S22 has his learners permit and will get his license this spring. I’ve begun combing Craigslist daily, searching for a “unicorn” that is fairly priced, safe and well maintained.
Things were much easier with S18…I handed him the keys to my 12 year old Honda with 130k on the odometer.
If I could find one, I’d buy S22 a late 70’s Bronco with an engine just big enough to move the truck. They aren’t easy to come by in our neck of the woods these days.
S22 would prefer a car rather than a truck. I would prefer an AWD vehicle for him. That combination is fairly limiting(Audi, Infiniti, Lexus, Subaru). I’ve always driven a Honda or Toyota so the thought of buying him an Audi or a Lexus makes me wonder whether I need a psyc eval.
One other wrinkle is the need for true reliability. With his practice schedule and locations he’ll be on the road 4-5 nights a week. S18 only drove to high school or the gym, S22 will be driving 45-60 minutes each way.
The thought of spending up to $8,000 on his first car makes my eyes involuntarily roll into the back of my head, but, it’s currently my budget ceiling. I have a feeling FWD for around $5,000 will eventually look extremely attractive. Obviously I’m looking at six-figure mileage, which is fine as long as the car has been maintained.
Thoughts on cars? What did your kids drive? Did you buy a unicorn, or a car that turned into a money pit?
Unicorns do happen! I got a great deal on a used, one owner 2011 Honda Pilot in the fall of 2018 for my then 16 yo. I wanted a vehicle that had little to no modern gadgets/screens, and mostly with push button controls for radio and climate control. It had a few scratches already and the inside was a bit dirty. Just what we wanted. Something we wouldn’t feel too attached to if he got into fender benders.
I also wanted him in a bigger vehicle as he has a half hour drive to school, some of which he’s hurtling 55 MPH through the woods.
I found this Honda on Nextdoor.com on a fluke. Truly we got lucky and we haven’t had any issues with it. It had 100,000 when we purchased it.
An old Bronco would not be particularly safe, due to poor crash avoidance characteristics (handling, braking, rollover risk) and poor crash protection (even the best crash protection of the 1970s would be poor today).
Why AWD? If for snow, AWD helps go, but not turn or stop. Winter tires during snow season help go, turn, and stop, even with 2WD. If the snow is not too heavy, all season tires with the “snowflake / mountain” marking (normally found on winter tires but not on most all season tires) may be a good choice year round.
Old luxury cars are often cheap because people do not want to deal with the expensive maintenance and repair costs.
I don’t have anything useful to add. My D20 has a permit and has exactly ZERO interest in actually getting her license. She tends to suffer from anxiety and is too nervous. It’s a shame because DH has a 2005 Volvo wagon with 260K miles, yes, you read that right. We bought it new and it has been thoroughly maintained and still in excellent condition. It’s had her name on it since about 2015 and he has been excitedly waiting for a new car of his own. He’ll keep driving it now so we can pay tuition but in 4 years, it’s gone!
We bought kid one a very very old Volvo sedan that had a 4 cylinder engine, and even floored didn’t exactly speed up hills. It had airbags, antilock breaks, and was a strong body car with a good safety rating. It was about 12 years old when we bought it for $1200 from a friend we knew…and he drove it until he graduated from high school. We did put about $1500 into it in new tires, and all new gaskets. Still a great deal (it also had heated seats and a terrific stereo, and a sunroof).
Kid two got to drive my hand me down van and she was thrilled to have a car to drive at all. It was a smaller Nissan Quest, and had every safety feature under the sun. When she totaled it, she walked away…the car didn’t! We then got a Mazda MPV which she drove until HS graduation.
Wen DS needed a car after college graduation, we bought a 6 year old Civic from our neighbors for $5000. It had 150,000 miles on it but it was a cream puff car. We hit it lucky on that one.
Most recent cars and last ones for each were previously leased Toyota Camry…three years old $15,000 each. I know that’s above your price point, but we fully expect the kids to drive these cars for 10 years or more.
When our older D turned 16 (11 years ago) we bought her a 1998 Acura CL 3.0 which just so happened to be in excellent shape inside and out. She honestly hated that car at first but fell in love eventually. She kept it all through college and 2 years after that. It never gave her one ounce of trouble and there are NO blind spots-excellent for young drivers. Haha, I’m sure you don’t want to buy a 1998 but it was definitely a unicorn. Our second D drove my little Scion xD for a few years and loved it because it was small and she felt comfortable in it but once she drove my Honda Accord for summer, she definitely got spoiled. She now has that and I drive a 2009 Honda Pilot which I adore. Good luck! (By the way we gifted the 1998 Acura to a friend and he is still driving it!)
Fortunately, H takes care of most of the car hunting. Hunting for things is what he loves. I hate it. I want to say he has had luck with autotrader for our Ss. With S16, S inherited our spare '01 Explorer when H “upgraded” to a '03 Jeep Liberty around ~2013. H also found an amazing deal on that Jeep, and I believe it was on Autotrader.
However, the Explorer became unreliable rather quickly roughly 2 years later. H didn’t have as much time to find a great deal. S16 wound up with a '10 Elantra. I want to say it had roughly 70K and was around $5500. It rides nice, but the interior isn’t amazing.
With S19 we had more time to hunt and research. IN '17, he wound up with a really nice '12 Ford Focus that still was under warranty. 50K for $6500 give or take. So far it’s been a good car as well.
Both kids went to school at a different location for 1/2 day their jr/sr years, so it made sense for them to have their own vehicle. And with all their activities, it helped my sanity as well. I’m sure you know the drill.
Our S got our ancient bmw that was almost as old as him his SR year in college. It was 18 years old but our mechanic checked it out and assured us it would serve S just fine. It did until the 2nd time he was rear ended. He then literally inherited an old Mercedes coupe—meticulously maintained and low mileage but again very old. He had to ship it from CA to DC & it was pretty reliable for him until the mileage got high and he decided to buy a car of his own—lightly used infinity suv.
We bought a low mileage leased Volvo sedan and when D needed a car her SR year of college, sent it to her. She’s still driving it and we are glad she’s keeping it maintained. We lucked out on the Volvo because H’s coworker told us the lease was up and he was going to turn the car in so we jumped at the chance to buy it at below Kelly blue book with very low mileage and in great condition.
My relatives have bought rental cars from Hertz and others For their you get drivers and love the no haggle no hassle factor.
Any chance you give your kiddo your older vehicle and you get yourself a newer or better one?
$8k budget is tough. Stick to Toyota or Honda. FWD and snow tires are good enough. Youngest son got my FIL’s Accord when he couldn’t drive any more. It’s worked well. Oldest got a Jeep. We love it. Solid, fantastic in snow and hard to get above 65mph.
Put a call out to friends and family that you are looking for something - if you’re on FB ask there. Sometimes that’s how you find Grandma’s unicorn she wants to get rid of.
I guess for the limited $$$ I would just want to know some history about the car - and that you might get by having a personal connection than getting a car off the lot.
Agree about putting out the word among friends & family & neighbors that you’re searching for a reliable old car—you never know.
Also, if you have a mechanic, ask him/her. They sometimes know of clients who are thinking of selling their cars and would know how well they’ve been maintained.
No such luck I’m afraid. When S18 headed off to college 500 miles away I gave him my low mileage 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser and bought myself…if you can believe it…another low-ish mileage 2007 FJ Cruiser. It’s still worth a fair amount of money and is one big blind spot. I’ve driven panel vans with less blind spots. I love the truck, though. S22 also loves the FJ but he’d never keep from denting it up.
Unicorns come from a friend in the family, not the classifieds or car max etc. If you can find what you want for 8K you are winning. Our first kid car was 16K for a used suburu, but we lived in the snow belt and the commute to school or college was freeway every day 20-30 mins each way plus work. It has not been a money pit thus far.
If I’m spending $5,000-$8,000 on a car I’ll splurge for the $39 Carfax report. They’re usually pretty detailed.
I actually found a high mileage, but well maintained, one owner 2008 Lexus is250 AWD online this afternoon for $6,000. It’s a private sale, female owned and not terribly far from our house. I may take a look at it this weekend.
We got lucky with our S20 because my husband’s sister was selling her car (she was the only owner). It is a 2008 Honda FIT and we paid her $7K for it but it only had 36K miles on it. She really took care of it so it should last him a while. He likely would have preferred a truck or jeep but is very grateful just to have his own wheels.
We were planning on giving our 10 year old/100K+ mile Land Rover to our D but about a month out, it started having all kinds of mechanical problems. We were able to get her into a new Jetta with extremely low monthly payments (cheaper than our cell phone plan).
If we were looking for used, I would have tried for a Subaru.