I am a step parent and my step daughter is wanting to get her license. My husband and I both agree that she needs to get a job first, so she's able to pay for her gas and help pay for insurance. We have told her for many years that whatever you save towards a car we will double it, so far she has nothing in savings and owes us for an outfit she just had to have... her mom on the other hand is saying that we all need to pay for her car, gas, and insurance. We need us it as a "scholarship" during school. She does well in school and does one school sport. She is a good kid, just the typically teen attitude we are trying to work through. My husband and I are trying to teach her how to grow in to a responsible adult. We are here to guide her and help her with anything, but not to hand her everything. Her mom is the opposite and wants to give her everything... it's so frustrating and I know I'm only the step parent, but I can see my husband is torn because he looks like the bad guy and I feel like if I'm going to pay for something I should be allowed my opinion.
One last thing I should mention is she has an older brother and this was never even a discussion he had to pay for his gas and insurance and half of his car. When he was 12 he came to us wanting to know how he could start making money to save for a car, so it seems a little unfair that we are just going to hand the daughter everything. We own a business she can work at and lots of help around the house we are willing to pay for, so earning money isnt a problem.