Responsibility shows it face,
and asks questions that need to be answered. Just look into the back up camera!
My Wife recently asked me a reasonable question. Why are we making payments on the Flex, when you have so many good hobby cars? And it seems that you would rather drive them instead of the Flex?" It's true that my recent stable of hobby cars are a great bunch. All have fairly low "hobby car" mileages and all are in pretty good shape.
This is a much better situation than I was in at the end of my Jaguar affliction.
My most recent purchase, the '97 Riviera only has 82,000 miles on it and runs really well. There are some issues that need sorting out, but I had enough faith in it to put a new set of tires on it.
My Navigator purchased a year ago, was bought with only 109,000 miles on it. We've driven it to Monterey, Pismo Beach, Windsor, and even all the way to Depoe Bay Oregon. I used it to tow my Riviera home from Fresno. It currently has 114,000 miles.
My '06 Mustang was bought almost two years ago, with 116,000 miles, and I've run that up to 120,000 miles.
My beloved '96 Mustang was bought with 150,000 miles on it. It was used as my primary driver for years. I've done lots of maintenance on it, and kept it in good driving condition over the 14 years that I've owned it, and I've driven it everywhere. Now it has 218,000 miles showing, and once I get the CEL issue addressed, I'd still drive it anywhere.
All of my hobby cars are also viable transportation cars. For me at least. I don't expect my Wife to drive them, I wanted her to have something newer and easier to drive. Although, we bought the Flex before I owned any of my current stable!
My Wife doesn't care too much about cars, and only drives when she has to. She was forced to drive my '96 Mustang over the years. She doesn't like to drive, but she has told me that she is comfortable driving the Flex, it has built in navigation and a back up camera, blue tooth hook up, and all that modern stuff. It also has adjustable pedals which make it easy to tailor to her driving position.
I like to jokingly refer to my Wife as the "Family CFO." While she doesn't like driving cars, she does like saving money. She's the one that manages all of our accounts. She has a mind for numbers, and being the lazy guy that I am, I let her handle all those matters. She figured that maybe we don't need to be paying money for a vehicle that we don't use enough.
Eliminating the payment, the registration, and the insurance costs would save a tidy amount annually. But what would she drive?
She seems to like the Navigator, I think that it has good visibility and is easy to drive. In fact, I see lots of women piloting Navigators, Expeditions, and other similar large SUVs. I think that she likes the feeling of security and "Sanctuary," maybe Lincoln is on to something! My Nav also has adjustable pedals. It does have proximity sensors that detect objects when backing up. But it is too old to have been built with a back up camera.
So I decided to fix that situation.
I visited my electronics "go to" guys at Guru Electronics to inquire about installing a camera. My Nav already has an after market Pioneer stereo that has a screen, and is compatible with a camera. I've seen lots of cars with a license plate mount camera set ups that look kind of cheesy. There was a nice system on display that replaces the inside rear view mirror with one that has the screen for the camera. It is pretty impressive looking, but pricey. The counterman showed me a nice looking black alloy license frame that incorporated the camera with "night vision" capabilities.
I did not fancy tearing up the interior panels of my Navigator to route the wires up to the dash, then to disassemble the panels around the radio to complete the installation. I left it up to the professionals, and it took them two hours to make the installation. I saw the installer remove panels from the tailgate and the side of the luggage area. I didn't want to watch too closely! I'd judge them by the finished product.
They did a good job on installation and reassembly. The camera works fine. I hate to admit it, but it's easy to get used to having a camera, and you come to depend on it.
The biggest problem with selling a car that you are still making payments on, is that you are primarily paying the interest on the loan for the first few years. So even after paying for a couple of years, you find that the pay off price is higher than you expected. You are often just giving the car away to eliminate the monthly payment. Sometimes this has to be done, but our finances didn't really require that. My Wife just wanted to be able to save a little extra money every month. And... the Flex is a good car, with low mileage, only 58,000 miles, why give that up for nothing?
So we came to an understanding.
In my family there is the house budget that pays for all the necessities and it has to be carefully monitored. Years ago, I used to pay for things with a debit card that affected our balance in the checking account. I didn't go crazy with it, but on several occasions I spent more on gas and stuff for the house ( and maybe for myself...) without considering this. Usually just before the mortgage payment had to go through. We had a few experiences with being overdrawn, along with all the fees that go along with that situation. Not to mention that it looks bad on your credit report. My bad.
My Wife restructured our payment finance structure, eliminating debit card use. We began using a credit card for monthly purchases, isolating the checking account. I was given an official "allowance" that I didn't have to account for, and that I use primarily for my car hobby. I also make a bit of money from the occasional swap meet. So now there is "house money" and "my" and "her" personal money. That makes things easier and more manageable. This was all done years ago.
I buy and pay for all my hobby car stuff with my money. Mostly. All of my hobby cars are registered and insured, and until now, I have let the house pay for the insurance. My offer was to pay for the insurance myself, saving the house some money every month, approximately half of the Flex payment. That satisfied my Wife, she gets to save some extra money, we keep the Flex for her to drive, and she doesn't have to drive my hobby cars. The Flex is the most valuable car that we have, but it's a house car, and I don't have the emotional attachment to it that I have for my own cars. When the weather gets better, I'll let my Wife try out the Navigator. A lot of the time I have the Flex in the garage when I've been out driving my hobby cars. It can sit there if my Wife can use the Nav occasionally. Mileage will accumulate more slowly, allowing us to hold onto the Flex for many years.
Since I am going to pay for their insurance, I had thought about maybe putting one or more of them on non op. Of course I missed my chance. The '96 Mustang was due last November, so I paid the 129.00 for '24. The '06 Mustang is due by the end of January, and I also just paid that 249.00. That's money that I can't recover. So those aren't going to be non opted this year!
Currently I've been putting most of my efforts into the Riviera, which means that my other cars just sit. I don't have a valuable fleet, but the incidental costs, like insurance and registration do add up.
Recently my Daughter told me that her car's battery had died. I had bought a new battery for the car less than two years ago. She didn't drive much before, and she isn't driving too much right now. I told her that I'd jump her car, with my jumper box, then charge up the battery. On the way to her place I bought a new battery charger at Harbor Freight. It has a special charge program to "revive" batteries that have been discharged and left in that state. It can reduce the sulfation that has occurred, extending their life.
After I charged up the battery, I installed a plug in connection for a trickle charger. I gave her the charger as well as an extension cord to hook it up. I told her that if she's not driving the car a minimum of 75-100 miles a week, then she should hook up the charger. That battery cost me 200.00, batteries have gotten to be quite expensive! I left her my jump box, just in case, though she has Triple A.
This got me to thinking about the batteries in my hobby cars. I had to jump the '96 Mustang the first time I started it after sitting for months. I took it out and added another fifty miles. The battery will be four years old soon. It's getting to the end of it's time. I need to keep on top of this.
So I went and charged the battery in the Riviera, then the '06 Mustang, and the Navigator. The batteries in the '06 Mustang and the Nav are also going on four years. At 200 bucks a pop, replacing batteries could get pretty expensive, especially if they all fail at the same time! I decided that I should give them a charge every two months and to drive them a minimum of fifty miles each, at this time. I took the '06 Mustang out and added 100 miles a couple of days ago. They all need to be driven regularly.
The blue Mustang ('06) is the most difficult to remove from the garage. The Nav is parked behind it, and removing the car cover is a hassle before moving it out of the driveway. Currently the Riviera sits next to the blue Mustang, but I don't like getting them dirty by driving them in the rain.
Since I'm currently paying for the registration fees and insurance, I can drive any of them at any time.
More to follow on the subject of non operation status.
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