car would often be the first thing you'd do after working for a year or two. Otherwise, you'd need to borrow a car, or bum rides to get anywhere.
pengaru 5y ago
I bought my first car before I even had a driver's license... It cost $250 and needed a rebuilt engine. (IL)
dharmab 5y ago
Before Cash for Clunkers there were plenty of sub-$1000, perfectly serviceable cars. A college classmate drove a $400 car and it never gave him problems.
- willyt 5y ago
  Where I grew up in the UK in the 1990’s. The insurance cost was £1250 per year to insure me when I was 17, Which was about $2500 USD at the time. So I didn’t have a car. My insurance is ~£200 per year now…
ImprovedSilence 5y ago
Might be weird for most of the world outside the US. Pretty normal/par for the course in the US.
smabie 5y ago
Where do you live? Atleast in the US, having a car as a teenager is (was? I'm 28) the norm
- stackbutterflow 5y ago
  I knew teenagers driving cars was a thing in the US but I assumed they were driving their parents' cars. How do they afford it? I still don't own a car because I don't need one where I live.
  - ImprovedSilence 5y ago
    My first car was $500, my second was $200. You buy used and old. Myself and most of my friends were willing to work on them ourselves for minor repairs that were needed. Lots of kids got hand me downs as their parents bought themselves a new car. There were lots of cheap clunkers to be had back in the day. No idea what the used market looks like these days though…
  - astura 5y ago
    Same way they can afford anything else - Either they work to earn money pay for it or their parents pay for it.
denton-scratch 5y ago
Watch American Graffiti - high-school kids driving around in neat hot-rods.
peanut_worm 5y ago
How is that weird? Even today you can buy a piece of junk car for like 1000 dollars. A lot of parents buy their children cars too.

sounds like a locality thing. I owned a personal car at 16, like many other mid-west US people.

Where I grew up, most 17 year olds had cars. You can't exist without a car in the suburbs, and as soon as you can drive, you get one. Opens up a lot of employment opportunities, and not having one used to be a social death sentence, although these days kids are probably too busy on their phones to even realize they've turned 17.

asddubs 5y ago
cars were a lot more mandatory in those days since the hills went upwards both ways
- dharmab 5y ago
  I actually did have to go uphill both ways to school! My parents house was next to a school at the top of a hill but there was a fence that blocked the most direct route through someone's yard. I had to go all the way down, around and back up.

azernik 5y ago

Chiming in to add - also very common in urban Southern California.

nverno 5y ago

Fairly common where I grew up in rural new hampshire. Buying a car would often be the first thing you'd do after working for a year or two. Otherwise, you'd need to borrow a car, or bum rides to get anywhere.

pengaru 5y ago

I bought my first car before I even had a driver's license... It cost $250 and needed a rebuilt engine. (IL)

dharmab 5y ago

Before Cash for Clunkers there were plenty of sub-$1000, perfectly serviceable cars. A college classmate drove a $400 car and it never gave him problems.

willyt 5y ago
Where I grew up in the UK in the 1990’s. The insurance cost was £1250 per year to insure me when I was 17, Which was about $2500 USD at the time. So I didn’t have a car. My insurance is ~£200 per year now…

ImprovedSilence 5y ago

Might be weird for most of the world outside the US. Pretty normal/par for the course in the US.

smabie 5y ago

Where do you live? Atleast in the US, having a car as a teenager is (was? I'm 28) the norm

stackbutterflow 5y ago
I knew teenagers driving cars was a thing in the US but I assumed they were driving their parents' cars. How do they afford it? I still don't own a car because I don't need one where I live.
- ImprovedSilence 5y ago
  My first car was $500, my second was $200. You buy used and old. Myself and most of my friends were willing to work on them ourselves for minor repairs that were needed. Lots of kids got hand me downs as their parents bought themselves a new car. There were lots of cheap clunkers to be had back in the day. No idea what the used market looks like these days though…
- astura 5y ago
  Same way they can afford anything else - Either they work to earn money pay for it or their parents pay for it.

denton-scratch 5y ago

Watch American Graffiti - high-school kids driving around in neat hot-rods.

peanut_worm 5y ago

How is that weird? Even today you can buy a piece of junk car for like 1000 dollars. A lot of parents buy their children cars too.