mudgeons' kids' first cars

[dan]

Originally Posted by Alan

Truthfully a kids first car should be the safest thing available as things will happen, forget BMW, Audi etc Hyundai and Kia offer super safe cars and VERY reasonable prices.

Why didn't they get a Kia or Hyundai then?

[wdc330i]

I’m a fan of the Mazdas.

But, something hybrid, for a kid who has to buy gas, is pretty appealing.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by dan

Why didn't they get a Kia or Hyundai then?

Something tells me your smart enough to figure out the answer to that on your own

[kognito]

Originally Posted by wdc330i

I agree that safe is very important.

Hmmm. in 1974 my father gave me a Corvair

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by kognito

Hmmm. in 1974 my father gave me a Corvair

Ha! I think we’ve been through this before. My dad had a Corvair he loved (actually two).

I learned to drive on the family’s next car, a VW Thing. Not remotely safe in any way!

[Jeff_DML]

Originally Posted by clyde

Used car pricing won't be like this forever. I doubt two years. Another year? Maybe? But who knows?



For insurance, girls are definitely better. Girls with good grades even better than that.

That said, it really, really pays to shop around. I know that a good agent can help a lot, but my experience was that I had to do it myself and a get a lot of quotes. Well worth it, though.

I am picking up the tab for insurance, gas, and maintenance for now, but they know there's a budget for those expenses and they'll need to cover any overages.

Originally Posted by dan

I bought a Ford Escape from my parents for $12,000 and also pay all of the insurance. She fills the tank and pays when she needs it. If I take it somewhere and drive it a bit I'll fill it myself. I'll be doing the same for the son. (Except I won't have a family car to choose). I didn't put any qualifications on it as far as grades or behavior goes. Budget for his car will be in the 12-15K range

thanks

car wise for my older sounds like my parents might get a new car and sell us their hyundai sonata. My older son is actually fired up to get a job so we will see.

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

not sure my kids can afford that even with a job from what I heard insurance is going to be for them

I had to give my stepdad a check for ~$120/month when I was in high school to pay for how much our insurance increased. I think that was after I got my first car, which was a hand-me-down '65 Toyota LandCruiser from my dad that he gave me shortly before I turned 17.

For the first year, I borrowed my parents cars. I think I had to pay him ~$80 per month then.

My mom helped pay for gas -- she gave us her Chevron card when we needed it. Although I think I probably just paid for gas at least half the time...

I got a job on my 16th birthday. Made $3.75/hour (min wage was $3.35 back then), and I'd work 16-20 hours per week. A good chunk of my paycheck went to cover insurance... I was also in a co-op program my senior year of high school, and took a job at a jewelry store helping do pretty much anything -- running errands (like going to the diamond broker to pick up stones...), a little bit of sales (which had a commission), and I built them a database so they could replace paper inventory cards with a computer, and helped migrate all those cards into the PC (manual data entry -- this was 1989-1990). I think that job started at $5/hour and ended around $10/hour (I worked a couple summers in college for that store or the manager when he opened his own store a couple years later), also about 20 hours a week...

[Jeff_DML]

Originally Posted by ZBB

I had to give my stepdad a check for ~$120/month when I was in high school to pay for how much our insurance increased. I think that was after I got my first car, which was a hand-me-down '65 Toyota LandCruiser from my dad that he gave me shortly before I turned 17.

For the first year, I borrowed my parents cars. I think I had to pay him ~$80 per month then.

My mom helped pay for gas -- she gave us her Chevron card when we needed it. Although I think I probably just paid for gas at least half the time...

I got a job on my 16th birthday. Made $3.75/hour (min wage was $3.35 back then), and I'd work 16-20 hours per week. A good chunk of my paycheck went to cover insurance... I was also in a co-op program my senior year of high school, and took a job at a jewelry store helping do pretty much anything -- running errands (like going to the diamond broker to pick up stones...), a little bit of sales (which had a commission), and I built them a database so they could replace paper inventory cards with a computer, and helped migrate all those cards into the PC (manual data entry -- this was 1989-1990). I think that job started at $5/hour and ended around $10/hour (I worked a couple summers in college for that store or the manager when he opened his own store a couple years later), also about 20 hours a week...

hope you kept that landcruiser


$4.25 and hour for me, minimum ca wage, bagging groceries . Sound like my son might apply at for the same job at the same store

[wdc330i]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

hope you kept that landcruiser


$4.25 and hour for me, minimum ca wage, bagging groceries . Sound like my son might apply at for the same job at the same store

Wow! Full circle.

I worked in a hardware store and babysat while in high school/college.

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

hope you kept that landcruiser

Unfortunately I sold it in ‘92. Maintenance was becoming costly…

Interestingly, we had the original invoice for that TLC. The original owner paid a bit over $5k for it in ‘65. Not cheap.

I sold it for $3k in ‘92. Not sure what my dad paid when he bought it in ‘79 though, but it was free to me — so infinite profit!.

I talked with the guy who bought it from me about a year later…. Learned that the engine seized shortly after he bought it. Apparently he had it serviced and the shop messed up something.

When old TLCs went up in value, I did regret selling it a bit. But the ones with over $80k+ now have restorations that cost nearly that…