Originally Posted By RoadTrip We just got back from an afternoon of car shopping. We wanted our daughter to have a car when she graduated from college. We found a great deal at a Toyota dealership. We purchased a Toyota Certified 2003 Corolla with only 19,000 miles on it. We were able to get it for $4,000 less than what edmunds.com says the typical person pays (TMV value). I don't know who is more excited... our daughter or us. We just called her at school and she FREAKED!!! She is going to come home next weekend to pick up the car. I can't wait!!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<We were able to get it for $4,000 less than what edmunds.com says the typical person pays (TMV value).>> Oops... subtraction error. It was about $3,000 less than the TMV value, not $4,000. Still an excellent deal though. I'm so glad we could do this for our daughter... she has been an excellent student and a wonderful daughter.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling Awwwww. What a wonderful thing to do for her. You ain't bad Trippy, you ain't bad.
Originally Posted By -em So ya looking to adopt another college grad? Course I am in the market for an 06 Corolla so I would require a bit more "attention" -em
Originally Posted By tapdancemom When I read the heading of this thread I was hoping she wasn't a sixteen year old. What a great reward for a young lady who has worked hard in college. I'll bet she is so thrilled.
Originally Posted By avromark Hmmm why didn't someone buy me a car? Heh oh well. TMV's tend to be on the high side usually though. But at least you know you saved, and didn't get ripped off. Hopefully she'll be happier with hers then I was with my 01 Camry.
Originally Posted By avromark At least it doesn't require premium. If her cars VIN starts with 1 or 4 or 5 It was assembled in California, USA. If her cars VIN starts with 2 it was Assembled at TMMI in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. This is Toyota's Highest rated plant in North America. It would mean her car was assembled in the same facility that builds the Lexus RX350. This is the only Toyota factory outside of Japan that builds Lexus.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<When I read the heading of this thread I was hoping she wasn't a sixteen year old. What a great reward for a young lady who has worked hard in college. I'll bet she is so thrilled.>> Well, we went through a couple of heated discussions on that a few years ago. I said that since we were paying all of her college expenses including the expense of living on campus, we were not going to buy her a car. Rachel wasn't happy at the time, but she learned to live with it. As she matured and found out what OTHER kids had to do to pay for school, she really started to appreciate what Mom and Dad were doing for her. I have to say that I had never expected her to be quite as appreciative as she is at such a young age. We always told her that her job was studying... that we would take care of the other stuff. She completed her degree in 4 years and finished with all A's except for one B+. The B+ came from the Professor who is the mother of her boyfriend!!! I guess she wanted to make sure she wasn't accused of favoritism! We knew she would need a car when she graduated. She is staying in the town where her college was to work and save for graduate school. It occurred to me tonight that Rachel now has a newer car and a car with far less mileage than either my wife or I have. That's OK. I've always been rather proud of the fact that we live well below our means. It lets us do good things for our kids when they deserve it and that gives us more happiness than buying something for ourselves would give. Besides... we do OK.. The kids aren't cramping our style TOO much!! :lol Yes, she is THRILLED about the car... and she hasn’t even seen it yet. <<If her cars VIN starts with 1 or 4 or 5 It was assembled in California, USA.>> The VIN starts with a 1. It would have been cool if it was a 2, but assembly in California sounds OK by me too. Wish they all could be California Cars... (apologies to the Beach Boys).
Originally Posted By cape cod joe RT--Glad to see that you (or whoever chose it>wife?) gave your daughter the greatest name in the world-Rachel. It was non-negotiable with my wife after 20 years of trying to have kids. I had to name our girl Rachel. I love to hear this type of thread of buying of whatever and I do NOT construe it as bragging but simply SHARING your life. I feel very good for ALL people's successes (except very evil people) of which there are NONE here on LP. You have done a great job IMHO of raising the fam and that is what counts as success (not money). My overwhelming success of which I spoke had MONEY as maybe 25th place as one of the criteria. I'm sorry if you took it the raison d'etre of my overwhelming success. I just don't have a lot of time to go through every little detail.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo "Well, we went through a couple of heated discussions on that a few years ago. I said that since we were paying all of her college expenses including the expense of living on campus, we were not going to buy her a car. Rachel wasn't happy at the time, but she learned to live with it." God, I wish I had it that cushy when I was that young. I had to scrimp and save and put myself through college. Then I bought my first car at 22 - an old jallopy. I was 26 by the time I paid everything off. On the flip side, it taught me responsibility. I already knew what that was, but being self sufficient from the age of 18 made me who I am today. But I still feel kind of guilty when I spoil myself.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I am going to make my kids earn everything, and then surprise them periodically -like maybe paying half for their first car, or half of their first house deposit. I think kids learn better lessons that way.
Originally Posted By t1lersm0m Congrats to your daughter! It's great that you are able to do that for her.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Very nice, RoadTrip! I didn't go to college - my family didn't have much money and my brother (with his 145 IQ and college-prep courses) was the logical choice to further his education. Purchased my first car in the summer of 1976 - a '72 Toyota Corolla with no A/C (in freakin' Las Vegas! *LOL*) for $1,299 - only after receiving my first paycheck. Paid $99 a month for it and the moment it was finally paid off, some jerk hit it in a parking lot and on the way to the repair shop, the electrical system started smoking. Ah well... Bought my first new car after that - 1980 Pontiac Sunbird - no frills, but she was pretty and had Air Conditioning! Woo hoo!! Yeah, there were lessons learned, but it didn't stop me from being more than a little bit resentful in two ways... I found out later that my grandparents had wanted to give me their old Toyota (very cute - it was red) when they were ready to trade it in - my parents refused. And my folks helped my brother out financially a LOT - during college and after (he never put his degree to any purpose.) The sour grapes are gone now - my brother lived a very rough life, medically and died too young at 40 - and I am definitely proud of the fact that I never asked my parents for money. Even when I was making just $3.16 an hour and lived paycheck-to-paycheck with no savings account. Dang... That was a ramble! *LOL* Anyway, I applaud you and your wife, RoadTrip. Deserved rewards are WONDERful!
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<God, I wish I had it that cushy when I was that young. I had to scrimp and save and put myself through college. >> Yea, me too. I had to pay for 100% of my cars and had to work to pay for my education. Although I had a car in High School, it was a $200 wonder I paid for myself. I probably put $1,000 in it over the course of two years to keep the thing running. During college I worked about 30 hours a week. With the heavy work load I started taking fewer credits, and then fell behind to where I would not graduate in four years (back when I was in school most kids actually graduated at the end of 4 years!). By my senior year I felt like I was going nowhere. I decided to quit school and work full time. The idea was that once I had earned enough to pay for my final year I would go back. Of course I never did... kids rarely do. I've always felt that if I hadn't had to work so many hours during college I would have completed my degree. It always bothered me that my parents were unable to help me. My parents had a very good income, but after spending on things like Hawaiian vacations and buying a new car every year, there just wasn't enough left over to pay for something frivolous like education. When I had kids I decided that if I could give them nothing else, I would try to get them through school without them having to work a lot. I work for a University and statistics show that kids working more than 10 hours a week have a significantly lower graduation rate than those who don't. I should also point out that Rachel did hold on-campus Research Apprentice and Teaching Assistant positions which did not pay salary but did reduce her tuition. She also received the Chancellor's Scholarship every term she was there based on her academic performance. So although she did not have a "job"... she did contribute to her own education. So that's what worked for me. It may not work for everyone.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo I understand Roadtrip. What will be interesting to see what choices she makes in the future. You obviously seem have to made good choices, and I have no doubt you have raised a fine daughter (I have a lot of respect for you trippy). I suppose a part of it for me was sour grapes. I had to work 3 jobs at college (and I was a warden to get lower fees, as well as having scholarships too). I used to hate that I had to get myself to and from my parents' house and all the other kids got care packages, and my parents could not aford to help me. I only seem to have found my financial feet a couple of years ago - but I suppose I should be proud that I can feed my family and my wife is a full time domestic goddess.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Trippy, great choice. I promised my daughter a car for High School graduation if she landed an athletic scholarship ( would have taken academic too but that wasn't in the cards ) - and she did land a full ride for 5 years ( 4 if graduates on time which it appears she will) - I figured this was way cheaper than the college education was going to be for me, and she had to be so dedicated -- playing 7 years of 'club level' volleyball ( 7 months a year) in addition to High School ball. She sacrificed a lot with practices 5 days a week from when she was 15 - 18 - really worked hard... I explained that the car had to be within reason ( as we live in an area where many a 16 year old got Bimmers - etc for doing nothing ) - She narrowed it down to a Corolla and a Civic and opted for the Corolla due to 4 wheel disk ABS option availability and the car was a little larger.... almost 28,000 miles later the car runs like a clock -- a lot of her miles are highway to home-- and although you will not see the advertised 40 mpg -- it is really good averaging around 30 - and some of those miles are around town type miles... Hope your daughter has the same luck with hers....we opted for the 7 yr , 100,000 mile full coverage warranty as I figured it would give her a good strat when she graduates to have a dependable car with very little expenses. One note of caution....if she has the Uniroyal tires ( standard on some models )- expect to replace them a little past 20,000 miles -- they are crapola....( do a google and you will find numerous chats on this also ) - we relaced at 22,000 with the Yokohama's -- car handles much better in rain/snow with them also One
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<One note of caution....if she has the Uniroyal tires ( standard on some models )- expect to replace them a little past 20,000 miles -- they are crapola....>> I suspect the car originally came with Uniroyals because the tires had been replaced by the dealer. I was rather surprised that they needed to be replaced when the car had only 19,000 miles on it, but the salesman said it had to be done to meet Toyota Certification standards. With the information you’ve given me about the Uniroyals, it now makes sense. The tires on the car now are clearly new. The little rubber threads that stick out of new tires haven't even worn off yet. The tires on the vehicle now are Aurora -- a brand I've never heard of. I checked them out at the U.S. Govt site that rates tires, and they seem rather average. If they are a problem, I will replace them before next winter. <a href="http://www.safercar.gov/tires/pages/tireratings.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.safercar.gov/tires/ pages/tireratings.cfm</a>
