I’m only 29, so I can remember working part time in a kitchen at a nursing home serving food to residents in assisted living. I was only making a little bit more than $200/week before taxes. If I wasn’t living at home with my parents, not paying rent, not buying my own food, and splitting the insurance costs, there is no way I would’ve been able to afford a BMW like the OP is wishing. Given how prices have risen in the past 10-11 years? My good old 94 Saturn would’ve been a huge strain to that…
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That’s not true at all. I’ve been through this a few times. When I had 4 drivers in the family and 4 cars…the insurance company assigned ONE car to each of my kids even though they were all registered to me or my wife. Insurance companies aren’t dumb. If I didn’t tell them what cars my kids were would be driving the most, then they’d choose that vehicle for me. And 100% of the time they’d work out the numbers so they get the maximum premium possible.
Back in the late 1950s and got my driver’s license, my Dad had the two cars insured with Farm Bureau insurance. There was an extra charge for a male driver under 25 if insured to drive s passenger car. However, there was no charge if the teenager was restricted to driving a pickup truck. Driving a pickup in those days was not considered cool. However, I certainly would not have cared–transportation is transportation. Even though we lived in the country, I was transferred for my high school years to a city school with rich kids. In fact, I relished being different and would have liked to have to drive a pickup truck.
you described what would happen if the kid registered the car in his parents name and he was listed as the primary driver. So did I. What is the purpose of your post?
If you have 3 cars and 3 drivers then the insurance company will assign each car to a driver…even if the kid is NOT the primary driver. Insurance company will assume he/she is.
Perhaps it is cost that drives BMW toward plastic water pumps, but I’d guess weight is the leading factor. In a performance car, just like a performance bicycles where weight is nearly the only design factor, reduced weight makes a big difference during accelerations & uphills. Besides verifying the cost of the pump and labor for the proposed BMW make/model/year, OP should take into account the more frequent water pump change-outs it appears BMW’s plastic water pumps require. Not saying this is an expense that can’t be handled like any other expense, just something to be aware of.
That isn’t what I said. I was referring to the 18 year old buying the car, registering it in his name as the owner, and telling the insurance company it’s his parents, then representing himself as a driver of a car owned by his parents…
Disagree with my statements if you like, but please don’t misrepresent them.
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I don’t disagree with that. I was responding to jsanders comment.
But the point you’re now making - I don’t see how that can even happen. Every time I bought insurance - the insurance agent had to have a copy of either my registration or the sales agreement. Either of those documents tells who the vehicle will be registered under. There’s no way I know of that you register a car in your name and then tell the insurance company it’s your parents vehicle. First thing the insurance company is going to ask is the registration sales agreement.
Your quote contained my statement, not JTs.
Nomatter. Rather than quibble amongst ourselves, let’s address the OP’s question.
It still seems like we are saying much the same thing. I don’t have a problem with what you wrote, just that you think we are saying something substantially different.
I’m not sure we are saying the same thing.
From what you said earlier…
If you buy a car, register it in your parents names. If you register it in your name, it will be a lot more expensive to insure than if you are the primary driver on your parents policy.
Insurance will be the same no matter who the vehicle is registered under. If the 18yo is the primary driver then insurance rate will be for that driver.
The ONLY case I know of that the rate would be cheaper is if your parents both drive, but there is only ONE car among them. Then you register the car in (your mothers name), and list her as the primary driver. This is fraud.
However in our situation (and many others)…both wife and I drive and we each own a car. When my oldest got my 98 pathfinder it didn’t matter who the car was registered under…insurance was exactly the same. She was the primary driver, so she was the person the insurance company based their rate off of.
Maybe it’s different in NH. We have to carry insurance or we can’t register the car. Insurance comes first. There are a couple of problems with a teen getting insurance on his own. One is that he is in a high risk group. Registering it on his own implies that he really is on his own, and doesn’t have adults in his life. Many insurers won’t sell auto insurance to a teen, and having a parent registered as the owner and the teen as the primary driver allows the teen to obtain insurance through normal channels. In MD, there is a solution. The state has a very high priced option for people that can’t obtain insurance any other way. Most of these people were dropped by their insurer, and of course prices are high. The source I provided earlier discussed the inability of teens to get insurance on their own. The second issue is providing insurance to a minor. I don’t know the legal implications for an auto insurer, but there may be some.
I never tried to get insurance on my own until I was 22, and that was a couple score years ago. I never tried to register any of our cars in a teenage child’s name, so I wouldn’t know about my children as teens either. Both of my daughters that own cars got insurance on their own after the graduated college and started working. Maybe you were unaware of thei issue for the same reasons.
Almost anywhere it makes the most sense for the parents to register and insure the car and have the underage son or daughter as an "occasional driver’.
My wife’s car was driven by my son and the additional insurance was minimal.
A male, unmarried driver under 25 pays the highest rate. I was reminded of a young soldier here who won a Lamborghini some years back. The insurance would have been $12,000 per years for him. He drove it around the block, sold it for nearly $200,000 and bought a new Toyota and lived happily.
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BMW’s are considered as luxurious car. Stating your earnings every week, it will took many years for you to buy BMW cars. But, don’t just stop dreaming there. If you want that car, you will make a way for it. I mean, there are many opportunities that you can grab only to have that BMW or MB cars. Good luck to you!
Shadowfax and TSM mentioned an important point regarding an 18 year old buying any car … College.
Most schools don’t allow Freshmen residential students to keep a car on campus (for very good reasons) so if he’s planning to go away to school, that Bimmer’s going to be sitting on blocks soon.
But of course he could always try a “fast Eddie” and keep it parked off campus, where he’ll quickly discover the “joys” and costs of parking tickets, towing, impound lots and providing free delivery / hauling and cab services to all his dorm mates.
Hey, you’re only young once so instead of blowing it on any car, save it for the important things, like Spring Break, Wine, Women and Song.
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