That first car, your kids and you...

[zukracer]

Also,

Nothing says I love you like a Beat to hell Volvo. Nothing less sexy on the road, but keeps the Sexfruit safe.

caveat to that is a Volvo wagon. You can have full on stripper olympics in the back of one of those things....which will absolutely put the sexfruit beyond the safe zone

 

[Turbo-Torch]

My parents taught me early on about the value of money. In real life, no one will just hand it to you, yet if you work for it, you can have pretty much anything you want. At 10 I wanted an Atari in the worst way, all my friends had one. My parents said they'd take me to the store to get one just as soon as I came up with the money. $200 was the goal. After a year of mowing a million lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow I had $150 saved up and as luck would have it, it went on sale for $150. As promised, we went to Toys R Us the very next day. I was 11 and didn't think about sales tax. My mom had to add $7.50 and I had to pay that back!
I wonder how many kids today pay for their own Xbox or Wii?

Just talked last night to a good friend of over 20 years. He needs to get his 17 year old a car but the kid doesn't want a car (I understand this is very common these days). He had to force him to get his driver's license. The kid won't be paying for it because he doesn't want a job. All he wants to do is play video games that they buy for him.
Can't say it's the just the current generation either as I know plenty "30 somethings" still living at home.

CHEVY VEGA!!!!

My first car was a 60K mile '77 Vega bought in '86...loved it! It had no power steering, no power brakes and basically no power out of that anemic 140. Only option it had was the one thing I didn't want...an automatic transmission. But I still loved it!

My 16th birthday party was in the evening because that's the day I started my first real tax paying job at a grocery store. After a few months I bought my 9 year old Vega for $800.00. I paid for the car, gas, insurance and did all my own repairs, otherwise it didn't go anywhere.
By my senior year I had two jobs and bought a nice '78 Monza notchback with the factory 5.0 V8. Basically the same car as the Vega except it could vaporize tires. Kept that 7 years and will own another one day. I had two cars and a motorcycle (CB360T) and plenty of spending cash. Wasn't the new Mustang or Camaro some of the @%@*%!$ had handed to them on a silver platter, but at least I EARNED my toys.

At 19 I ordered a new Geo Storm. My dad was totally against it but with 40% down, I managed a loan at my bank with no cosigner. It was nearly $12,000 in 1990 so not exactly a cheap POS either. My dream car was a Porsche 928 and it reminded me of one, so that was the car for me. Best of all I got my A/C and a 5 speed stick! When I brought it home my dad was not exactly happy but it didn't cost him a penny and he wasn't on the hook for anything.

Here's a farewell picture of my Vega the day before I sold it for $900. That was after nearly 5 years and another 60K miles of use. You can see my new Storm in my parents' garage.

This June 25 will be 23 years since I bought that little Geo...aka my poor man's 928.
Original paint, never been breathed on wrong, let alone scratched, dinged or dented. It's like a good friend I can't get rid of.

And I wonder what's reflecting in that sweet paint? :satisfied:

 

[1vanvenci5]

The first car... A very hot topic indeed. I remember back in the day my first car... Well, it wasn't technically mine, my grandfather let me use the car first for school purposes (at first, then I use it for almost everything ). Poor car... I learn in that, a Nissan Tsuru (Sentra in some countries) 1991. I wasn't a spoiled kid, I have to work for most of the things but of course with all the help of my family. I appreciate that. As a student is very difficult to achive something as big as a first car by your own. It's matter of perspective and of course depends on your kids too. Good grades? hard workers? give them the car, it will help them thru their early stage of life, the one when you can actually leave the nest for a while, growing your own wings. But be prepared, the learning car usually gets crashed a lot and is use like heavy duty machinery... What kind of car? well, that depends too... I think a discrete family car, like a Prius. They would not be part of underground racing with a Prius

 

[dk55belair]

I gave my son one of my cars when he was 15 and he babied and pampered that car, then when he graduated HS, I gave him most of the money to buy a nicer newer car to drive to college, which he still has(at age 25) and takes good care of. his sister got her license after he graduated and we gave her the same car he started with and she took good care of it and the did the same when she graduated and need a newer car for college. She still has that car at age 22.

I got my first car in 1977 at age 14 and It's still here. I've never put a scratch on it and it's still tagged and insured although a little faster than when I got it. I think teaching you kids to appreciate and respect the car in rule #1.......Jack.

 

[newman]

My daughter brought her first car this year a 1999 Ford KA, shes 18, it cost £400, she saved up for it.
Her insurance is £130 a month.

She's lucky as she has a job and can afford it.

My two boys brought their own cars as well.
They also worked to buy their books and stuff for university.

The other three kids don't drive.

I wouldn't mind giving them a loan for stuff, but as I said to Lynne at some point the kids have to some responsibility and stand on their own two feet.

When they were younger we brought them stuff, televisions, mobile phones, videos, stereos things like that.

If I had the money, I wouldn't mind buying them a car or anything, but they would still need to act responsible, you know look after it.

On a side note I haven't got a car license, I saved up for my first bike when I was 18 a Honda CB175.
The next two bikes I got a Honda CB250 and a Suzuki GS750, I got loans for.

 

[chrisjp]

nope...want your first car...graduate school first...then get a job...then buy it....want college...get good grades...find a way to finnance it yourself...guess what....nobody in real life gives you anything for free either....kids aint doing too bad...one went to iraq...other went to college...other married to a soldier while working 2 jobs since highschool...one (she was the one with a mental deficiancy and we were always warned we may have to take care of her rest of her life) has a cute kid (no not on my watch...blame other grandparents who DONT help or even make a effort to see them) living with us...god i hope that changes soon...trying to make her independent....and tasha....ok...well shes spoiled...but the rules apply to her also....but she is still 16....

 

[lil charlie]

My wife and I are lucky enough that the kids are speed out enough that it gives us time to save up for each of there 1st cars. We agreed on $3000 for Caitlin. That's why I'm buying the car now even though she's 14-1/2. My moms car books at $5500 but she's giving it to me for $2000. That leaves me a grand (that I can spend the next year saving up) to pay taxes, get plates, and fix it up some. I want my kids to know how to do basic maintenance on the cars so my daughter will. Have to learn how to fix it or she any drive it.

Like others have said. The will my MY car that she gets to drive. At no point will she be allowed to take it whenever she wants or wherever she wants. I will be getting a GPS tracing unit so I can see where she's at and what speeds she's traveling.

The last company I worked for put these devices into all of there trucks. They worked just like a Garmin or TomTom except there was no screen, they were hidden in the dash. You can program them online to notify you when the driver is speeding, when they arrive at certain destinations, and you can set up zones that thy ate not allowed to travel in.... You get emails when any of that happens or you can go online and check there location at anytime. I don't remember the name of the device but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will put one in her car.

All of this is speculation, there's this boy who lives down the street that her mom and I don't like. He was her 1st love and they make bad choices together. I don't care how good her grades are; if she can't stay away from him she won't get a car. That's another good reason to have the car parked out on the street. It gives her a reason to stay behaving. It's a lot easier to behave when you look at the prize everyday, lol.

As for the next one in line, he's just turned 11 so we have time to save up for his car or maybe he can get the same one Caitlin is going to start with.

 

[VaBusa]

Thanks for all of the insight...

At the end of the day, we all do what we feel is best for our kids and what we can all afford. I do see that every situation is different and we all try to do what we feel is best for our kids.

Sooooo much drama on this first one; I may not survive the other 4

 

[AZIROC]

<~~~ no kids here but i planned on doing what my parents did. My first car was a '89 corsica. It was mom moms car. My parents (mom) wanted to get a newer car but since i was near 16 they just held onto it for me while she got her car. BUT, i was told that i had to BUY the car from them. They told me $2000 + i had to have the insurance paid for a year. I worked a job that was close to home/school so walking/biking wasnt an issue. It took me 4-5 months but i saved up the $ and bought it a few months after I turned 16. kinda sucked seeing it sit in the garage and I cant drive it cause i didnt have the $ yet. but to me, it was a good lesson and I always take car of my stuff. Most of my friends thought my parents were the meanest parents ever cause they just didnt GIVE me the car like their parents did. And i knew PLENTY of kids who got REALLY newer cars and they always trashed the **** out of them.

now that i said that... My brother is a single dad (mom went crazy and left for canada.. have fun with that 1 canadian members) raising 2 boys. My dad and i wish he would move back to AZ *hes in FL* but he has his job and everything there, so we cant blame him. Since i know things are always tight with him, I told my nephews (13 and 14) that on their 16th birthday, their dad has to send me a pic of the $ in their SAVINGS account and that I will match it so they can get their own car. I also told them the cost of 1 year insurance is also in that price. I know my brother was shocked by this, but I am sure it is a HUGE help cause his truck is falling apart on him. My dad and I are working on either taking a small vacation to FL and finding a truck for him and surprising him, or just take that $ and find a truck here and let me fix it up and just find a shipping company to send it to him.

 

[skydivr]

This is a LITTLE off topic Vabs, but there's truth to "no matter how bad it is, there's somebody out there that's got it WORSE"...

I was at my daughter's band recital last night (she plays oboe). This story is about one of her classmates who also plays in the band, and whose parents are divorced. No other way to say it, the mom's a Ho; she works at the Tilted Kilt (anybody know what these are)...she is no longer married to the girls dad. The Dad IMHO is a decent guy, runs his own company and seems to have a head on his shoulders - the huge mistake he made earlier in life was getting married to this woman and having a child with her in the first place. The Dad has remarried and has a little boy. The DAD has primary custody if that tells you anything.

But, back to the story and here's where it gets good. The Mother's FIRST marriage produced a son, who is now maybe 20-25. The Son is a transvesite. So here we are at my daughter's recital, at a Christian elementary school, and the mom brings her transvesite son, IN DRAG, to the event. Short skirt and spike heels no less. I saw him (her); looked like a woman, but something just didn't seem quite 'right'. My wife is the one who told me "that's a dude"....

I feel pretty sorry for my daughter's classmate; broken marriage, Ho for a mom, and her stepbrother dresses and acts like a girl. How's she NOT going to be screwed up?

 

[zukracer]

This is a LITTLE off topic Vabs, but there's truth to "no matter how bad it is, there's somebody out there that's got it WORSE"...

I was at my daughter's band recital last night (she plays oboe). This story is about one of her classmates who also plays in the band, and whose parents are divorced. No other way to say it, the mom's a Ho; she works at the Tilted Kilt (anybody know what these are)...she is no longer married to the girls dad. The Dad IMHO is a decent guy, runs his own company and seems to have a head on his shoulders - the huge mistake he made earlier in life was getting married to this woman and having a child with her in the first place. The Dad has remarried and has a little boy. The DAD has primary custody if that tells you anything.

But, back to the story and here's where it gets good. The Mother's FIRST marriage produced a son, who is now maybe 20-25. The Son is a transvesite. So here we are at my daughter's recital, at a Christian elementary school, and the mom brings her transvesite son, IN DRAG, to the event. Short skirt and spike heels no less. I saw him (her); looked like a woman, but something just didn't seem quite 'right'. My wife is the one who told me "that's a dude"....

I feel pretty sorry for my daughter's classmate; broken marriage, Ho for a mom, and her stepbrother dresses and acts like a girl. How's she NOT going to be screwed up?

Man thats screwed up. Decepticons do walk among us. You didnt ask what he transformed into did ya?

 

[skydivr]

I didn't talk to "it"....what's funny is my wife whispered to me to stand still, so she could look over my shoulder and get a good look at 'her'....

 

[Turbo-Torch]

Wait a minute...she has a 25 year old "it" and works at Tilted Kilt?

The one by me must be higher quality. I think the girls are forced to retire once they turn the ripe old age of 20.

 

[skydivr]

Wait a minute...she has a 25 year old "it" and works at Tilted Kilt?

The one by me must be higher quality. I think the girls are forced to retire once they turn the ripe old age of 20.

She's got to be at least 40....Ho thru and thru...

 

[Revlis]

caveat to that is a Volvo wagon. You can have full on stripper olympics in the back of one of those things....which will absolutely put the sexfruit beyond the safe zone

Perv... I didn't even mention a wagon, but I like where your head is at. Also, your point is valid, so Sexfruit go in a Volvo Sedan, they make em'. If they've been really good a little Volvo C70 Convertible will go a long ways towards Mom and Dad winning the Cool Parent Olympics.

 

[Revlis]

My parents taught me early on about the value of money. In real life, no one will just hand it to you, yet if you work for it, you can have pretty much anything you want. At 10 I wanted an Atari in the worst way, all my friends had one. My parents said they'd take me to the store to get one just as soon as I came up with the money. $200 was the goal. After a year of mowing a million lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow I had $150 saved up and as luck would have it, it went on sale for $150. As promised, we went to Toys R Us the very next day. I was 11 and didn't think about sales tax. My mom had to add $7.50 and I had to pay that back!
I wonder how many kids today pay for their own Xbox or Wii?

Just talked last night to a good friend of over 20 years. He needs to get his 17 year old a car but the kid doesn't want a car (I understand this is very common these days). He had to force him to get his driver's license. The kid won't be paying for it because he doesn't want a job. All he wants to do is play video games that they buy for him.
Can't say it's the just the current generation either as I know plenty "30 somethings" still living at home.

CHEVY VEGA!!!!

My first car was a 60K mile '77 Vega bought in '86...loved it! It had no power steering, no power brakes and basically no power out of that anemic 140. Only option it had was the one thing I didn't want...an automatic transmission. But I still loved it!

My 16th birthday party was in the evening because that's the day I started my first real tax paying job at a grocery store. After a few months I bought my 9 year old Vega for $800.00. I paid for the car, gas, insurance and did all my own repairs, otherwise it didn't go anywhere.
By my senior year I had two jobs and bought a nice '78 Monza notchback with the factory 5.0 V8. Basically the same car as the Vega except it could vaporize tires. Kept that 7 years and will own another one day. I had two cars and a motorcycle (CB360T) and plenty of spending cash. Wasn't the new Mustang or Camaro some of the @%@*%!$ had handed to them on a silver platter, but at least I EARNED my toys.

At 19 I ordered a new Geo Storm. My dad was totally against it but with 40% down, I managed a loan at my bank with no cosigner. It was nearly $12,000 in 1990 so not exactly a cheap POS either. My dream car was a Porsche 928 and it reminded me of one, so that was the car for me. Best of all I got my A/C and a 5 speed stick! When I brought it home my dad was not exactly happy but it didn't cost him a penny and he wasn't on the hook for anything.

Here's a farewell picture of my Vega the day before I sold it for $900. That was after nearly 5 years and another 60K miles of use. You can see my new Storm in my parents' garage.

This June 25 will be 23 years since I bought that little Geo...aka my poor man's 928.
Original paint, never been breathed on wrong, let alone scratched, dinged or dented. It's like a good friend I can't get rid of.

And I wonder what's reflecting in that sweet paint? :satisfied:

The reflection appears to be a Toyota Prius... Very Nice...























































Kidding,

Looks like a P car? Maybe a classic v8 P car?

 

[Turbo-Torch]

The reflection appears to be a Toyota Prius... Very Nice...


Kidding,

Looks like a P car? Maybe a classic v8 P car?

It's not a classic Prius!

 

[dadofthree]

Perv... I didn't even mention a wagon, but I like where your head is at. Also, your point is valid, so Sexfruit go in a Volvo Sedan, they make em'. If they've been really good a little Volvo C70 Convertible will go a long ways towards Mom and Dad winning the Cool Parent Olympics.

Come on guys it's only been 25 - 30 years. We could have made out in a smart car

 

[dadofthree]

A very fast P car