Just purchased 2015 Prius 2

We just purchased our college age daughter the new Prius 2 in Barcelona Red (her selection). What a lovely color! The only other selection our dealer had in stock was silver, which appears to be much more popular, based on the number available. She has wanted a Prius since high school, and has never swayed in her choice, of car or color.

She test drove the special edition in Really Red, and did not like it at all. I offered to get her the Prius 3, with moonroof and navigation, which was in stock that day in her color, but she is too practical and just wanted the base model (gosh I love her). It took a week for the dealership to receive the car, as it was still in transit when we visited.

We had planned on waiting until the start of her Junior year, as we did with our oldest daughter (who picked the 2015 Honda Fit), but with the model change coming, and the substantial discounts now available (just over $4,500.00 until Nov2), we pulled the trigger 6 months early, and are very pleased with the results. We were also concerned that if we waited for any further reductions, her color/model combination might not be available.

I will admit however that while I know she is very happy, the purchase makes me somewhat sad because now she has the ability to find work locally while going to school, and is less likely to come home during the summer months. She is growing up. On the bright side, with a car, she can pop home any weekend she is not working (school is about 3 hours away)!

The deal we make with all three of our children is:

1) never smoke cigarettes
2) maintain a good GPA, both High school and college
3) contribute at least $3,000 to the downpayment (earned from working while in High School).

In return, we make the payments, and provide insurance while they are still in school (to which my oldest daughter declared she would be staying on to get her Masters degree). With their name also on the title, they are building credit while still in school, and hopefully will be in a position to buy a home that much sooner after graduation.

 

Not sure how new cars hurt our credit. If anything, managing debt successfully and making on-time payments help your credit. We view our kids as having earned their cars by working all through high school and the first two years of college, saving their money, making the down payment, fulfilling our requirements of not smoking and maintaining grades both in high school and college. It represents at least a 6 year journey on their part, with a new car as a reward for their hard work and demonstrated responsibility.

I feel much better about my daughters living 3 hours away, and making the trip home on a regular basis, in a new car, with a warranty. Should they have any problems, the dealership is minutes away from their dorm room.

 

I remember my first car.....a 1955 Chevy Bel-Air. I paid $50.00 for it, even before I had a drivers license, also back in the very early 70's. My second car was a Willy's Jeep from the 1950's as well. I had many adventures in those cars, more so the Jeep than the Chevy, and broke down many, many times. I think it is the memory of those breakdowns (and some to the sketchy places they occurred), that makes me sleep better knowing my daughters are in sound cars, both under warranty, complete with emergency road service and access to the dealer.

The youngest child, my son, can decide when his time comes if he wants a new car, or an old beater. He may even want something else completely, other than a new car as his reward for responsible behavior (such as a lifetime supply of video games). Having said that, if my Father had offered me a new car when i was in college, I would probably have taken him up on it. However, I did smoke (several things), and my grades were not classified as even "fair" initially . I was lucky he agreed to pay for my tuition, with an occasional check for incidentals. I would have been pushing my luck, had I asked him for a car as well, new or used.

All my kids are leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at their age. I attribute that fact to the influence of my Wife, who is without question the smartest person in any room she enters. The only questionable decision I can trace to her was to marry me, but then again, no one is perfect!

 

Well, the fact both my wife and i paid off our own personal cars years ago (and the fact we don't mind driving 10 year old cars ourselves), certainly helps. That and the fact our contribution to the down payment, along with that of our children, does not leave much of a balance due also helps. We started planning for these expenditures years ago, so it does not hit us very hard now.

Really, anyone who plans in advance can achieve the same thing. It is not so much how much money you make that matters, but how much money you spend regularly, that determines your future.

 

The original deal was; we make the payments and provide insurance while still in school (I forgot to write "as long as grades are maintained and you don't start to smoke, or bring home anyone who does, or get pregnant or, for my Son, get anyone pregnant, or arrested or drop out, or any other reason we come up with as circumstances require).

As adults, we all know that there must be consequences for your actions.......As parents, we all know to use anything we can to motivate our children.

The internal debate within our family now is, do we continue the offer of financial assistance should they go on to graduate school, or does the assistance end with the first undergraduate degree (note we did not include multiple undergraduate degrees, or becoming a professional student).

I am of the mind to continue the payments into graduate school as well, since I would prefer they make a seamless transition from one to the other, as to not lose interest in studying. By that time the cars should be paid off entirely, which may motivate them to get their Masters degree right away.

Yes, we have taken advantage of the Roth concept for our children, the only real requirement being "earned income", which they all have. That was the company that inspired our screen name, along with the actual definition of the word.

 

Right now, the debate is limited to the parental level. Of course we monitor what our children are thinking, and where their educations are leading them. My oldest daughter is pursuing an undergraduate degree that without a Masters, will not offer as many opportunities. Our middle daughter is still busy changing her mind, but I suspect will be in the same boat as her older sister before long. Both are very level headed, one more than the other, but so far we have not experienced any of the horror stories some of our friends have with their college age children.

Merged.

I got the no-smoking idea from a family I worked for years ago. The father offered the son a rather large sum of money, if he avoided any tobacco products while in school. It worked, and the son ended up attending Vanderbilt University.

His father, who also owned a large farm in Southern Illinois, moved to Nashville to help maintain that motivation. Once his son graduated from school, he and his dad went into business together, and the guidance continued until the untimely death of the son.

I think of them often (the father recently passed away at the age of 92), and what a wonderful example the father set regarding the lifelong commitment being a parent really is.