My eighteen year old sister just got her first car. She is a lovely girl who has been through more than her share of struggles in her young life; which is why most of her friends and family state "you deserve it!" with love and pride. Me on the other hand can't help but think "You don't deserve that sweetie", in the kindest way because you see I've had a first car at eighteen and I know what she is getting into.
I was eighteen and entering Weber State University as a freshman. I didn't decide I needed a car instead my parents and my older brother made the decision for me. You see my eldest brother had just started school as well and my parents had taken him to see my uncle who at the time sold used fords in Boise. My brother being the slightly yeilding type was convinced to buy a somewhat old and beat up Ford Aspire for I think somewhere between $2000 and $3000. Has anyone heard of this car, well if you haven't count yourself lucky.
My brother happens to be 6'4" and this was not the best choice for a tall and muscular college student looking to impress the ladies (he looked alot like Mr. Incredible in his tiny car) so after about a month he and my parents convinced me that I needed the car and I proceeded to empty my bank account to pay my brother for the down payment he made on the car. I faithfully made the monthly payments for less than a year, many times making double payments because the loan amount was so low I figured why not get the creditors off my back (Smart right? No not so much).
You see my parents being who they are and my brother being who he is never thought it mattered much whether the car ever be put in my name. So my brother can thank me for the "credit" that went to his score instead of mine. Aside from that it was a fine car that didn't have air conditioning and actually set itself on fire once while I was driving to to work. I got to learn to drive a stick so that is something but learning from my lovely brother on the streets of Bountiful was worse than any freshman class I had that year, and stalling in the middle of the intersection of Harrison and highway 89 will always stand as a lovely memory.
When I got engaged the next summer and decided that my husband and I could not afford two cars on minimum wage and paying for two full time students tuition, my family convinced me that I wouldn't be able to sell the car for anything (and they were probably right, who'd want a ford aspire). So it was suggested that my younger sister (with help from my parents) would take over payments. So my dear little sister got that amazing car and paid it off very quickly and I think sold it to someone for a very reasonable price, because after all who wants a ford aspire?
I think out of everyone I put the most money into that car over the year I had it and I got the very least, less than a year of driving. I don't begrudge my family for the incident, in fact I counted it as one of the most important fiscal lessons I ever learned. I just was thinking about my poor little sister and can't help suggesting "You may be better off riding the bus:-)"
Little Bed room Enhancing Suggestions
8 years ago
2 comments:
Oh Tana! Your first car story sounds alot like mine. Except My dad bought mine for me because it was only about $500. It was a '78 Honda Civic hatchback that was "semi-automatic" wich ment you had to shift into first and second but there was no clutch. Wierd I know. But this car liked to stall on any and every freeway entrance, and you could not run any two auxillary functions at the same time. So if it was dark and you needed the lights, tough luck on that heater. And yes, no AC. But you gotta love those first cars!
Oh, you gotta love first car stories. That is so funny! I really miss my first car. Even though you could start it with any key and the AC didn't work, I loved that you could program it to play Happy Birthday on your birthday. But you are right, first cars are definitely more of a learning experience than a treat.
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