First car for 15 year-old girl?

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

For teenaged girls (I have 3) I'd strongly recommend they have a chat with their Dr about something to prevent the worst STD (children of their own).  The type of car they are in ABSOLUTELY will not even slow down teenaged hormones and limberness.

That out of the way, the best car for any teenager is something durable and cheap.  Think: ten year old Ford Taurus.  Rental fleet sort of stuff, designed for hard use and minimal mechanical sympathy.

Right now our new driver is rocking the awesome $150 Suzuki Forenza I bought earlier this year and replaced the HG in.  Total investment to date is $500 so if (when) she bends it, we won't really care.  Insurance for teens is pretty obscene so going with liability only is helpful.

When our two kids started driving several decades ago I made them a deal. I would buy them a car which they had to take care of. I also made them pay for the insurance which meant they had to get a job which was a good learning and responsibility tool. If they did anything to drive up insurance costs like tickets, accidents, etc.  it was on them. In reality as they showed responsibility it was rewarded with some financial help. Both worked part time jobs during high school and college and summer jobs. Although they didn’t think it was fair then both will say it was a great learning tool and now have grandkids working part time jobs. 

In reply to pirate :

Try a Toyota Yaris. 

My daughter liked it because it was cute.  It sure was reliable. It’s smaller size meant she didn’t have trouble parking it, she felt in control ( very important especially for girls ) 

Safe!  Busy texting  ( I know ) and smashed into a stopped car.  At around 35-40 mph. She and he baby weren’t hurt at all. Car was totaled. 

Eh. When my oldest turned 16 she wanted a pickup. So I started looking at full size pickups for 1k and under. We missed on a few because of timing and ended up buying a 99 F150 regular cab v6 for 850 bucks with almost 200k on it.(Gawd this thing was a piece of crap when I bought it.) Between deferred maintenance and need I put about another grand into it over two years and sold it for 1400 bucks when her grandparents gave her their 2010 corolla with 60k miles for basically graduation. I did tell her if she takes care of that car (Corolla) it will last her until she is 35. Back to the truck. She learned that single cabs have very little room to store stuff and decided she did not want a pickup by the time we sold it. I was worried that she may get into an accident in her first two years of driving but she is a good driver and did not. My advice is always to play it safe and protect financial you. Either buy a vehicle you can afford to throw away or have enough money to pay the deductibles in case of an accident.  I do have a philosophy about high mileage cars I want to pass on. If it has made it nearly 200k and it is a well-known brand for quality then it has been taken care of at some point in its life and will probably last you long enough as long as you can buy it cheap enough.