RSKY
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2003
- Messages
- 2,484
- Tractor
- Kioti CK20S
Our oldest granddaughter turned 16 in June. She will get her license in October and is wanting a car badly. Her mom and dad are wanting her to have one too. It will save them running around carrying her everywhere. But with what she has saved and what they can afford it will not be too great of a vehicle. So GRANDDADDY steps in for several reasons. #1 reason is that her year older female cousin is on her third junker after being broke down on the road by the first two. Once for more than an hour until she got in touch with a family member who could get to her. She wouldn't call anybody at work and others were at doctor's appointments. Next time she will call me or my wife. Not blood kin but has been at our house many times. Very pretty seventeen year old girl broke down on the side of the road for an hour scares the he11 out of me. #2 reason is that the granddaughter will probably go to the local university and live at home which will mean a 50-mile round trip every day. I want her to have something reliable and economical. #3 reason is that I made a deal with her. Borrow money from Granddaddy, never get a tattoo or nose ring, and no interest will have to be paid. Plus every birthday and Christmas a thousand dollars will be forgiven from the debt. One tattoo or a face piercing and the full amount plus interest will be owed. Pretty shrewd of granddaddy isn't it!
At a school event last Saturday she whispered in my ear that she had about $500 babysitting money that needed investing. Not spent, invested. Her words, not mine. So in all this talking and planning I have made a breakthrough with this intelligent young lady. She is going to make her money work for her, not blow it on useless junk. Hopefully a life lesson learned.
So she and I have sat and looked at the vehicle tests online. We have compared vehicles online. We have discussed money matters, interest earned vs. interest paid, investing, and many other things about finance. And she has made a choice on a new vehicle. Mainly using the Edmunds.com website she compared the "Five year true cost of ownership" of many different vehicles. And she has chosen a Toyota Corolla Cross small SUV. Why that particular brand and model? It is relatively cheap, economical to operate, and the depreciation is about half of some other brands. Toyotas are the absolute kings of the used car market. They simply do not sit on used car lots very long. So if she keeps it for five to ten years she will get a good trade in when she replaces or sells it.
She wanted the base model with the only option being the white color. I changed that to get several options that I considered to be for safety. A higher level over the base added a back windshield wiper, keyless entry and starting, and a bigger screen on the backup camera. I added all wheel drive for traction (50-miles a day in all kinds of weather). And lastly the hybrid version. She really didn't want the hybrid but the tests show a 0-60mph time over 9.0 seconds for the non hybrid and under 7.0 for the hybrid model. That may not sound like much but it can be huge when merging into traffic.
So the vehicle is ordered. It will be at the dealer in November. She is ecstatic about it. I am paying for it and she and her parents will pay me their part. I am paying about three quarters of the total and she will make payments to me. And she is not to tell anybody that Granddaddy is helping her with the purchase. And she will never get a tattoo or nose piercing. We are all happy with our deal.
Then I remembered that I have four more grandkids !!
RSKY
At a school event last Saturday she whispered in my ear that she had about $500 babysitting money that needed investing. Not spent, invested. Her words, not mine. So in all this talking and planning I have made a breakthrough with this intelligent young lady. She is going to make her money work for her, not blow it on useless junk. Hopefully a life lesson learned.
So she and I have sat and looked at the vehicle tests online. We have compared vehicles online. We have discussed money matters, interest earned vs. interest paid, investing, and many other things about finance. And she has made a choice on a new vehicle. Mainly using the Edmunds.com website she compared the "Five year true cost of ownership" of many different vehicles. And she has chosen a Toyota Corolla Cross small SUV. Why that particular brand and model? It is relatively cheap, economical to operate, and the depreciation is about half of some other brands. Toyotas are the absolute kings of the used car market. They simply do not sit on used car lots very long. So if she keeps it for five to ten years she will get a good trade in when she replaces or sells it.
She wanted the base model with the only option being the white color. I changed that to get several options that I considered to be for safety. A higher level over the base added a back windshield wiper, keyless entry and starting, and a bigger screen on the backup camera. I added all wheel drive for traction (50-miles a day in all kinds of weather). And lastly the hybrid version. She really didn't want the hybrid but the tests show a 0-60mph time over 9.0 seconds for the non hybrid and under 7.0 for the hybrid model. That may not sound like much but it can be huge when merging into traffic.
So the vehicle is ordered. It will be at the dealer in November. She is ecstatic about it. I am paying for it and she and her parents will pay me their part. I am paying about three quarters of the total and she will make payments to me. And she is not to tell anybody that Granddaddy is helping her with the purchase. And she will never get a tattoo or nose piercing. We are all happy with our deal.
Then I remembered that I have four more grandkids !!
RSKY
Nothing wrong at all with helping kids, grandkids etc. if you can afford it. She is lucky to have you guys.