Spoiled Teens drive expensive cars!

[Joe1]

http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NjgwOTgw

or

http://tinyurl.com/9en3f

It amazes me at what parents buy children these days.

 

[Frank D]

Don't blame the kids. The parents got to take the rap for this one. I see the same crap in Orange County NY and Orange County is no where near as wealthy as Bergen County. It's a game of can you top this and not just with cars. Parents don't teach their kids any values and then they go through life expecting everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. When I brought home a report card with all A's and B's, it just kept me from getting my butt kicked.

 

[tom slick]

at the local university you'll see $30k+ cars parked in the studend parking lot. it's not uncommon to see a hummer or vette, for awhile there was a viper. and this university is not considered a "rich kid" university.

 

[Shannow]

That's starting to happen more and more down here.

A guy at work was explaining to me today how his 15 year old son has started weekend work.

Peter has him save at least 2/3 of his wages, and has offered to help him pay for a car dollar for dollar (up to 3 grand).

That kid is going to learn something that most of the kids in town won't. And I think that because he's paid for it himself, he's going to a little less likely to run out of oil/water.

 

[Palut]

quote:

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Originally posted by Shannow:
And I think that because he's paid for it himself, he's going to a little less likely to run out of oil/water.

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I bet your exactly right! My parents always let me borrow their oldest car, an '85 Accord. They let me know that if I killed it, there would be NO replacement. I made sure not to kill it!

Kids who's parents are willing to just buy car after car, or buy them nice cars, usually end up getting drunk and wrecking them. I can't tell you how many times I heard that story in high school! ...kid get car less than 2 years old...gets drunk, totals it...parents buy another new/almost new car...kids totals that one...story repeats

 

[chas3]

i didnt get B's. my parents didnt love me apparently.

 

[Al]

I imagine for most of these kids..real life will one day hit them right between the eyes.

I post on a Sentra board where most are under 21. 90% can't afford their cars and don't realize it. The level of debt they carry and the disproportionet bucks they spend on their cars vs other things is unreal.

Its obvious that they are, in many cases, completing a cycle of clueless behavior started by their parents. No one has taken the time to teach them about life, finances, and common sense. In many cases its clear there is no dad around.

Anyway..I have been posting there for for over 4 years and try in my own little way to help then see the light before they get flattened..many still get flattened.

 

[JHZR2]

I live in Bergen county, and yes, its quite ridiculous. My brother is graduating HS this year, and the kinds of cars that the kids are getting is crazy anymore, compared just to how it was when I graduated HS in 1998.

When I was a senior in HS, I bought my pickup truck brand new (I was the only person, or maybe one of two people to get a new car, and historically 1-2 people each year would get new vehicles for one reason or another). It was ~21k in 1998 dollars. However, I had saved about $8k, we had the GM card and got $5500, and then my parents paid the rest.

Now mommy and daddy buy H2s and lexuses for their kids without thinking twice. I guess thats how it goes when all of a sudden youve doubled your net worth because your home value has doubled.

My brother was in this to an extent - he ended up getting a mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4. Sure, it was a 94 model, but it looked like new. I dont think he even paid a dime for it, my parents got the whole bill. I'm sure he wanted it in trying to make an effort to show off to some extent with a flashy, fancy car - that would beat the pants off of any of the new fancy cars that anyone else would get.

At the same time, our parents have always driven economy cars, in the effort to be frugal and efficient. They carry no debt, and have trained us to be financially minded. SO the nice things have been used carefully and within reason (my truck still looks brand new despite a LOT of off roading), and the value of money concept has still been maintained.

Its disgusting all the same, not because the kids get these cars, but rather because likely the parents are racking up so much debt between one thing and another, that they will have to liquidate everything to pay their bills to retire. Sure, north NJ is an affluent area, but most of these people in most of these towns arent doing that much better than they were 10 years ago. The only difference is that their home is worth more - and theyre probably borrowing against that apparent 'profit'.

JMH

 

[teamDFL]

I grew up in Bergen County and went to school in Saddle River. My high school parking lot had Porsches, Jaguars, Lexus and when one kid had a birthday, his dad let him drive the Testarossa to school.

Honestly, that is just the way it is there. In other countries, the idea of a high-school age kid having any car is incredible. To some, the idea of high-school kid having a BMW is incredible. It is a matter of perspective.

Are these kids spoiled? No, not the ones I met. Perhaps in some other areas where parents are trying to compete and rack up debt doing it, but most of my classmates lived a lifestyle that was consistent with what they parents could afford. They are privelaged, yes, but they are not spoiled because that is how their life was, is and always will be. They will never wake up and not be able to have almost any car they want. Providing them what they will always have is not my definition of spoiling.

Me, my high school ride was shoe leather. I bummed rides most of the time. Sure, I would have liked to have a car, but, at least at the time, it didn't really matter much to me. Don't judge these kids too harshly. Most of them are just normal high-school kids. Last time I checked, self-centered wasn't a trait that was all that rare in adolescence or confined only to the wealthy.

 

[andrews]

Parents are indeed guilty of teaching kids the wrong ideals. The kids going to high school now are being parented by adults that had similar upbringing. And future generations will be even more pampered and exhibit a higher level of selfish behavior. I think it's abvious that a degeneration of society is what we have here. You'll get plenty of people that will say, "oh, every older generation feels that way, things aren't any different".......yes, they are different. Morals, manners, decency, honor, integrity, kindness, responsibility,.....all have gone downhill, any way you slice it. The younger folks reading this probably won't get it, but most of the older ones will. Sure, exceptions exist out there, and that's great. But as a whole, I believe I'm right.

 

[Scott P]

quote:

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Originally posted by andrews:
Parents are indeed guilty of teaching kids the wrong ideals. The kids going to high school now are being parented by adults that had similar upbringing. And future generations will be even more pampered and exhibit a higher level of selfish behavior. I think it's abvious that a degeneration of society is what we have here. You'll get plenty of people that will say, "oh, every older generation feels that way, things aren't any different".......yes, they are different. Morals, manners, decency, honor, integrity, kindness, responsibility,.....all have gone downhill, any way you slice it. The younger folks reading this probably won't get it, but most of the older ones will. Sure, exceptions exist out there, and that's great. But as a whole, I believe I'm right.

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My wife and I were discussing this the other day. We're Gen X'rs (33 and 29) and will be starting the baby production process in a few months. We both have seen those traits in kids and don't want ours to be that way. Maybe there are others like us out there that can see what will happen and therefore will take steps to prevent it.

 

[JHZR2]

IMO the key is this. If you (the parents) can reasonably afford it, get the kids a nice fancy car. However, it needs to be earned, not expected. Young and old generations will recognize that the efforts of one's own labor will bring reward. HS kids cant run full time jobs, however, if they work hard, maybe save up from part-time work, excel in their studies, and are generally good all around kids - let them be rewarded.

There is nothing more disgusting than a spoiled teenager who thinks that their parents will buy them whatever they want, and it doesnt matter what they do. This is wrong. But, if they are trying to make the best for themselves, giving an honest effort, etc., then let them be rewarded.

The trouble is drawing the line between who deserves it and who doesnt... And when someone doesnt deserve it, how to let them keep face amongst their peers.

JMH

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by JHZR2:
IMO the key is this. If you (the parents) can reasonably afford it, get the kids a nice fancy car. However, it needs to be earned, not expected. Young and old generations will recognize that the efforts of one's own labor will bring reward. HS kids cant run full time jobs, however, if they work hard, maybe save up from part-time work, excel in their studies, and are generally good all around kids - let them be rewarded.

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Well the problem with that is that a car is the quickest way on the planet to pizz away money. I understand the concept of good reliable transportation. But anything else over and above that is pouring money down the drain. The best lesson is to teach a child that concept. Looki around the neighborthood..great cars in the driveway (leased many times)..while the parents carry a 20K cc debt.

Its all about having "stuff" today. Now if college is paid for and and there is money in the bank..sure..nothing wrong with a decent car. But allowing a kid to have a great car while the parents (or the kid) doesn't have the money for college is just plain dumb (INMHO)

 

[drive it forever]

My dad gave me his 73' VW beetle when I was 16. Brings up another topic, would you give your kid a tin can to drive in?

 

[eljefino]

When I was in college, indirectly through an inheritance, I wound up with my family's oldest clunker, a mazda 323. It was about the time I found good off campus housing several miles away. I did not want to live in a dorm and since I didn't have to pay the obscene meal plan price anymore the numbers sort of crunched. But I knew that if I wrecked that car I'd be moving back into the cinderblock village. Also there were no other ill grandparents in my family

so my car would have to last until I started working.

The most obscene expense, naturally, was insurance: Liability only. As a better-than-average driver (aren't we all?) I never got into any accidents, and drove like it was the end of the world if I did. Yet by my age and unmarried male status I was bunched in with all these yuppie kids who couldn't care less if they pretzeled their new beemer...

 

[Korean_redneck]

Yeah that is so fudged up...

I worked my butt off in High school to get a car.. it was a Hyundai Accent and I PAID FOR IT. Theres alot of people who had Audi's and Lexus who just disrespect me because I had a 3,000 dollar used car. and yes all the women loved these men.

i mean dang.. I PAID FOR MY CAR.

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:
Well the problem with that is that a car is the quickest way on the planet to pizz away money. I understand the concept of good reliable transportation. But anything else over and above that is pouring money down the drain. The best lesson is to teach a child that concept. Looki around the neighborthood..great cars in the driveway (leased many times)..while the parents carry a 20K cc debt.

Its all about having "stuff" today. Now if college is paid for and and there is money in the bank..sure..nothing wrong with a decent car. But allowing a kid to have a great car while the parents (or the kid) doesn't have the money for college is just plain dumb (INMHO)

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Couldnt agree with you more. Anyone that racks up all sorts of debt to buy anything other than a house (and unreasonably expensive homes are just as bad), is being dumb and nopt doing anything good for themselves. I dont care if its to keep up with the joneses or what. Worse as you mentioned, if they cant afford college and are buying all this stuff.

However, Before I mentioned that the people up there arent doing THAT much better than 10 years ago. However, it still is a relatively affluent area. My parents are both public servants, but they chose to live frugally, drive economy cars, and pay off their debts/mortgages quickly. They could pay a good portion of my truck when I bought it, and send me to college - without any debt incurred on myself or them. They bought my brother's car straight up, and theyll pay his college in full. We dont have trust funds, no deep pockets, no big inheritances. And, my parents dont do as well as others who work in private industry. But this area has been historically affluent, so I know that in a lot of these towns, the parents can afford it.

The problem is, usually the parents who teach their kids some responsibility, both financially and society-wise, often don't have the money to buy the show off stuff. And the parents who have the money, dont teach their kids the right stuff.

JMH

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

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Originally posted by eljefino:
The most obscene expense, naturally, was insurance: Liability only. As a better-than-average driver (aren't we all?) I never got into any accidents, and drove like it was the end of the world if I did. Yet by my age and unmarried male status I was bunched in with all these yuppie kids who couldn't care less if they pretzeled their new beemer...

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Doesnt it suck? Insurance is the most biased, unfair, stereotypical racket that anyone could ever be forced to help profit. I definitely know the need for insurance (my MB diesel was smashed by an uninsured 21 year old girl, who now I get to sue), but the fact that these companies profit grossly by stereotyping me is really terrible.

It reminds me of the CNBC commercial for BrownCo trading house. The woman walks in and asks for margin rates. First he thinks she wants to trade butter, then finds out the rate is 8 3/4... no, 9%. When she confronts him that its as high as a credit card, he asks, isnt it great?

Ill ask the insurance company (my old company) how its rasonable that the collison and comprehensive rates I have on the saab would allow me to buy a new one in 5 years (at new price no less), and theyll say, isnt it great?

JMH

 

[k1xv]

This is a story that goes back 38 years.

A high school friend of mine went to Franklin & Marshall University, where he wound up sharing an apartment with a spoiled party boy from Westchester County NY. His father owned several nursing homes.

The Westchester brat drove a new Oldsmobile 442 that his father had bought him. However, this kid grew dissatisfied with this muscle car when he saw that there were a couple of others in town. So he asked his father to buy him a Jaguar XKE convertible. The father ordered one in the spring of 1967 for his son to drive that summer, and then take back to school.

The son then flunked out of school. The news arrived just as the Jaguar was about to be delivered. Instead of cancelling the gift, the father gave the son the XKE anyway.

The kid then needed a job until he got into another school. The father got him a $75 a week job at a local bank as an assistant teller.

So, here is a flunk out driving a brand new Jaguar XKE to his $75 a week job.

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by k1xv:
This is a story that goes back 38 years.

A high school friend of mine went to Franklin & Marshall University, where he wound up sharing an apartment with a spoiled party boy from Westchester County NY. His father owned several nursing homes.

The Westchester brat drove a new Oldsmobile 442 that his father had bought him. However, this kid grew dissatisfied with this muscle car when he saw that there were a couple of others in town. So he asked his father to buy him a Jaguar XKE convertible. The father ordered one in the spring of 1967 for his son to drive that summer, and then take back to school.

The son then flunked out of school. The news arrived just as the Jaguar was about to be delivered. Instead of cancelling the gift, the father gave the son the XKE anyway.

The kid then needed a job until he got into another school. The father got him a $75 a week job at a local bank as an assistant teller.

So, here is a flunk out driving a brand new Jaguar XKE to his $75 a week job.

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And that is how the world works. Faster you learn that, the better you'll be (mentally)!