denny411 Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 I plan to buy an old beater, then go thru it to make sure it is safe and mechanically sound. As the kids learn to drive they can share it. If they want there own car they can buy it themselves. If they get any tickets they have to pay for ALL of there own insurance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 My wife and I have been through the "help kids buy a car" game twice so far. The deal I made with them was I'd match them dollar for dollar until I had put in $1000.00, anything above that was their responsibility. So to maximize my contribution they had to at least come up with $1000.00 of their own. I also had some input into the car they purchased but I left it up to them to make the final decision. My son who is now 20 opted to buy an 81 Caprice wagon for $600.00 which we have since rebuilt the engine in and will soon need a new tranny. He's currently stationed in DC and has purchased a 96 or 97 GrandAM that is giving him problems and the wagon is sitting next to my house with a suspension that is partially converted to air bags. He thinks he wants to drop a 383 into it but can't control his spending so it won't happen soon. My daughter who is 17 opted to max me out and spend $2000.00 on an 89 4-banger Mustang. I wouldn't have let her get one with a 5.0, she is happy with her car but has already had to replace the transmission. Her brother, the one in DC, was driving it when the tranny blew-up and I told her to let him use it so I helped a some with the repair bill. Other than the initial contribution I haven't paid for any of the expenses of either car and the kids don't ask me to, they knew the deal, we checked out the cars as well as we could, I gave my input and they made thier decisions and have stuck by them with very little whining. It's tough as a parent to tell your kids NO or sit by when they make obviously bad decisions. I guess I've been very fortunate that my kids don't expect me to pay their bills or fix their problems. It must be that my wife and I never treated them that way so they don't expect it. My son whines about things every so often but I remind him it was his decision and he stops. Edit: I just read Denny411's post and have to add that we have the same deal with insurance. As long as there are no tickets and they are in school we'll cover it. First ticket or quit/finish school and it's their responsibility. My son has 3 speeding tickets and is realizing why I got upset when he received them as he is paying close to $300.00 per month for liability only. My daughter hasn't received any tickets yet but the deal is the same for her. Wheelman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 My wife bought our youngest his first car... It was a pristine 1993 MR2, white and with T-tops... He had his license 32 days when he totalled it, failing to yield at a left hand on green light. He was hit by a Lexus and spun into a full sized dodge conversion van that was stopped at the light... Craig was lucky to walk away... At first I didn't want her to buy him such a car. But after his pleeding and her bitching over it, I gave in. I'd hoped he'd take extra care and be a safe driver. The car didn't make a lot of HP, so I figured he couldn't get into to much trouble... Oh well... I don't know what the answers are... I know I had to buy all my cars when I was a kid. My dad was a construction worker who could barely get clothes on our backs, and my mom stayed at home to raise us. We didn't live in a nice home, but we owned our home, and it was a "home" to us, even though it was a trailer on an acre of land out in the country. They did the best they could, and we turned out OK. I think there is something to be said for making your kid work for what they want, especially when it is something as significant as a car and a driver's license. But it also makes sense to help them, as costs rise every year to have kids driving. My stepsons and their friends now consider us "rich" and the youngest is complaining that we could afford to "hook him up"... I'm getting ready to hook the eldest up by paying for the rest of his student loans... I'm hoping the youngest will get a clue and notice the areas he can "get" help. I do believe that most of us grow up and pull our heads out of our collective arses and start to appreciate everything that's been done for us. I'd suspect that'll happen when they are in their Mid-20s... Hey I can hope, right? Savage, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Having met you, I know you're a good kid. And I'm sure you can be a royal pain in the arse to live with, as I was to my dad, and my stepkids to me... Some things never change! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savageskaterkid Posted October 9, 2006 Author Share Posted October 9, 2006 Savage, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Having met you, I know you're a good kid. And I'm sure you can be a royal pain in the arse to live with, as I was to my dad, and my stepkids to me... Some things never change! Mike Your absolutly right, I can be a pain in the arse to live with, but I do plan to get this figured out. For right now I am driving the sentra still, I'm 90% sure that I need to fix the trans mount and the linkage, but I did not blow the gear out like initially thought. I am done with having an old daily driver, I've had too many. I think I may start looking for cars on my own and get something in the 2000-2003 range with about 50k and a 5 speed. I'm really considering an SRT-4. I want something sporty and room for upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritech-z Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 SSK, if you get an SRT-4, you'll end up dumping money into it, whether it be in upgrades, repairs, or both. The bitter voice of experience is saying to get a boring daily driver that gets good gas mileage and is comfortable in traffic, that way your motivation and money can be better spent on your real project. By the way, all SRT-4 owners reading this, that is not a knock on the reliability of that car-it actually would apply to any car, just that any tuner car you buy, you are going to want to tune, and it just makes more sense to consolidate your efforts into one car, and have a reliable way to get to work and back. That way you don't end up with two half assed sports cars, for no better reason than that you ran out of money trying to support both, and weren't able to do either properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrenHLS3083301 Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 hay evryone im 22 now but when i was 18 my dear ol dad dropped 30G for MY brand new jeep. At the time i was only getting minimum wage but one year later i was making 23$ an hour, thats when dad decided to take a year off work and i got the oppertunity to pay him back, i took over the jeep payments and the rent and the gas/hydro. thanks dad> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr_hunt Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 Just goes to show you that my saying is true. "Life is great until you get out of high school (unless you go to college), then it goes straight to hell in a handbasket! Enjoy the "free" life while you can. My folks bought my sister a car, which she promptly totalled, then they bought her another one, which she did the same. By the time I got old enough to drive, I had to buy my own. Same for college, had to pay for that myselft too since she went 5 years and never graduated. Life isn't fair, since if it's fair for you it's not fair for someone else, it was once back in the day of adam and eve. 50% of the time it was fair for adam, 50% for eve. Now that there are 8 billion + people in the world if you blink you just missed your time for life to be fair to you. There's an old saying also, which is what you violated, called "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" What that means is that you can tell a horses age by looking at his teeth. Don't do that, just be thankfull that you got one! But all these words of wisdom won't ring true for you unless you have the intestinal fortitude to suck it up and listen, understand and heed. That's hard to do sometimes, as it's hard to be "wrong" these days in your thinking. I have that problem, I think everyone hates to be wrong, but we are alot of the time even when we don't want to be. It's embarrasing, but get over it. The important part is to "Think". Think about everything from how people feel, how they think, what they are thinking and why, what you should do, what implications or ramifications it has and why, the more you think about something the better off you'll be and the happier you'll be in life. Let dad fix the car, pay it off in time, it's the cheapest loan your ever going to get. Be glad he's here to help you and "think" about what you would be doing if he wasn't here, like he died or something. Then where would you be? My dad died in '02 and I sure wish he was here now! He wasn't perfect, much like your dad, but he was trying to teach me something called "Stand on your own two feet BOY!" I think your dad is trying to do the same, he may not be perfect but at least he's there for you, I know alot of dads that aren't! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted October 9, 2006 Share Posted October 9, 2006 I am done with having an old daily driver, I've had too many. Sounds like you've had it pretty easy in life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savageskaterkid Posted October 10, 2006 Author Share Posted October 10, 2006 Sounds like you've had it pretty easy in life. A 1981 280zx, daily driver till I found out the suspension and frame was shot and one hit could be the end of me. I would still be driving it till this day if my parents didn't offer me the old junker truck we had sitting in the driveway and the only reason they did that is because I had spent about 5k on the ZX and I wouldn't junk it unless I had somethin else to drive. A 1992 Mazda B2600i, the last year before ford turned the B-series into a ranger. It was a fun little truck, but it kept overheating till I replaced the radiator, then the clutch hydrolics went out and I said forget about it and sold it. I used that money to pay all my bills and put some money away to save up for...... 1978 280z, this was bought with the intentions of being a daily driver project car type thing. Really only drove it once, and I hated it because it blew the intake gasket when I first took it out of the lot. I've been working on it in little bits, but I gave up daily driver status with this for now so time is nothing. Since I can't drive this, my parents offered me a loan for..... 1993 Sentra xe, drove for a month and a half, and here we are. Wouldn't really consider it easy, I payed every penny of repairs and fees, and insurance, with no help. The only help I got till now was the truck, and that was because they didn't want to pay to fix the truck in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotimport Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 So i see that you learn a bit by bit that time will show. I just dont understand why are you going to go and by a SRT-4 with 50k on it and then 2 weeks down the road a headgasket will blow and then what. Here we go again sound the same as sentra. Only that SRT-4 will cost you somewhere around 10k atleast and then more money to fix...Cmon man face it its a dodge GM. Why cant you just go out and look for some Honda Civic, Accord whatever it is it will last. I have one with 135k on it and it runs just like new and it will untill 200k. Just think what you can do with alot $$$ and youre Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 Wouldn't really consider it easy, I payed every penny of repairs and fees, and insurance, with no help. The only help I got till now was the truck, and that was because they didn't want to pay to fix the truck in the first place. My brother is over 50 and has never driven anything but cars he has had to constantly work on. I have had it a good bit easier (didn't have kids till I was well into my 30's), but still have never had anyone buy me a car. Not once. And now that I have kids I put off buying nice vehicles to put the money into college funds instead. Like people are trying to tell you, in college, parents and grand parents helping with car loans, money for tatoos instead of food and diapers. You are living large and don't even realize it. Simple fact of the matter is if you resent your parents restrictions, stop asking for their help and earn your own way. Otherwise just be grateful for what you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savageskaterkid Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 Like people are trying to tell you, in college, parents and grand parents helping with car loans, money for tatoos instead of food and diapers. Parents didn't buy me the tattoo, the girlfriend did. But I do somewhat understand where your coming from. On a side note, I did find out why the car is cutting out at idle-the PCV hose was loose on the intake, fixed that today and idles great. My motor and trans mounts are bad too, all of them, that is the problem I am having, the trans itself is good. The motor will rock about 6 inches to a foot when put under load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Mounts are cheap, and I'd get on that quick... Good luck and keep your chin up. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trippintl0 Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 hmmm...simple solution - buy some tools, go to the junkyard, get a tranny for $75-100, get some fluid for $10-20, get some kind of manual for $20, swap it in....!!! sounds like fun to me! i agree with the guy who said not to modify your daily driver. leave the daily driver stock, and modify the other one a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savageskaterkid Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 O, don't worry, the other one-the Z-is getting modified quite a bit now. It should be ready to run high 12's by december. I have the deadline set for december 2nd or 3rd. Me and my buddy with a 7m supra made a bet, that whoever makes the lowest horsepower on the dyno that day, has to pay the dyno fees for both. Nothing major, where just talking about a single pull, but its a nice little bet though. Niether mine, nor his has ever been to the dyno, so everything is best guess right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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