Alright lads and lasses settle down while Caleb tells you his (slightly car related) tale of woe after the jump.
Nissan Datsun 300zx I am looking at on CL for your time.
I am a 16 year old sophomore living at home, and attending a school thirty miles away from me. That means a 1.5 hour bus ride, or a 25 minute commute by car twice a day, 5 days a week. I work a decent job at a restaurant as a waiter, where I make about $18/hour with tips and get about 10 hours a week. I currently have ~$4k in the bank, and another $2k in stocks.
My dad is a fairly well off lawyer, the successor to his firm, the largest in the area, and currently a partner and manager of the majority of the staff there. As well as the firm, he is the elected County Attorney (DA), and City Attorney. He grew up in a family of 4, with two teachers for parents.
My mom is a part time teacher at the local private grade school, as well as a piano teacher, and the stay at home mom for my three siblings and our two foster children.
Both of my parents are incredibly frugal, despite the fair amount of money they bring in in a year. They both read finance books for fun and revere Dave Ramsey as a god.
My parents are very into making me pay for all my own things, and not giving handouts (we generally stop receiving more than one Christmas/Birthday present at age 12). Thus far, I have paid for my phone plan every month, repairs to the car I drive, all of my “fun”, and occasionally clothing.
A few days ago, my dumb phone (basic phone) broke and gave out completely. My parents are obviously going to make me pay to replace it, and pay the $25+for a plan every month. This is no huge deal, and they have offered me $100 to help with the phone’s cost.
But, they revealed to me that starting this year, they will be charging me for every mile I put on the Malibu. Currently I can put on over 300 miles on week and they are talking of charging me around the IRS rate of 50¢ a mile. That could make a week’s driving worth $150.
The other option is I buy a car, which I was planning on doing when I turn 17. However, this pushes my available money down from about 5k, to only 2-3k. And once I own said car, I have to pay title, tax, registration, gas, repairs, and insurance. Do you know what insurance rates are for a male 16 year old? I’ll give you a heads up: they’re shit.
So Oppo/CL this is my predicament TL;DR version: I have to pay for much shit, but have not much money.