These days, lots of teens own cars they drive
By John Higgins
Knight Ridder News Service
AKRON, Ohio — No one at Jackson High School has a Hummer like LeBron James', although one senior had one last year.
Still, one of every eight Jackson student cars there is a 2000 or newer model. At least 40 percent of the driving-age students walk out of Jackson High School to their own cars, trucks and SUVs.
Student parking tags hang in everything from a 1973 Nova (high school wheels for a quarter-century) to a 2003 Mitsubishi Eclipse (newer than what most parents drive).
Rich kids driving expensive cars is not unusual. What's remarkable is how many nice, grownup-looking cars are showing up in school parking lots as carmakers set their sights on the younger market.
The percentage of driving-age teens (ages 15 to 20) with their own vehicle nearly doubled nationwide from 22 percent in 1985 to 42 percent last year, according to CNW Marketing Research.
While $50,000-plus vehicles are more common in the private schools of the nation's wealthiest enclaves, automakers increasingly are reaching for youth of more modest income.
Buyers 20 and younger accounted for almost 539,000 new car sales in 2002, up from 402,000 in 1996.
"It is a number that inches up all the time," said CNW president Art Spinella.
Even carmakers once considered off limits to the tender of age and light of wallet, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are meeting teens halfway with more affordable starter cars in hopes of grooming future consumers for their more expensive models.
They belong to the baby bounce generation, the 60 million children of the postwar baby boomers — born between 1979 and 1994 — who are just now entering the car market in force.
But pity the marketer who tries to lump an entire generation together under one trendy umbrella.
Tastes vary from the new Volkswagen Beetles that practically scream teenager to Jeep Wranglers and Honda Civics — yes, Honda Civics, which lend themselves to expensive customization after the sale.
Parents increasingly are making the full car payment for their teens, up from 17 percent in 1985 to almost 26 percent last year. Parents also are footing more of the insurance costs. In 1985, 61 percent of teens paid for their own insurance. Last year, only 44 percent did, according to CNW.
Adding a teenage driver to a policy can easily double a family's auto insurance premium, according to the Ohio Insurance Institute. It recommends that if parents purchase a vehicle for a teen, they should choose an intermediate-size car or sedan instead of high-performance vehicles such as sports cars, SUVs or pickup trucks.
Small, sporty vehicles usually carry higher insurance premiums and have higher death and theft rates, according to the institute. But usually, junior is calling the shots on the showroom floor.
"The children really drive the parents," said Adam Huff, general manager of Fred Martin Superstores said.
The typical teenager may not be able to afford BMW's 3-series, but the 2003 Mini Cooper — BMW's version of a popular British cult car from the 1960s — starts at $16,975, according to BMW's Mini Web site.
Teen drivers have the highest crash risk of any age group. Per mile traveled, they have the highest involvement rates in all types of crashes, from those involving only property damage to those that are fatal, insurers report.
