Benjamin's First Car (Sort Of)

Alison loved her Mazda Protege.  Her manual drive car had served her well over many years. It was simple and basic, no frills or whistles, but it got her where she needed to go.  But the time had come where it was getting more expensive to repair and keep on the road.

We had struggled hard, but by 2004, eight years into our marriage, we had cleared enough financial space that we felt we could afford a car payment.  It wouldn't be easy, but we thought it best just to get started on it.  We wanted to get a car that would survive well past the five or so years it would take to pay it off.  So, we decided to take a gamble on getting a new car, and maximize its lifespan.

I believe we picked wisely.  A 2004 Toyota Camry, new from the local dealership.  They even had an enticement - buy the car, only get it serviced by them, and they would supply free tires for the life of the vehicle.

When we got it home, parked in curb of the dirt road in the back of our tiny house, I brought my young son, Benjamin, only three years old, and showed him our new car.  I told him, "Son, this is going to be your first car."

And sure enough, it is.  The car, now fourteen years old with over 150,000 miles on it, is the car he is driving to go to high school with.  It will most likely be the car he takes to after-school jobs and any extra-curricular activities. He might take it to college with him

There was a time when many people could handle a house payment and two car payments.  Except for the very well-off, those days are gone.  My parents could pay all three, and the cost was less than the mortgage payment that many of us pay.  And wages have not grown enough to cover the increase in car and home prices (not to mention the rise in medical care and college costs).

This rise in costs does not deter everyone.  Social media is flooded with pictures of newly minted teenage drivers, proudly standing next to a brand new or gently used car.  I don't know how their parents do it. 

On the other hand, as high as the cost is for new cars (and the correspondingly whopping big raise that comes in insuring young drivers), it pales to the astronomical rise in college costs.  We have chosen to concentrate our limited financial resources on helping with covering college expenses.  Benjamin will need to get a new car on his own unless he keeps the Toyota.  Every family has to make their own decision about these things.  That is ours.

My parents replaced cars every few years.  They rarely had a car go over 100,000 miles.  And my father was the thriftiest man you ever met, keeping elaborate log books of his car's mileage and costs.  I thought I would be the same, and it's taken me a while to get into a different mindset.

It's no longer a priority to change out cars.  If the costs of keeping a car on the road are less than the cost of purchasing and making payments on a new car, we're keeping the old car. 

Who knows?  Maybe someday Benjamin will show that old Toyota to his own son, and proudly say, "Son, this is going to be your first car!"