If your nanny drives your kids...

[theriviera]

Question for those with a nanny that drives your kids –

1. Are they driving their own car?
2. If so, does she keep the car seats in car all the time? Do you check them if she has to take them out?
3. Do you provide a car for your nanny? What kind of car?

Our leases are up and we are trying to figure out our car strategy. We are going to stick with leases for at least one car as we are business owners and this makes the most sense. The question is what type of car for each of us. DH drives a non family friendly car. I have the main people mover. Nanny has a Pilot but she has kids and has to move the seats around often. I am working more and more out of the house so nanny often has at least 2 kids in the car (the baby and either the 6 year old in a Frontier or the 4 year old in the Frontier).

Dh would really like to keep his 2 door sports car. It has super low miles and he can buy it at then end of his lease. I would like to have 2 cars that can work for our family because with 3 kids, we are splitting up way more than we used too.

I’ve thought about
A. DH keeps his car
B. We buy a family friendly 3rd car that the nanny uses during the week
C. I keep driving a family friendly SUV

The questions I have are around “B”. What kind of 3rd car would you get? I would like to get something used but minivans hold their value much better than I expected.

Does this make any sense? Sorry, work has been crazy and I’m kind of distracted!

[HannaAddict]

We have never had a nanny drive their own car and I would not be comfortable with that as I want my car seats installed all the time my way and safety features. We first had our nanny drive our Volvo S60 that I had as a car and husband had been driving after I got a MB. He got a new car and nanny drove Volvo. Just this year, we bought a new Honda Odyssey for the nanny mobile as it is roomy for our three kids and safe. She drives short residential distances for the most part, but makes Costco or grocery trips. We use it in occasion for occasional trips or field trips too, though we prefer my car to drive the Honda is bigger. If I had two kids, I would look at a Volvo sedan or wagon but with three, I'd look at minivans.

[basil]

Following. we are hiring a nanny next fall and DH wants to replace his 2008 civic with a Subaru legacy. His car will only fetch about $5k on trade in, but it seems to have a lot of life left in it, so trying to decide if it's worth it to just keep it for the nanny. But then again, it's not the most practical kid car. But I wouldn't buy an expensive car just for the nanny either!

[Simon]

She isn't a full time nanny, but our sitter drives our kids, in her own car but with our car seats. We don't leave them in full time and I help with re-install/do final check. As a nanny, I often drove a family's 3rd car with perma installed car seats.

[hillview]

we've never had a nanny use their car as a perm solution although once in a while a nanny/babysitter will (think meet at park and let her go home and us take the kids). we got a 3rd car 2 summers ago when we needed a full time summer nanny. He took the mini van and DH drove the bottom of the line Honda accord (think stick shift, cloth seats) but it was a new car.

[daisysmom]

Our nannies drove our pilot when dd was 9 mos through pre- k and I got a Camry sedan for me. Once we entered k, we ended having a nanny. Summer sitters take dd in their car and we have used low back boosters for that.

[theriviera]

We have never had a nanny drive their own car and I would not be comfortable with that as I want my car seats installed all the time my way and safety features. We first had our nanny drive our Volvo S60 that I had as a car and husband had been driving after I got a MB. He got a new car and nanny drove Volvo. Just this year, we bought a new Honda Odyssey for the nanny mobile as it is roomy for our three kids and safe. She drives short residential distances for the most part, but makes Costco or grocery trips. We use it in occasion for occasional trips or field trips too, though we prefer my car to drive the Honda is bigger. If I had two kids, I would look at a Volvo sedan or wagon but with three, I'd look at minivans.

I agree, but man, minivans really hold their value! I would like to keep it to under 17K if possible but that doesn't exist for a used Ody or Sienna unless you get one with tons of miles.

[HannaAddict]

I agree, but man, minivans really hold their value! I would like to keep it to under 17K if possible but that doesn't exist for a used Ody or Sienna unless you get one with tons of miles.

Volvo wagons do a decent job with three car seats across and our local dealership has some in that price range. We had crazy rental loaded town and country minivan and they were selling for amazingly cheap prices (low 20's with everything) though but not nearly as nice to drive and not as good of a safety record.

[TxCat]

Our nanny drives DDs usually a couple of times a week in her 2013 Pilot. I bought a Frontier and an RA55 for her car. I've done the install but have showed her how to install the seats as well and left the manuals in her car. She is a nut about all things safety so I'm fine with her taking out the car seats and reinstalling them correctly. She's very smart and trustworthy and has no problem coming to me with any concerns. I guess that is my long-winded way of saying that the answer to your question depends in part on the person that you hire. Honestly, if I didn't think that the nanny was up to correctly installing a car seat, I don't think that I would feel comfortable with her driving my car or driving my kids around.

[HannaAddict]

Most parents I know IRL don't install car seats correctly! And most nannies I know don't drive new large cars either. We had one sitter with her parents hand me down late model A8 who drove kids a few times but for a full time nanny, much prefer owning the car kids are transported in and easier for not having to pay mileage etc too. But sounds like you have a great nanny and bonus that she has a nice car!

[niccig]

I had a regular sitter install DS's car seatI'm a safety nut about carseats. I taught her how and she did it several times to practice. I would occasionally check and her install was as tight as mine. She was very safety conscious. And had been our sister once a week for 2.5 year so I knew I could trust her. Another sitter, maybe not.

It was much easier one DS got to booster age. I bought an extra booster and she kept it in her trunk.


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[theriviera]

Our nanny drives DDs usually a couple of times a week in her 2013 Pilot. I bought a Frontier and an RA55 for her car. I've done the install but have showed her how to install the seats as well and left the manuals in her car. She is a nut about all things safety so I'm fine with her taking out the car seats and reinstalling them correctly. She's very smart and trustworthy and has no problem coming to me with any concerns. I guess that is my long-winded way of saying that the answer to your question depends in part on the person that you hire. Honestly, if I didn't think that the nanny was up to correctly installing a car seat, I don't think that I would feel comfortable with her driving my car or driving my kids around.

Funny, my nanny has the same car (maybe one year older). We LOVE our nanny. She is amazing in every way that is important to us. However, she has her own kids and it's hard for her to have 3 car seats in her car and be a mom to her kids.

So we have done a 180 and are now looking at a new minivan. I'm leaning toward the sienna b/c the lease is so much more favorable (almost 0% interest and a higher residual than the Hondas). I prefer the look of the Honda but that doesn't really matter.

[TxCat]

Funny, my nanny has the same car (maybe one year older). We LOVE our nanny. She is amazing in every way that is important to us. However, she has her own kids and it's hard for her to have 3 car seats in her car and be a mom to her kids.

So we have done a 180 and are now looking at a new minivan. I'm leaning toward the sienna b/c the lease is so much more favorable (almost 0% interest and a higher residual than the Hondas). I prefer the look of the Honda but that doesn't really matter.

Our nanny has 3 teenagers so I'm pretty sure she takes out at least one car seat on the weekends. But, at least one of the car seats that I purchased for her is Britax clicktight, which is pretty hard to mess up. Like I said, our nanny is super conscientious and a stickler for safety - she immediately identified the problem when my DH first incorrectly installed DD1's car seat 3 years ago. If my nanny drove a less dependable car or wasn't as professional and capable, I might be more inclined to seek a different solution, but fortunately her driving her own car has worked very well for us.

[123LuckyMom]

You'll love having a minivan! For all the negative image they have, they're just fantastically useful vehicles, and they're not gas guzzlers, either.

We don't have a nanny, but when sitters have driven the kids, we've always installed the seats into their cars. It's a PITA, but I've never had a sitter who felt comfortable driving my vehicle. That's something to keep in mind. Your nanny might really feel safer in her own car where she's very familiar with the way it drives and its particular quirks.

[hellokitty]

My brother and sil have a nanny who work part time (sil works PT). The nanny has her own baby that she brings with her and my brother and sil have 2 kids. They let her drive my sil's odyssey on days she has the kids and my sil or brother (whoever is there to hand off the kid) drive the nanny's toyota camry. She can't get 3 carseats into her camry, so this is why they trade cars.