Search the internet for the safest cars for teen drivers and you’ll find a billion different articles, with most of them requiring a budget of $25,000 or more. That’s practically new vehicle money in our minds, and if you’re already preparing to foot a bill of over $100,000 for the collegiate experience, spending $25k a car that’s going to endure the inevitable abuses of campus life seems a bit excessive.
We’re here to provide a list of good choices for young drivers that falls into a more realistic budget. Now that used car prices have started to stabilize, you should be able to find a good, safe, dependable car for your teenage driver well under the $8,000 mark.
There are a few things to know about that price point. First, you’re going to be locked out of a lot of vehicle categories and a lot of brands. Some of these cars aren't going to fall on anyone else's "Best Used Cars" list. You're going to have a hard time finding a Honda CR-V or a Volvo XC60, for example. You won't see many Mazda CX-5s. You’re not likely to find a pickup for that kind of money, either, and if you do, it’s going to be more dangerous to drive than anything we’re comfortable recommending to a teen driver and not one of the best choices. That also goes for the full-size SUVs—there basically isn’t one that’s going to fall under that price cap.
Have no fear, though: There are plenty of used vehicles available that still provide safe transportation and a good number of safety features (at least for the era in which they were produced) and aren’t completely unreliable for your kid to be taking to school. Of course, we are generally talking about older used cars. Even vehicles like the Volkswagen Jetta and Golf get pretty expensive unless you're looking at cars from three generations ago.
A lot of safety equipment was mandatory in the eras that we're recommending. Every car on this list will have air bags, for example, whereas electronic stability control wasn't made mandatory in the United States until 2012, so you may not find it as standard equipment on all of the cars at this price point. Other more modern safety features like automatic emergency braking and blind spot monitoring were only offered in pricier cars at the time most of these vehicles were produced.
There are a few metrics we'll use to determine safety, but without question, the greatest automotive safety feature available isn’t some fancy technology, and it’s not limited to 2022 models with a list price of $40,000. A three-point safety belt has been standard equipment on every car, truck, and van sold in the United States since the 1990s, and it is unquestionably critical for keeping your new driver safe on the road.
The other things we're looking at are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) crash test scores and—where available—Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test data. It's important to be aware that safety ratings are a bit of a moving target, though. What was rated “Good” in 2007 would be rated “Unacceptable” today, because no car from 2007 has what the IIHS considers essential to earn a "Top Safety Pick" or "Top Safety Pick+" rating.
We’re also looking at the overall death rate. That’s not always a measure of the car's safety, necessarily—it can also be a measure of the relative safety of the drivers of those types of cars. You see more high-horsepower coupes and sports cars than minivans hotrodding around, for example. But people with those vehicles do sometimes get in terrible accidents, and if the overall death rate is zero, that’s something to consider. Overall, the death rate of vehicles from all manufacturers in the United States between 2007 and 2014 was 36 per million miles traveled.
The Safest Used Cars Under $8,000 for Teens in 2024
- 2012 to 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage
- 2012 to 2017 Kia Rio
- 2011 to 2016 Nissan LEAF
- 2011 to 2016 Nissan Juke
- 2009 to 2014 Subaru Legacy
- 2007 to 2012 Toyota Highlander
- 2007 to 2008 Ford Edge
- 2010 to 2019 Ford Taurus
- 2009 to 2011 Ford Crown Victoria
- 2004 to 2010 Toyota Sienna
Subcompact Car: 2012 to 2024 Mitsubishi Mirage
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 4/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Marginal
IIHS Death Rate: 72/million miles traveled
Here is an immutable truth: Subcompact and compact cars are less safe than larger cars. It’s just physics. Nevertheless, there are small cars that perform better than their counterparts and have recorded a lower traffic death rate as a result. Furthermore, if you consider a compact car, the same price point will let you choose from later model years, meaning you'll get standard safety equipment that wasn't even available in older cars. The Mitsubishi Mirage isn’t what anyone would call a “nice car.” It’s fuel efficient basic transportation that’s better than riding a city bus. But it performed fairly well in both NHTSA and IIHS crash tests, providing a fair level of safety equipment for the era, and not completely failing either evaluation. In terms of tiny cars, this little hatchback has the lowest number of deaths per million miles of just about anything in its class.
Subcompact Car: 2012 to 2017 Kia Rio
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 4/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Marginal
IIHS Death Rate: 87/million miles traveled
The Rio is a rung up the ladder from the Mirage, for sure. It performed well when it was crash tested by the NHTSA upon its redesign in 2012, scoring a four-star rating. It achieved a “Marginal” score from the IIHS (which was one rating below the IIHS’s top rating of “Good” in 2014), mostly due to the fact that the dummy’s head barely made contact with the airbag before sliding to the left, though the IIHS did report that the side and torso airbags deployed and provided protection. Its death rate is significantly higher than the average rating of 36, but it was the second lowest among the small cars recorded by the IIHS.
Compact Car: 2011 to 2016 Nissan LEAF
NHTSA Crash Test: 5/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Poor/Good
IIHS Death Rate: 8/million miles travelled
If your teen can manage the 100 mile range of a first-generation LEAF (really closer to 78 miles if you use the heater), these cars have a lot going for them. They’re cheaper than a conventional gas-powered car of the same size, they've demonstrated above-average reliability, and they earn relatively good ratings on the safety front. The IIHS dinged the LEAF for poor frontal overlap crash tests, but it performed well in all their other evaluations, and it scored a 5-star rating from the NHTSA. And compared to the Rio, the LEAF's occupants have experienced only 10 percent the number of deaths per million miles traveled. A pretty compelling argument all around.
Small SUV: 2011 to 2016 Nissan Juke
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 5/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Poor/Good
IIHS Death Rate: 15/million miles travelled
Just like the LEAF, the Nissan Juke scored five stars in NHTSA crash tests, got a demerit for the small overlap test from the IIHS, but scored well on the rest of their evaluations, and recorded a better-than-average 15 deaths per million miles traveled, according to the same agency. Full disclosure, the price does slightly edge out our $8,000 cap—our data showed it was $8,012—but maybe you could siphon $12 worth of gas out of the tank before you buy one.
Midsize Car: 2009 to 2014 Subaru Legacy
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 5/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Good (Top Safety Pick)
IIHS Death Rate: 0/million miles travelled
Now we’re starting to tick up into the best available safety you can purchase for the year. The fifth-generation Subaru Legacy earned an IIHS Top Safety Pick (the highest rating at the time), and the NHTSA awarded it five stars in its crash testing. In the IIHS’s database, no fatalities were recorded for this generation of Legacy, a fairly impressive statistic. If you’re sending your kid to a college where it snows, you could do a lot worse than the all-wheel drive Legacy sedan. The only issue is that you’re going to have to choose the older years of Legacy, probably with close to 100,000 miles, to slip under the $8,000 wire. Note that all of this also applies to the Outback, but those may be more expensive than the $8,000 cap. We'd prefer to recommend a more modern sedan than an older wagon just to get under $8k.
Midsize SUV: 2007 to 2012 Toyota Highlander
NHTSA Crash Test Score: N/A
IIHS Overall Rating: Good (Top Safety Pick)
IIHS Death Rate: 14/million miles traveled
Once you climb up to midsize SUVs, you have to stretch pretty far back to find one that falls within our $8,000 price range. These second-generation Highlanders performed very well in IIHS crash tests, achieving a "Top Safety Pick" award in 2009. The NHTSA crash tested them, but didn’t provide an “overall” rating at the time. The Highlander scored five stars in the front driver’s side crash test and both side crash tests, and achieved four stars for the front passenger and rollover tests. Deaths are markedly higher than in the Legacy, though, which suggests that rollovers of the taller Highlander may be the issue.
Midsize SUV: 2007 to 2008 Ford Edge
NHTSA Crash Test Score: N/A
IIHS Overall Rating: Good (Top Safety Pick)
IIHS Death Rate: 0/million miles traveled
The 2007 and 2008 Ford Edge scored particularly well in IIHS crash test rating, enough to take home a "Top Safety Pick" award. It also did well in NHTSA crash test ratings, picking up five-star ratings for driver’s side front and both side crash tests. It scored four stars for the passenger front crash test and rollover ratings. More importantly, in the IIHS database, there appear to be no deaths per million miles traveled for the Edge, making it one of the safest used cars available. And it's old enough now to be one of the few midsize SUVs that fall under our $8,000 price cap.
Large Car: 2010 to 2019 Ford Taurus
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 5/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Good (Top Safety Pick)
IIHS Death Rate: 20/million miles traveled
The fifth-generation Ford Taurus was nobody’s favorite. It's a behemoth of a car, with plenty of room inside and decent accoutrements. The 2011 performed well with a five-star NHTSA crash test, and it scored the top “Good” rating and a "Top Safety Pick" from the IIHS. Its overall death rate is also lower than average. You can find a Taurus for under $8,000, but it's probably going to have 150,000 miles.
Very Large Car: 2009 to 2011 Ford Crown Victoria
NHTSA Crash Test Score: 5/5 Stars
IIHS Overall Rating: Marginal
IIHS Death Rate: 4/million miles traveled
The ultimate teen cruiser. The Crown Vic never performed all that well in the IIHS’s ever-evolving crash tests. It was based on a car from the early 1990s, and while it consistently got five-star NHTSA crash test ratings, it would stumble with Marginal ratings from the IIHS for side crash test and its old-school head restraints and seats. Nevertheless, despite all the Crown Vics running around as taxi cabs and cop cars, the 2011-era Crown Victoria only saw 4 deaths per million miles traveled, a remarkable achievement. You can buy one in pretty much any price range, from nearly free to well over $15,000, depending on condition and mileage. If you’re really good, you may be able to score a Crown Vic LX Sport with a floor console and dual exhaust under our $8,000 cap.
Minivan: 2004 to 2010 Toyota Sienna
NHTSA Crash Test Score: N/A
IIHS Overall Rating: Good/Poor
IIHS Death Rate: 0/million miles traveled
If your teen is the adventurous type, a minivan might be just the ticket. Minivans are nearly as capable as many crossover SUVs, and with the seats out, they have room for the whole band to sleep inside along with amps and drum kits. The 2004 to 2010 generation performed well in individual NHTSA crash tests, scoring five stars in crash tests on both side and front passenger crash tests. It got four stars for the driver front crash test and the rollover test. The IIHS didn’t like it as much, criticizing its head restraints at the time. Nevertheless, these long-in-the-tooth vans have seen zero deaths per million miles traveled according to IIHS data.
