What was your wife's first car?

[dnoblett]

She always giggles with joy when I show her picture a of the VW bug, so I think thats the car we are going to go with.

 

 

DO NOT GET AN AUTOMATIC

 

I am telling you, everything I can find or read says at 80,000 miles you will buy a new transmission for $6,000.

My wife had a cute convertible, turbo charged, vw bug, and she loved it until it started breaking.

Now, she hates that car and wishes we had never wasted money on it.

She loves her new little Honda Civic.

We bought the beetle originally for 12,000 and felt lucky to sell it 1 year later for 6500.

 

 

What's wrong with the vw automatic is that it is made in 2 halves, aluminum machined together with no gasket.

The to halves are side by side, not top/bottom.

Over time the heat expands/contracts the transmission enough that it begins to leak between the halves.

The only solution then is a new transmission, and that cost $6,000.

Must be some foreign car, all cars that I have owned with automatic transmission have had good old GM turbo-hydromatics those transmissions never die, I hav yet to have a transmission fail on me.

 

I tend to be a manual transmission person since driving the 10 speeds. But trying to get my wife to learn the 5speed in my truck is too much for her and me, so I bought her a car with an auto as a first.

Edited October 20, 2010 by dnoblett (see edit history)

[Amaro]

Good Advice, I was starting to question the reliability on the Bugs. I was looking at Scion TC's and Audi TT's both are cute little cars.

[warpedbored]

Do a little research and you'll find that for an economy car the Ford Focus is a good machine.

[chilton747]

I bought the wife a 1998 Toyota tercel. I had to do some talkin cause it cost more than $1000. Anyway, I got it for $1700 and it was in perfect shape except for the hail damage. Perfect car for her to bump into things with.

You might want to check into how much insurance will cost for a more expensive car especially with a beginner driver.

[Amaro]

I bought the wife a 1998 Toyota tercel. I had to do some talkin cause it cost more than $1000. Anyway, I got it for $1700 and it was in perfect shape except for the hail damage. Perfect car for her to bump into things with.

You might want to check into how much insurance will cost for a more expensive car especially with a beginner driver.

 

You read my mind, I was actually thinking about that as I was reading your post. Hopefully, all the discounts plus being married and since she is a female will help the premium. Two more years till I turn 25 though!!!

 

I just quoted a second car to my policy under my name and my monthly payments went up by about $116, I know thats very unreliable because we are talking about a whole different person here. I wonder if I could use that as a basis of an idea. Probably an extra $150 a month?

Edited October 20, 2010 by Amaro (see edit history)

[xiaofeizhu]

Good Advice, I was starting to question the reliability on the Bugs. I was looking at Scion TC's and Audi TT's both are cute little cars.

 

When I first moved back, I bought a Scion TC. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!!! It was one of my favorite cars ever. It handled well, and things were great with it. I just traded it in for a Scion xB, which I love even more (and is more practical for a family life, once you start thinking about that!). I do miss the full glass top, and opening it to catch the breeze, but the xB is more practical. The tC handled well for me, and it was sporty. My friends had a few complaints when they had to ride in the back, but it is much roomier that most of the sporty cars out there. It was a 2006 and I truly do miss it at times.

 

My hubby's first car was a 2007 Honda Ridgeline. He is sooooo spoiled, but actually, his friend from China (super rich) was going back and he sold it to my husband for $17,000. That was the best present I ever bought him, but $h!+ we are still paying for it through the nose. I really wanted to buy him a beater, but he promised that he would keep the truck for like 10 years and it was in excellent condition, so I couldn't resist a juicy offer. Hubby got his license in March of 2009 (we came back to America in July 2008). He passed both the written and driving on the first try, which surprised me. (Think, hey DMV lady, I know how he really drives, apparently you don't!!) After like one week of having the car, he got into a semi-bad accident in the Wal Mart parking lot. Luckily, it was not his fault. A car reversed into him while he was going up one of the rows. I nearly got hit, but luckily it was in the back portion. $10,000+ in damages, but at least the other guy had insurance (he was crazy, just to let you know, my friend who worked with him in the Safeway pharmacy said he got fired like 2 weeks later for playing with the cheese which then spoiled lol). A few weeks ago, he backed into a mail box, and there is now a hole in his bumper, which he is going to fix tomorrow. $1,300!!! He wouldn't even let me fix my car when it was hit and run in the university parking lot, but that car is his baby so what can I say......

 

He drives tour vans part-time, and he got into one accident at the volcano which was his fault, and he was charged with failure to yield. He said that the oncoming car was flying at probably 80+ mph and the entrance to the volcano is kind of near a blind curve, so I wasn't too mad at him for that. He also has failure to stop at a stop sign ("babe, the cops were hiding in the tree!") and he just told me he got a speeding ticket at the volcano (didn't tell me for like 1 week...he was scared lol). These have all been with the company vehicle, and I keep telling him he needs to seriously watch what he's doing.

 

It will be an experience of a lifetime for you to teach your future bride how to drive. LOL. I taught my sister how to drive, so it wasn't that stressful for me, but there are times when I definitely wanted to ring his neck! I wished that hubby started out with a smaller car to begin with, but since he drives the tour vans anyway, the truck is no problem for him. A smaller car is good to start. I still get nausea when I ride with my hubby (he does a lot of breaking and accelerating) so I mostly drive when I am with him. He does fine on his own, but he still gets lost from time to time in my small town. He either calls me or he comes home and starts over LOL.

[dnoblett]

He does fine on his own, but he still gets lost from time to time in my small town. He either calls me or he comes home and starts over LOL.

 

Tai tai can get lost going around the block. Seriously, when she is a passenger, she pays no attention to where she is. Sometimes I get to an intersection that she drives through all the time and she has to think about it.

 

When she starts a new job, I have to let her drive there from home a few times for her to 'get it' and then she won't deviate from that route. If she wants to go somewhere after work in the opposite direction than normal, she will almost drive home and then go 'the way she knows'. Never seen anything like it. Oh, bought her a GPS but she won't use it. I guess she don't like hearing 'recalibrating'.

My Yu is better than that, uses a few "routes" for common places like college, or Chinese school. I bought a GPS before she started driving, and she uses it all the time, any new place it is "Street address, and zip-code", she then stores this address in the GPS for future use.

[chilton747]

I bought the wife a 1998 Toyota tercel. I had to do some talkin cause it cost more than $1000. Anyway, I got it for $1700 and it was in perfect shape except for the hail damage. Perfect car for her to bump into things with.

You might want to check into how much insurance will cost for a more expensive car especially with a beginner driver.

 

You read my mind, I was actually thinking about that as I was reading your post. Hopefully, all the discounts plus being married and since she is a female will help the premium. Two more years till I turn 25 though!!!

 

I just quoted a second car to my policy under my name and my monthly payments went up by about $116, I know thats very unreliable because we are talking about a whole different person here. I wonder if I could use that as a basis of an idea. Probably an extra $150 a month?

 

Not sure what difference it makes for a person who gets a license for the first time. If my wife passes her test tomorrow then I will put her on my insurance and let you know how much mine goes up.

[credzba]

I bought the wife a 1998 Toyota tercel. I had to do some talkin cause it cost more than $1000. Anyway, I got it for $1700 and it was in perfect shape except for the hail damage. Perfect car for her to bump into things with.

You might want to check into how much insurance will cost for a more expensive car especially with a beginner driver.

 

You read my mind, I was actually thinking about that as I was reading your post. Hopefully, all the discounts plus being married and since she is a female will help the premium. Two more years till I turn 25 though!!!

 

I just quoted a second car to my policy under my name and my monthly payments went up by about $116, I know thats very unreliable because we are talking about a whole different person here. I wonder if I could use that as a basis of an idea. Probably an extra $150 a month?

 

Not sure what difference it makes for a person who gets a license for the first time. If my wife passes her test tomorrow then I will put her on my insurance and let you know how much mine goes up.

 

 

When I added my wife, it made a rather large difference.

They treated her as a first time driver, and charged me almost as much as for a teenager. (This was Geico).

Since then I changed to USAA, and my rates dropped significantly.

[Randy W]

We added 2 new cars (deleting an old one) and one first-time driver, all at the same time. The price hardly changed - I don't remember whether it was up or down, but it didn't change by much.

 

This was with Allstate - we also had a home owners policy with them.

[dnoblett]

I added the car to my policy and for the 2 years she was learning to drive, the rate did not go up much, later when he eventually got license, I informed my agent of status and rate remained the same. Helps to know the agent.

[chilton747]

I added the car to my policy and for the 2 years she was learning to drive, the rate did not go up much, later when he eventually got license, I informed my agent of status and rate remained the same. Helps to know the agent.

 

 

State Farm will not let me add her to the policy while she is learning. Only when she gets the regular drivers license, then will she be added. We will see what happens if she passes tomorrow. She has one failure under her belt now. (turned the wrong side of a median into oncoming traffic )

[dnoblett]

I added the car to my policy and for the 2 years she was learning to drive, the rate did not go up much, later when he eventually got license, I informed my agent of status and rate remained the same. Helps to know the agent.

 

 

State Farm will not let me add her to the policy while she is learning. Only when she gets the regular drivers license, then will she be added. We will see what happens if she passes tomorrow. She has one failure under her belt now. (turned the wrong side of a median into oncoming traffic )

Hong Kong flash back?

 

I nearly did that once in Scotland where they drive on the wrong side of the road.

[chilton747]

I added the car to my policy and for the 2 years she was learning to drive, the rate did not go up much, later when he eventually got license, I informed my agent of status and rate remained the same. Helps to know the agent.

 

 

State Farm will not let me add her to the policy while she is learning. Only when she gets the regular drivers license, then will she be added. We will see what happens if she passes tomorrow. She has one failure under her belt now. (turned the wrong side of a median into oncoming traffic )

 

Oh well, guess I will have to wait another couple of weeks before I can find out about the insurance.

[chilton747]

 

 

Let me guess.....she had a poor teacher?

 

 

You mean a stoopid teacher....... AND poor to boot.