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im a Lexus guy through and through. ive always had Lexus LS400s. hell i have 3 of them right now and everyone knows me by my cars. however, i have the Ford as well, and i need to make a move with it.
i hardly ever drive it. it just sits in the driveway collecting leaves and mildew. i drive it once ever other week or so. i dont have time for it and its not my preferred mode of transportation. its the outsider car, the neglected car, the forgotten car. i never would have bought a ford mustang as a choice. its just not my kind of car. but it was my dads car and he is no longer with us.
in 2014 my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. he was in great shape and it was a total surprise. the day after he was diagnosed, he went out and bought this mustang convertible, calling it jokingly his "end of life crisis car". -he had a sense of humor all the way till the very end. this isnt even the kind of car he even ever would have bought for himself. he always had black cars but always BMWs or Mercedes. when people are facing their own mortality they do strange things i guess. even he thought it was unlike himself. well he drove it for the next year and 1/2 and then tossed me the keys as my then only car, my 1995 LS400 was circling the bowl and i needed something more practical and modern -he always hated my LS400s still dont know why. October of 2016 he thought he was getting better. he gave me the mustang and bought himself another 7-series. less then a month later, the cancer went sepsis and he died...
for the next year, this became my primary vehicle since it was modern and was in great shape, but old habits die hard and i soon found myself back behind the wheel of an LS400 full time, and this one got parked. then i got another LS400, then rebuilt my 95 LS400 which now puts me at 3 of them. the mustang doesn't get driven.
i haven't given it up A, because it reminds me of my dad. B, it still looks runs drives great, C, its still modern enough where i dont have to worry about relying on a 20+ year old car as my lifeline, but this car is just deteriorating and depreciating at this point really for no reason. i have a "life plan" i want to jump start and i could honestly use the extra $$ to help that. ive had 4 close calls to selling this car but have backed out at the last second, getting a lump in my throat since it was my dads car and we were extremely close. its a problem.
i know he would want me to sell it and make money on it, i want to sell it but i also want to keep it because of the memories. i have someone coming on Sunday that wants to give me $9,500 for it which is pretty damn fair considering its got its fair share of road rash, 86k miles on it, a bad carfax, and its only a 6 cyl auto. i hope i can make the right decision on this. what would you do? or have you faced something like this before? how did you handle it?
my other cars are worthless. the warantee just expired on this one and its only a matter of time before something ugly goes on it because well, ford. but yeah.. it was my dads..
my other cars are worthless. the warantee just expired on this one and its only a matter of time before something ugly goes on it because well, ford. but yeah.. it was my dads..
I am very much into sentimental things. So I am for keeping it. Mileage can’t be that high? So you won’t have problems for quite a while. I would just drive occasionally. Maybe get a plate “FROMDAD” or something
I am very much into sentimental things. So I am for keeping it. Mileage can’t be that high? So you won’t have problems for quite a while. I would just drive occasionally. Maybe get a plate “FROMDAD” or something
i am overly sentimental about stuff and get REALLY attached to my cars. its a problem.
That’s a really difficult decision. I would keep it but I know you could really use the money. I voted to keep it.
My stepdad was in a similar position when his son died. He kept two of his cars and gave me his 350Z, which ended up going to his grandson. He probably could use the money from selling the other cars but the cars mean a lot to him.
If you are sentimental with things and it means that much to you than hold on to it.
If your not in a money pinch why not keep it.
I have a very similar story. Lost my dad when I was 9 and saved some of the money he had till I grew up. I used that money to buy my 1999 GMC Yukon back in 2006 when I was 16, Sold it in 2008 and regretted it because I bought it with my dads money. Always felt like it was the last thing he got me. Ended up buying the truck back from the guy I sold it to a few years later when I got my career and my house and its been sitting in my garage since as a weekend toy next to my Camaro. My wife thinks Im nuts for having a full size 4wd truck that I dont drive in the rain or snow. She will never understand lmaooo
Only you can make the call, and only you know the impact on you personally and your family's finances whichever way you decide to go.
I'd simply say my worry on your behalf is the regret you may feel if you do sell, and to note that it may be something that may not necessarily be immediately apparent but hit you hard(er) at some later time.
Good luck either way. I know what I like to think I'd do if I were in your shoes. Only you know if that's something that works for you.
Is there anyone else in your family that needs a car? You have a child/niece/nephew getting close to driving age that you could hand down to them keeping it in the family? Just a thought.
There’s no right answer. I just kinda went through this with my ML350. It was my beater, snow car Home Depot ride. I let it go when I swung to two suv’s for my wife and I. I love the open spot in my 3 car garage now but regret selling when it looks like hail or I need to pick up stinky fertilizer or fill gas cans.
We can’t decide for you... it is part of your journey, and was part of the end of your father’s. Very tough and i’m so sorry you lost your father in such a bad way.
On the one hand the car reminds you of him, which may feel both good and bad, i can’t say. So that can weigh in either direction of keep vs. sell.
On the other hand selling the car can be part of the healing to move on. It would not in any way be disrespectful of or uncaring to your father, as you said, he would understand, and ultimately, it’s just a car.
As you said, it just sits there most of the time, so if it were me, and someone had the right offer, i’d sell it, and move forward.
Because it was your late father's I would keep it if you can, any other non sentimental reason I would say get rid of it but in this case it sounds like you should keep it and maybe eventually pass it down to your children. You have already had regrets when you were about to sell it, got emotional, that is reason enough to keep it. $9500 these days is not that much money or is going to make that big of a difference for your life plans. If you never drive it I would call your insurance company and put it on a plan where it is basically never driven, get the highest deductible on it, and store it or put a cover on it if you don't plan on driving it for a while but I would still try to enjoy every now and then because it will still probably be the object that gives the biggest memory of your dad. DON"T SELL IT.
I'm going to give you the advice I gave another friend of mine who inherited a car she didn't want really and certainly didn't need from her mother when she died from mesothelioma, and the advice I gave my mother after my father died. In both those situations, those people who died were car people and the cars in question were cars that they loved and really were extensions of their personalities.
A car is just a thing, and its a thing that deteriorates if it doesn't get used. Keeping a car as a keepsake forever is an expensive commitment. It causes you stress, seeing it deteriorate, you feel like you need to store it and maintain it. Trying to keep something like a car and someday pass it down to your kids is a HUGE commitment. What you should do, is sell the car to someone who will drive it and love it, and use the money from the car to buy something or do something really special in honor of your dad. If its that jump start you're talking about, then do that and do it in honor of your dad. Take a trip, buy something special, do some combination of those things, whatever works for you. Both the people I gave this advice to took it, and they were enormously relieved to be rid of the burden of trying to hold onto such a large thing.
Things are just that...things. Memories live within you not within a thing. When you assign too much meaning to things and stuff, the accumulation of those things and that stuff ties you down and causes you more stress than you realize. Once you are free from this, I think you'll see what I mean.
$9500 isnt alot of money in the grand scheme of things i know, but its a hell of a lot of money for me personally in the hear and now.
a few months ago i took a deep look into myself and questioned what the hell i was doing with my life. im 34 about to be 35, working horrible hours not getting paid that great and have next to no life because im at work pretty much all the time. dont get me wrong i love what i do, but i have no college degrees and no other real learned trades or skills other then what im doing right now. if i lost my job id be in deep **** and would probably be flipping burgers at the neighborhood mcdonalds to keep myself afloat. almost 35, next to no credit, and really only one life event from loosing everything and ending up on the street. last few years things have been good for me financially and still are. good as in stable, but thats it. i have no safety net if something happens.
the plan..
real estate. right now i own a house outright that i dont live in, but its full of my stuff so im renting out part of it for a grand a month. over the next 5 years i want to acquire 3 or 4 extra income properties. nothing serious just a few condos or small bungalow type houses i can rent out. i want to be making what im making now at my job as a landlord. once i double that ill quit my normal job and just keep acquiring rental properties. it seems to be a someone easy way out of where im at now, and really the only logical way. im also planning on building a tiny house in my backyard that i can rent out for extra income as well. i want to accomplish all of this by the time i hit 40. the money from the mustang is either going into a fund for my next property, on will pay for the tiny house in the backyard.
05-24-19, 03:21 PM
Dilemma. what to do with the other car...
