Cars Are My Passion.
Dylan wanted a Lamborghini Aventador at the age of 10. Even then, he knew more about cars than anyone I’d ever met, except possibly his dad. He read car books and researched them on the internet and studied every car he saw on the road. He’s loved cars for half his life.
This year, just before he came home for the summer, Dylan started texting his dad about buying a car. (Dylan did not text me.) Bill and I thought it was a rather silly idea, and hoped he’d forget about it.
After all, he had a car here that’s free for him to drive, and he really doesn’t need a car to get around campus. Dylan had college loans to think about. He didn’t have a job. He surely wouldn’t want to spend his entire life savings in one place. And once he realized how much money it takes to maintain a car, Dylan would stop looking and instead find a car after college.
But that’s not what happened. Dylan continued to scour the internet for cars with cheap prices. Dylan loves to work and he hates to spend, so he had a lot of money saved. He’d worked so much during the pandemic that he could, actually, afford a halfway decent car – which he thought he could get for $3,000.
So we sat down with him and created a realistic budget. We talked about the costs of transferring title and registration, and estimates to get the car to pass inspection, which is essential in Maryland. We discussed the cost of insurance, tires, parking permits, oil changes, maintenance when something breaks, highway toll fees, and the cost if the car crashes and/or needs towing and body work.
Then we talked about his other expenses: college textbooks, loan payback, food for his fridge, restaurant visits, studio and recording costs for his band, concert tickets (a luxury item), parking fees and gas prices – both around town, and from Maryland to Tennessee. And we talked about Dylan’s summer job, which he hadn’t started yet.
Finally, we reiterated that he had a car here at home that he could drive, free, whenever he’s home.
Dylan said, “Cars are my passion. I just really want one that’s all my own.” And we all knew that was the end of the conversation.
Two days later, Dylan found a bright yellow Ford Mustang with slightly over 100,000 miles. Unlike some of the other cars he’d seen, this one had a clean record with a history of regular maintenance. Bill – who is a gearhead in his own right – checked it carefully. He taught Dylan how to find out about a car’s track record on the internet, and how to negotiate a fair price, which they did.
Dylan went to the DMV and got his temporary tags, which took all day. He had the car inspected and found that it needed tires, which were expensive. But it needed little else to pass inspection – a couple of cosmetic fixes, like tag lights and a cosmetic fix to the shifter. Dylan had trouble justifying the (sometimes absurd) expense of fixing those little things, but he wanted a car that was legal so, in the end, he decided it was worthwhile.
His “life savings” has dwindled to a couple of thousand dollars, and Dylan’s recently realized that he won’t be working as much this summer as he did last fall. He won’t be re-earning that money anytime soon.
But Dylan considers his Mustang an investment. And he’s probably right about that – in more ways than one. If nothing else, it’s a learning experience.