Value of car purchase? Please, it's complicated!

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64dart170

64dart170

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ABodyBetty and myself need some help.

Our son called and said he's giving us first dibs to buy his 69 Dart Custom 4 door, 6 cyl. auto. <70,000 miles, seats/interior like new

Value to me? 2K.?

Here's were it's kinda tricky. I was there to test drive and approve purchase of $2200.00 son's money he saved up after wrecking the car I first bought for him.
Test drove it and did the deal, let him give the seller his cash.

Took it home. He has about another $200.00 parts in it.
However, I have approx $1500-$2000 more in parts and 200+ hours in repairs I did while he wasn't around. Signed my half away when he moved out with the stipulation we get dibs if he wants to sell.
You see where I'm driving?
ABB needs a good reliable driver. I replaced everything on this car and it was well cared for when we got it.
We will not be able to recoop our money we have in it unless we buy it back. Then we could sell one of the others.

I thought we could ask you guys to get a fair range for a price keeping in mind the 15-2K$ + labor we already have in the car fixing it up to be safe for him.

Fair price??? Please take a moment to advise. Thanks ahead of time.8)
 
Dealing with your own child? You might as well resign yourself to taking a bath, like the rest of us parents do. My kids have been paying me back for their cars, as a way to learn responsibilty, but I will never recoup my costs.
Pay what you think, or just tell him you pass on it. Either way, parents always lose....thats just life.
 
When it comes to kids you can throw the calculator out the window. See what he wants, if it is reasonable give him the cash. If we all ran a P & L statement on our children we would always come out on the short end.
 
I'd still rather go into the bath with the soap on a rope though!!8)

IF ya know what I mean!!! BADA BING!
 
MtNemoMopar said:
Dealing with your own child? You might as well resign yourself to taking a bath, like the rest of us parents do. My kids have been paying me back for their cars, as a way to learn responsibilty, but I will never recoup my costs.
Pay what you think, or just tell him you pass on it. Either way, parents always lose....thats just life.
Click to expand...

You beat me to it, but our answers are the same.
 
he must be selling it for a reason
so give him what he needs to get for it
not what he wants to get
 
I haven't talked with him yet, that's tomarrow.
I wonder how we determine what he wants from what he needs?
He does better than ABB & I put together!
Doubtfull he'll give it to his mom for her birthday! HAHAHAHAHHAAhhahhaa....:toothy10:
Guess I ask what he wants, but I've given up on what he needs. I have no clue!!
 
caferacerx said:
he must be selling it for a reason
so give him what he needs to get for it
not what he wants to get
Click to expand...

I agree but if he wants some far out price from you, I would remind him I already have about $2000. in it :read2:
 
if he gets out of hand with price make it simple, give him the $2200 he paid minus the $1500 you put in = $700
 
I,d offer him what he has in it. If you bought him his first he shouldnt expect to make money off of you.
 
64dart170
This is a tough one all my kids are still too young to drive, and I think this is a toss up. I know I havent been in this situation. Me and the ol man back in the day put a ton of money in one of my rides and we were on a budget too. When i moved out I needed a dependable driver not a hopped up hot rod. So I told him I was wanting to sell it and asked him what he thought. LOL he said you wil never get what you think its worth son and then proceeded to tell me I was up$*(^ creek and I should have took the offer about 6 months before from a complete stranger whodidnt have a lick of sense. So I sold the truck and went in the hole about 6k counting all the junk me and dad had in it. Now I'm kickin my own but wishing I still had the truck boy was that thing clean. So what I'm thinking is buy it from him and 5 years later when he wants it back make him buy it at the price you bought it plus whatever money you put in it. I know I would buy the old truck back if i could.... My opinion.
Chuck :D
 
I'm proud to say that my daughter is GIVING me for free the new 2002 Mustang I bought her for her 21st birthday. What a great kid. Hey maybe your son will surprise you.
 
Give him what HE has in it... Having had 2 girls, now grown with families of their I supplied both cars and labor!!! They paid insurance, gas and anything they broke!!!! That was the deal I made with them... Just so you know it ever ends.lol Heck this year for a Christmas present,I put new brakes and rotors on her car!!! She was actually very excited about it!!!!!!!! That's my girl...

My 2 cents

Bob
 
I guess I'd offer him the $2200 he paid for it, if he doesn't go for it then I'd bring up the 15-2k you already spent if he doesn't already know. I don't know your relationship with your son, but I wouldn't get in a pissin' match over it, if he wants too much I guess you'll have to let it go. My .02
 
I think part of it depends on why he is selling it
does he need money for school? give him more than its worth
or is he buying some "tuner" car? impound it!
 
Kowlake has it at 1800 in number 4 condition (good driver). But if its your thing then buy it up..... I don't quite understand but you have 2000 in it and you want to buy it for 2000 so you will have about 4000 total?. If thats the case 4000 should be a high 3 or low number 2 car. Thats like immaculate off the show room.

But its all about what you like, I am an A body guy I have bought some that I had no business buying because of the price..... but I did anyway cause I like em.....

These cars either you love 'em or you hate 'em....... There an aquired taste, so if you are looking to get your cash back down the road, you probably gonna sell it to me :)
 
Thanks for all the input!
The interior was immaculate off the show room when we bought it. The rear seat belts were still in plastic and rotted rubberbands from factory. It had been in storage for over 25 years. Only the drivers seat had ever been sat in.

The only thing was wrong with it was the mature lady who owned it keept scraping the pass side on garage opening and had gotten the drivers side a few times too befor the family took the keys away!

The guy I bought it off of was selling from estate.

When you get in and sit in this car it whirls you straight back to 1969!!
I hope we can work something out because ABodyBetty and myself have always liked this car. It has went down hill a bit over the past 2 years, driven daily and kept outside and he hardly ever washes it in the winter. The bumpers are starting to rust from salt.
We hope to give this car it's loving home it once had here with us!8)
 
Well guys and gals, i'm always big on reading ALL the post so to better enable me to formulate a real opinion along with my own real life experiences, so here goes. I'm no different than all the other parents and i do know that parenting is a costly but rewarding experience. Back when my son graduated from high school the wife and i bought him an 88 Corvette Roadster. Black with tan top and all the Greenwood kit. Nice car. Very responsible kid, and to show you how here goes. He came to me one day and said "Dad i want a 4 dr sporty car". Kinda caught me off guard. I though well he wrecked it and i ask him if he did. Nope, didn't happen. He needed something that was bigger with more room. He wanted a ford focus. I looked for a focus but couldn't find what i was wanting, after all it's my money. I found him a 99 Mazda 626 that he has been well satisfied with. This has been 6 or so yrs ago. He's 26 now and still drives the 626 and i still have it in my name and still pay the insurance on it but that's about to change. I have put an engine and tranny in the mazda at my expense. This next week i will GIVE that car to him complete with signed title and not expect nothing in return and i know i wont get any compensation for being dear old dad but i feel fine with that and this is what i expect. No let down here. I didn't mention the previous autos that he drove. There's been many. None ever wrecked. 170, you signed the car over to him and gave away any and all rights to that car IMO and at this point if he shows you any appriciation for being dear old dad then you're ahead of the game. It belongs to him so when he dont use any good judgement on the price to you then it's a done deal. If ya cant stand the price then you'll have to pass and hopefully keep a relationship between you and your son.
Small Block
 
I feel this is a good juncture for your son to move into adulthood. Since it is his car he should decide on the price he wants to sell it to you. If it's too much, offer ONE counteroffer "the most your Mother and I can pay is $X.". If he doesn't agree to that then he can go ahead and try to sell it to the public. There comes a point as parents that you have to let the children handle their own affairs. If he doesn't do what you feel is right, don't hold it against him. He still has lots to learn about life and it's only a car.
 
Well, you asked for advice, so please dont get offended.

When you consider what you spend on your children during your lifetime, there is no type of "Justification". It's like saying "Well, your mother and I have spent $200k on you during your lifetime, so you owe us your paycheck for the next 20 years".

Your kid wants to sell the car. He can sell the car to someone else and get $2k for it. He honored your request to give you first dibs. I cant see how you would even question the situation.

What's the upside/downside here? Upside: You get a car for next to nothing, and recoup some of the money you spent. Downside: You will create hard feelings between your son and yourselves that will never be forgotten. And because your kid loves you, he may see it your way, even though it puts him in a worse situation than he is.

If it were me, I'd buy it from him, then turn around and sell it, and give him that money as well. I had wonderful parents who always put me ahead of them, no matter what the situation. I will always do the same for my kids. If they cant rely on me for a little help when the odds are against them, who can they rely on?

I am in no way implying you are not good parents. The way my parents raised me was different from the way many of my friends parents raised them. (Funny, but those same friends remember their parents less fondly than I do mine.) I'm just saying that as far as kids go, you can pretty much forget any money that has been spent in the past.

Now, however, if it were a Hemi GSS Dart.....lol
 
He just called and then stopped by to show off his pick up he just bought yesterday!
2nd time he has been at our house sence he moved out. Sept 08.

We have never put our money in front of his needs. If fact he was actually pretty spoiled. The money I dropped in this car was with the idea he would have it forever and it would be safer for him to drive with all the new parts installed. We just started making him pay his own way on his car after he wrecked the first one. (lack of respect for things in general at the time and no idea of value or how hard it was to aquire a car)

Some quick background, (or why I posted this thread to FABO for advise before meeting with step son this AM) as normal male 17+years old, he was getting more & more difficult to live with. He was very spoiled by myself and his mom, I guess trying to make up for his father dying at 1 year old. He scored a once in a lifetime job locally, the kind you just don't find anymore.
Once he started getting the killer $ he started resenting helping out at $50.00 a week rent ($200.00 a month including everything & all the food he could eat! LOL!!

Anyway wouldn't listen for crap. Treating us bad. I came home one night to get yelled at in my driveway as soon as I got out of car. Long story short, that was the straw and I kicked him out right then, UGLY! (He already had a couple thousand saved up & was planning to move out but not tell us till he was moving)
Thought he would spend the night up the street at the local motel, come back the next day woth appologies, but suprise! His girlfriends parents let him move into their house for as long as he wanted! (Didn't see that one comming)

Called us once in June 09 to yell at both of us for his terrible life, and it was all our fault (only child, real father passed at 1 year old, never could live up to his real dad) his mom's fault for staying with me, and my fault for always yelling at him (couldn't get away with doing things wrong when he wanted and I would always be the bad guy by calling him on it then dealing the punishment (usually yelling then grounding to his room with every modern electronic devise known to man bought for him)

1st time he came back was this past Christmas for ABB's family so he attended but didn't talk to me yet.

Today was the first day I heard him talking to me without yelling at me sense Sept.08!
He said he just bought this truck (4x4 ranger) due to his 69 being hard to drive to work in the snow. He wants to sell his 69 Dart to replenish his bank account incase his job disappears like everyone elses!
I ask how much he was going to need to make him feel comfortable again with his bank account again.
He said he would like to get what he paid for it when we bought it ($2200.00)!
I said OK!!:cheers:

He was also being nice to us today!!:cheers:

So just so you guys understand, I was worried about making him mad if he wanted 4 or 5K for it!

But for some reason, it turned out all ok! (Make me start worring when that happens)

So after he does a few things to his new truck he'll drop the 69 off here and park it where it's safe. I will be cashing in 401 and have cash in hand to give him by 3/15/10! (Then I can bring it's quality back up to where it should be)

Only problem now is that the car wasn't here long enough to name! We got to figure out what to name the 69!:read2:
:-DGreat to have him talking to us again!!!

Thanks again guys!! Good Times!!

PS: Also explained to him that he may not understand now but the 69 will always be here for him when he starts missing it and wants to buy it back, for the same price! It will always be here for him just like ABB & me!

69.jpg


69 & 64 at show.jpg


69 back qurtr.jpg


69 dart custom.jpg
 
Congratulations on getting the Dart back and that you all are getting along so much better. :cheers:
 
Sounds like naming her.................. Precious

Definitions of precious on the Web:

cherished: characterized by feeling or showing fond affection for; "a cherished friend"; "children are precious"; "a treasured heirloom"; "so good ...
of high worth or cost; "diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds are precious stones"
valued: held in great esteem for admirable qualities especially of an intrinsic nature; "a valued friend"; "precious memories"
extremely; "there is precious little time left"
cute: obviously contrived to charm; "an insufferably precious performance"; "a child with intolerably cute mannerisms"
 
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