Category: Kids & Kars

The vehicle requirements for my daughter's first car came down to the following partially logical list: First and foremost safety. Second, not enough room for many passengers. This arose out of the fact that most teen accidents are caused by in-vehicle distractions (i.e. friends). Third, dependable. I was not interested in receiving cell phone calls from my daughter with car issues. Fourth, slow, for obvious reasons. And finally, cute. This was a requirement from my wife, but I have to admit that there is a certain amount of fatherly pride that goes along with your daughter’s wheels in LA.

California law requires 6 hours of in-car instruction by a professional drivers education teacher (cost $250). I feel that is very few hours so I upgraded to the 10-hour package (cost $300). Now it is the parent’s responsibility to make sure their child has a total of 50 hours driving experience, 10 of those hours at night.

We were happy with our first Jeep, and a Minivan was totally out of the question. We were not going to take that step yet, or ever. My wife was about as anti-Minivan as one can get. It just wasn't going to happen.