Here’s yet another byproduct of our continued economic woes. Sixty percent of U.S. parents with driving-age children say they’re allocating less of the family budget for their kids’ cars and related expenses these days, according to a survey conducted by Allstate Insurance in Northbrook, Ill.
While 73 percent of teenage drivers own their own cars, most of them are “beaters,” used vehicles with a mean age of 9.3 years. When asked how much money they would allocate to purchase a car for their child, 57 percent of parents surveyed said they’d spend $5,000 or less.
Allstate’s research also determined that today’s parents are most likely to cover the cost of inspections and registration fees (51 percent), insurance (45 percent), and maintenance (44 percent), but not gasoline (17 percent would pay for all or most of it) or expenses associated with damage caused by their children (17 percent would pay for all or most).
