beeraga wrote:
I was thinking about the used car idea too and actually I prefer that, since you can get a much nicer car for the money. Oddly enough though, my mom wants it to be new. She's thinking this because she wants the car to have the waranty still on it.
Explain to her the concept of "Certified Pre-Owned" cars. Honda and Toyota--both the best cars you can get in just about any size range--offer Certified Pre-Owned cars with as good as or often better warranties than they offer with their new cars. That's right--BETTER warranties. When my husband and I got our Accord, the Certified warranty was actually 7 years/100,000 miles, whereas the new warranty was only something like 36,000 miles. The same with the Sienna minivan we bought a few weeks ago. A new Hyundai will have a 100,000 mile warranty, but Consumer Reports still doesn't have a lot of good to say about them (though they're getting better ratings than they have in the past.)
Ford will have probably a 36,000 mile warranty, or at least that's what my 1997 Escort had when I bought it in 1998. 36,000 miles doesn't do you a whole helluva lot of good when the transmission drops out at 60,000 miles--which is what happened to my Escort. $3000 to repair, and followed in the next year by the need for a new radiator, a loud pinging in the engine that multiple trips to the dealership couldn't fix (each trip a few hundred dollars) and a number of other odds and ends to the tune of another $1000 before we got rid of the thing and bought our Accord.
I don't have a lot of good to say about Ford. Sure, you mother's Focus is probably an okay car now, just out of the box. Give it five years, though.
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And she wants something reliable. The reason why she wants to do this in the first place is because we're planning on trying to have a kid very soon and a two-seater truck won't cut it. Oh yah, and it has to be a four door. :o)
Go out and buy a copy of the Consumer Reports Auto-Buyers Guide. They put one out each year. Highlight the Focus, and several other comparable compact sedans, especially the Corolla and Civic. Then show it to her, and when she can't make heads or tails of all the stupid little solid, semi-solid, and striped circles, interpret the information. Check out the "Used Car Best Buys" section and the "Used Cars to Avoid" section and see where the Focus falls--even if you end up getting new, the "Used Cars" sections give you a glimpse at the FUTURE of your car. I can tell you now without even looking that the Ford is going to have a lower rating than the comparable Honda or Toyota compacts. Then get the Kelley BlueBook resale values for all the cars in question--which are holding up their resale value better?
Explain to her that if she is going to GENEROUSLY go to all this expense and trouble on your behalf, you would rather see her kindness invested in something you are absolutely sure will be reliable, so that some day neither she nor you look back on the purchase with regret.
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Every Toyota my family has had (about 4) they've all lasted over 100k miles...
My husband's 1990 Camry that we finally traded in a few weeks ago had 195K on it, and had, over the 13 years he owned it, cost VERY little in repairs--mostly just basic maintenance.
I grew up in Flint, Michigan with a number of relatives that work for GM, so I understand the whole "pressure to buy American cars" thing. Just tell anyone who criticizes the fact that Honda and Toyota are Japanese cars that most "Japanese" cars are being made in the U.S. these days, and most "American" cars are being made in Mexico. If that doesn't work, make with the self-righteousness and explain that you have an ethical problem buying cars from companies that are laying off thousands of American workers to move their operations down to Mexico.
Lastly, in all seriousness--quit being so ungrateful and deal with the fact that someone wants to give you a very HUGE gift with more graciousness and less whining than you've displayed with the whole "Mom's car isn't good enough for us--we want the cash" thing. Never once in your post did you make reference to feeling any gratitude that your mother wants to give you a very sizable and generous gift. This whole "give us the cash" thing just sounds like a greedy grab for more money. Why not ask her to hold off buying the car and offer to pool YOUR money with HERS, rather than asking her to hand you the cash and take it on faith that you will sock it away for a car?
Edited, Sep 6th 2006 at 6:19pm EDT by Ambrya
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