Reply
Wed 14 Jul, 2004 06:25 pm
I recently acquired a company car from my employer. It is a 2004 Honda Civic on a three-year lease with my employer making the payments. This leads me to having a 1992 Mercury Cougar to possibly get rid of. I say possibly because I also have a fifteen year old son who will be sixteen in exactly one year so it would be conceivable to keep the car as a second family car for him to drive. However, it's rather inconvenient having two cars in the garage (although they both fit) plus I hate insuring both cars. (Hard to believe but my insurance agent tells me it will actually be cheaper to insure both together, with just liability on the Cougar, once my son starts driving than to insure only the new Civic with him on the policy. They would rate him on the car with less liabililty.) As far as selling the car, only negative is that, on occasion I hear a slight rattle coming from the catalytic converter. You hear it slightly when turning off the car and every so often when driving, but do not hear anything 90% of the time. Other than that problem, the car is in excellent shape. It has 97,000 miles, I'm the second owner, never been driver by a smoker (no offense to anyone), and has always been well maintained. I have a regular mechanic that my family has used for years so any problems and/or maintenance issues have always been immediately addressed. The engine starts right up and sounds great--bought a Sears DieHard Gold battery last year. The interior/seats are very slightly worn with no rips or threadbare patches. Dash and console like new. The body of the car is in great shape - no dings, dents, or rust. The color is cayman green. My question is how much to expect to sell the car for in a mid-sized city in Ohio. My dad keeps telling me to keep it as a second car for my son to drive. (I'm a little opposed to this since he needs to keep his grades up to drive and there's not much incentive when he knows there's a car in the garage waiting for him.) But I will still need a car at the end of the three-year lease as I'm not sure I would get another company car at that time-- but that's three years away. My brothers say "sell it before the catalytic converter gets any worse". And that it will be a major inconvenience to try to keep up two cars. Could anyone out there give me some "educated" advice?? Thanks a million.
Congrats on getting the company car!!
If you don't need to sell the Merc, then why wouldn't you hang on to it for your kid. You dad is more likely right than your brothers.
I think having a car in the garage is definitely more incentive to keep the grades up. But I don't necessarily think that grades and cars have anything to do with one another.
Keep the Merc for your kid unless it becomes unbearable financially and then sell it if you need to.
That's my two cents...
Quote:I recently acquired a company car from my employer. It is a 2004 Honda Civic on a three-year lease with my employer making the payments. This leads me to having a 1992 Mercury Cougar to possibly get rid of.
I say possibly because I also have a fifteen year old son who will be sixteen in exactly one year so it would be conceivable to keep the car as a second family car for him to drive. However, it's rather inconvenient having two cars in the garage (although they both fit) plus I hate insuring both cars. (Hard to believe but my insurance agent tells me it will actually be cheaper to insure both together, with just liability on the Cougar, once my son starts driving than to insure only the new Civic with him on the policy. They would rate him on the car with less liabililty.)
As far as selling the car, only negative is that, on occasion I hear a slight rattle coming from the catalytic converter. You hear it slightly when turning off the car and every so often when driving, but do not hear anything 90% of the time. Other than that problem, the car is in excellent shape.
It has 97,000 miles, I'm the second owner, never been driver by a smoker (no offense to anyone), and has always been well maintained. I have a regular mechanic that my family has used for years so any problems and/or maintenance issues have always been immediately addressed. The engine starts right up and sounds great--bought a Sears DieHard Gold battery last year. The interior/seats are very slightly worn with no rips or threadbare patches. Dash and console like new. The body of the car is in great shape - no dings, dents, or rust. The color is cayman green. My question is how much to expect to sell the car for in a mid-sized city in Ohio.
My dad keeps telling me to keep it as a second car for my son to drive. (I'm a little opposed to this since he needs to keep his grades up to drive and there's not much incentive when he knows there's a car in the garage waiting for him.)
But I will still need a car at the end of the three-year lease as I'm not sure I would get another company car at that time-- but that's three years away. My brothers say "sell it before the catalytic converter gets any worse". And that it will be a major inconvenience to try to keep up two cars. Could anyone out there give me some "educated" advice??
Thanks a million.
I should have also mentioned regarding the Cougar that it does have full power--mirrors, seats, windows, locks; air-conditioning works great; has cruise control. It is actually a much more luxurious car than the Honda. But has no airbags. And is 12 years older. The Honda does have front and side airbags so I'm thinking my son would probably be safer driving it in an accident (although the insurance would probably skyrocket if there actually was an accident!). But the Honda is also really small compared to the Cougar and does not have much car in front and back like the Cougar does. I would think,though, that the airbag would be better than "more car" in front of you in an accident but that Honda is pretty darn small. Well, thanks again for any help/advice.
Having a car in the garage waiting for me, but only if I kept my grades up, would have been a great incentive.
I say keep the car for your son also. Dangle it in front of him like a carrot. He'll appreciate it more because he had to work for it.
Personally, I think handing a brand new (of course it'll be a year old by then but) car to a newly licensed driver is foolish. You have to expect that a new driver is going to bang into a few things here and there. It may not be major damage but dings from parking and such are bound to happen and IMO, it's wise to plan on it happening.
Kelly Blue Book lists the private sale value of your car at just under $3,000. I's say pass the older car on to him and let him hone his driving skills on something that isn't going to leave you riding a bicycle to work.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace