Poor Grand daughter

john in la · Oct 31, 2020

My oldest grand daughter turns 16 in December.
Her grand mother (my wife) ask her is she was getting her drivers license.
She said at 16 she can only get a license for a small scooter.
For a car you need to be 17 and then it is only a learners permit (need to drive with another licensed driver) until she turns 18.
When she told us the price with the required drivers classes; test; and license cost the total was in the $4000 U.S. dollars range I about fell out my chair.
Them Germans are serious about drivers education.

But I think my greatest fear is she will be 20 by the time her parents return to the states.
With my luck she will meet some nice German boy and never return to the states.

jimg.allentown · Oct 31, 2020

The Germans also have their highway system of Autobahns with no speed limits in many places. They also have lane discipline and strict enforcement.

I'll bet they also have less highway fatalities per mile driven than most other places.

Goose · Oct 31, 2020

She's right.

In the mid 1990's our daughter was in Germany as an exchange student. The male head of her host family was a professional driving instructor.

The routine was about the same then, and the cost then was about $1800 USD.

Ivan in Mich · Oct 31, 2020

I amn ot sure about that but when they pile up some of the pile ups go for miles. I saw some really nasty accidents while on my tours of duty there. The worst one was over a mile long in the fog. There were p people laying all over the road and saw some half way out of the wind shield of the cars. That is a sight I will never forget. The last time we went there for vac it seemed to have more accidents in the speed zones than where there was none

Ozlander · Oct 31, 2020

In 2000 it was $1600 and if you didn't pass the first time, you got to start over again. Another $1600 and more tests.

jal-SD · Oct 31, 2020

Foreign governments are also tough on drunk drivers. Sweden used to lock people for a year, without any courtroom appearance if the blood test exceeded 0.08. Defence attorneys hated it.

jm. · Oct 31, 2020

Driving is a privilege, for sure. in Japan it takes about 4 years and the cost is well over your 4 thousand there. I guess it is another thing we take for granted here in good old usa.

RayP(MI) · Oct 31, 2020

A few years ago, exchange students coming to the US would make it a point to take DE and get their US license. At the time, it was provided free in the schools, (Michigan) and they could return to their home country, trade in their license for their home country's license without severe financial costs. That's all changed now. Schools (mostly) do not provide it, and students have to go through a private DE school, for a significant cost. That, and graduated licensing, has made lots of kids just wait till they're 18.

Mike(NEOhio) · Oct 31, 2020

A little off the topic here but we made two trips to Germany while SIL was assigned there. One thing that struck me, no semis, all straight trucks and not one pickup to be seen anywhere.

Tramway Guy · Oct 31, 2020

Switzerland is like that too.
When we had a Swiss guy working on a large Chairlift in New York State (in 1984), the guys at the Ski Area took him under their wing and helped him to pass his driving test and he got a New York license. He was in his late 20s or so. Then he got an International license from AAA so he could drive when he got back home.

jal-SD · Oct 31, 2020

I think the rail roads still carry most of the freight in Europe. Something that we forgot in the US that rail transportation is still the most economical way to move most large heavy items.

moresmoke · Oct 31, 2020

My 15 yo son just got his license. $300/mo to put him on our insurance.

Might be cheaper for the European drivers ed.

fixerupper · Oct 31, 2020

(quoted from post at 11:19:56 10/31/20) A little off the topic here but we made two trips to Germany while SIL was assigned there. One thing that struck me, no semis, all straight trucks and not one pickup to be seen anywhere.

Mike I will take your post a little farther off subject. LOL When we were in Finland we saw one pickup the whole two weeks we were there. I guess the tax on a pickup is three times the purchase price of the pickup or something to that effect. Everyone had a trailer to pull behind their car and the trailers were first class, no junk. I saw plenty of semis though and lots of straight trucks pulling a pup.

Mike(NEOhio) · Oct 31, 2020

True, cost per ton-mile is still lowest, but you have to get it from the yard. Not that there were no trucks. Plenty of heavies, just no tractor-trailers. Mostly MAN and Volvo. And no dual wheels.

john in la · Oct 31, 2020

I suspect they will send her over here the summer before she turns 18 so she can get a drivers license from the U.S.
Since her parents are DOD civilian employees she will be eligible to transfer that U.S. drivers license to a USAREUR drivers license.
This will allow her to bypass the German cost of the license and also allow her to buy a limited amount of gasoline tax free.
So the Army does have its advantages in Germany.

Vito · Oct 31, 2020

Agree. Lane hanging is a big no no. I have driven in a few European countries. Lane discipline is strictly observed. Pass and move back over and no passing on the right side.

Vito

David G · Oct 31, 2020

Cars are really not needed as much in Europe as the US, transportation is much better.

john in la · Oct 31, 2020

There is a billboard on I 55.
It says....

Camp in Mississippi state parks.
Not the left lane.

db4600 · Oct 31, 2020

I got to know a German exchange student back in the mid 80’s. The poor fella got dropped into a home of Norwegians a town or two over. Daniel, “Lunsman” we called him, was wise to the world. His father worked for the railroad in Germany. He had traveled broadly over there and could speak English, French, and Italian along with his Deutch. He talked the oldest daughter of the host family into signing the paper work for his drivers license and got it here. He said the cost to transfer internationally in Germany was a fraction of the cost of getting a German license.

Naylorbros · Oct 31, 2020

When I lived in Finland 30 years ago we heard the tax on
importing pickups was very bad. My friend let his stateside
drivers license expire while he was there and the testing with
out any driving school was over $1000 for his Finnish license.
The only good part was that it did not expire until he was 65

SVcummins · Oct 31, 2020

Coming to the United states soon how soon ? We’ll see about
the second week of November

Absent Minded Farmer · Oct 31, 2020

Germans are very serious about their driving & education pertaining to. Think it was either Italy or France where you actually had to know how to work on your car to get licensed. Currently, here in the states, they seem to hand them out to any idiot that has a few bucks in their pockets & can parrot what's needed for the written test. The it's who-knows-how-many attempts behind the wheel to get your L's. Still waiting to hear about cash bribes like they do in Russia.

Mike

Jim in LA · Oct 31, 2020

From the dash cam videos I’ve seen on Facebook, Russia has the world’s worst drivers. If every Russian above the age of eleven were given a driver license we may never have to face them in war.

Absent Minded Farmer · Nov 1, 2020

Lol! Yeah, they drive on the sidewalks, too. I'd add a link to some videos, but I shall spare you the foul language.

Mike

bjb in TX from Ne · Nov 1, 2020

My nephew just went through it in Texas (Houston), and it wasn't that expensive up front but the initial insurance premium for the family doubled by adding him. An extra $1500/year just to cover him and that is after all of the discounts on the policy.

Most states now do have a graduated licensing system so your first license is a provisional with lots more restrictions and in Texas at least you have to wait to get the "full" license.

Traditional Farmer · Nov 1, 2020

Sounds like they are serious about taxing people to death too.

Bill(Wis) · Nov 1, 2020

Hmm. I live near a small town (6069 people) that has a rail line going through town that sees 25 freight trains every day. Each train averages between 140 and 150 cars.

Bill(Wis) · Nov 1, 2020

The single wheels cause great deal more shock loading to the roadway but most European highways are thicker than US highways, particularly the German Autobahns which are twice as thick as US Interstate highways.

Poor Grand daughter

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