Car Fever

Andy has car fever. It's a bad case, he's having hot and cold flashes. He breaks into a sweat daily. He can't drive by the car lot without that rubber-necking reflex kicking in. If he's driving, he also suffers from that jerking motion, sending the car into the car lot. He's on to be on a first name basis with the car dealers, who do all they can to ease the pain and suffering of this dread disease.

When they see him coming, the whip out the old estimate pad and quote him a price and they're nice enough to figure the tax for him too.

There's no treatment for this fever, only a cure. An expensive cure...

The cure will only cost $10,000 or so.


I have the pleasure to hear daily how he hates driving the Ranger pickup, you know, that Ranger pickup that he blew up the motor in this summer? That Ranger pickup, which he hasn't yet paid a dime for a new motor. The bank of Mom and Dad hasn't called in the note yet, but he hasn't volunteered any funds either. I take that back, he paid for the sensor that we just got replaced...$158.

But, the Ranger, which is paid for and which only has to have liability insurance on it, just isn't cool. He needs a car. And he's pushing really hard right now, because Kev's car isn't working at the moment. So Andy, for the past two days, has had to bring his mother to work and his sister to school (gasp)! And then (horrors) he has had to pick his mother up from work and (gasp) drive her home! And if that isn't bad enough, his mother also has to take him to work and then drop off a vehicle for him to drive home in. Oh, the humiliation, his friends and co-workers have to see that he doesn't have his very own car. They have to see his Mom bring him to work. They have to see him talk to his mom when she drops off the keys. It's just more than he can bear.

Here's his rationale...we need to let him buy a car of his very own so that we, his deserving parents, would have a spare car, so that when one of our vehicles isn't working, we would have that spare and we wouldn't have to inconvenience him. Yeah, right.

So, he wants a car. Not just any old car either, but a Mustang, a cool car, with standard transmission, a fast car.

He wants to trade OUR Ranger in on a car for him--one that he buys, one that he tinkers with and "punks" out.

And he's really not subtle, and he's really annoying, and he's not taking NO for an answer.

So being the wonderful, loving, supportive Mother that I am, I called the dealership yesterday. I talked to a dealer, who has been visiting with Andy, but who also knows Kev and I. (Hey, it's a small town!) He understands our problem, as he is the father of a 15 year old who is campaigning for a RED Mustang. Anyway, he told me how much the Mustang was and what interest rate we'd get (10%, cause we, the evil parents would have to co-sign), and what payments would be for 48 months...$250 a month.

Then, I called the Insurance Company. I know the gal at the Insurance Office. We chatted about our daughters and about moving and about teenagers and cars while she looked up the VIN and what insurance would be on a 2002 Mustang V6 Coupe for a 16 year old boy with not-so-good grades, using the lowest deductibles. $1550 a year...or $130 a month. (It's nice having friends in high places who can manipulate the database!)

Last night, we broke the news to Andy--the cost of buying this car. Then his loving, and less supportive father asked what his last paycheck amounted to.

$125, for 2 weeks work. Ouch. Reality hit. He pouted. We didn't. I didn't even gloat. I wanted to, but I refrained from showing any emotion even resembling satisfaction, or self-righteousness. I am always supportive and understanding. Always, just ask me!

I realize this isn't a cure, it's just a band aid, but for now, hopefully, the car fever will subside.