The Thorn In My Side That Is Also Known As My Son Buying His First Car

Our oldest turned 17 in May. He's had his driver's license for several months now but he has yet to get his own car. We made an agreement with him that if he worked to save up X amount of dollars toward a vehicle, we would help him out and match his savings (plus Grandma offered to chip in a little bit as well). Well, the time has come. He's chomping at the bit to hurry up and find a car or truck to buy. Since it's his first car and he's still a new driver, we're looking for something used, fairly cheap, but dependable. Well, who would've thought but I swear it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack! My husband refuses to buy a used car off a car lot; he prefers to find something for sale by owner. We have emailed to inquire about vehicles on Craigslist (only to never have the seller respond back to us) and you just never really know about Craigslist anyway. We have went to look at cars that look pretty good in pictures but in person are actually nothing but junk. School starts next week and he REALLY wants to have something by then. Apparently it's a major social disaster to be a senior and not have a car to drive to school. I'm feeling the pressure and it's stressing me out! And, I don't even want to think about how much our auto insurance is going to go up. Again. You might remember I posted awhile back that after my son's fender-bender (in my car) and my husband's accident earlier this year, our car insurance nearly tripled. TRIPLED!  Oh, the stresses of raising a teenager!