Might not belong here, but here goes.

Financial dilemma involving cars:

Just graduated college and now I'm moving 60 miles away for my job. My current car is a old Mercedes Benz E class that has roughly 155k miles. My mom is going to buy a new car and she will give her old car to my dad. My dad will give me his old car as a graduation present and also because my car probably won't last that long. The car is a 2003 Mercedes Benz E500.

My dilemma is: I am only 21 years old and I don't know if I will be treated differently by my seniors/supervisor/boss if they find out I am driving a 03 E500, also will I be spoiled for having this car? My mom thinks has some reservations about giving me my dad's car, but my dad is all for it claiming I won't have a car payment for another 5 years or however long it lasts, also. If I were to sell my Dad's E500, I could only get 18 grand or so, thus only allowing me to buy a newer civic? So is it worth it to sell a E500 to buy a civic/economy car?

What do I do... take the car and say thanks? or run my current old Mercedes to the ground and buy a sub 10,000 economy car? (assuming it can last a few more years, so I can actually save money to buy it, straight cash). I'm not a fan of debt, unless its a mortgage.

Am I over thinking this or this a legitimate concern.

Thanks!

 

My uncle loved everything about the several mercedes he's owned over the years except the image. Stupid and small-minded as it is, it's a fact of life. It might bring out some of the ugliness in people.

That said, it's a great gift. I'd have a hard time selling it to buy a Civic, especially if it would only get you $18k. But it certainly would help you out--you could use the 'car payment' money for a lot of other things. Personally I'd use it as an opportunity to keep your debts low, but you're right that the image might be hard for the small minded to accept, and it may make dating harder if you're single, as gold-diggers will think you're wealthier than you are.

 

Take the E-500. You are young, as such you somtimes feel that what others think or feel about you has some merit. It doesn't. The only ones that matter are the ones you Love. Drive your Dad's car and enjoy it.

P.S. I'm a Stockbroker who has a country home and drive a pickup truck to work,
everyone else has BMW's and Lexus. Screw em, they can think what they want, they don't know what's in the garage.

 

You know you are smart to be considering the image aspects being right of school into your first job. It's very sad, but it IS a fact of life.

I've been a car enthusiast since I was 6 years old. I worked hard in college, had some luck, and got a good job out of college. I also mowed lawns all through high school and college and was able to put a nice down payment on a new Vette and comfortably afford the payments. So, I got a new Vette right out of college.

Guess what? The jealousy aspects from my managers, co-workers was ridiculous. It definitely affected my reputation even though I never bragged about it or thought I was cool or anything like that. I just liked having a fast, fun sports car. I was a car guy, but the managers who make $40k more than me a year couldn't afford a new Vette because they had a wife, 2 kids, and a house. So, they were bitter.

Now, I'm the boss and I have a new Vette. Guess what? The Vette doesn't get driven to work because it's just not worth an image perception hassle. No one at work even knows I have it. Could I drive it to work and give my employees the finger? Probably, but it's just not worth it in the long run. Plus there are the owners who may think I'm making too much money and knock down my bonus in the future.

Okay, about your '03 E500. Heck of a good car out of school. I would go ahead and take it and just tell all of your co-workers that your dad gave it to you because it was only worth $18k or whatever on trade and my old car was falling apart. TELL everyone who knows you have this E500. After a while, the word will get around that you drive a Benz, but it's not worth anything. Tell people a new Civic costs more than the car you're driving and it'll end up being a non-issue for the most part.

Just be very dismissive about the Benz whenever anyone brings it up. Mentioning that it's worth less than a new Civic will surprise people, but get them off your back pretty fast.

Enjoy the ride!

 

The image thing is a legitimate concern unfortunately. Regardless of what you say or think, you'll be the 'rich guy' and it'll probably come up often such as at dinner/lunch, if you have to take someone's car to go somewhere, etc.

I don't know anything about your financial details but are you going to be paying for the maintenance, insurance, fuel etc.? If you are not or not for the most part, go with the benz and be thankful you are very lucky. Otherwise, if you are going to be putting a lot of miles on it I'd keep it as a weekend car and get a beater honda for 8 grand or whatever.

 

I own a 05 Chevrolet Aveo that I bought new for $7,700.

I basically drive that car all winter long and off and on in the summer. my summer car is a 99 Honda Prelude.


I wouldn't buy a new car right now...I would drive the benz till gasoline got too expensive and then buy an electric car.....or I would trade in the benz and get the new honda civic natural gas vehicle.


I wouldn't be pushing for a gasoline car......otherwise keep the benz. I honestly think gasoline will go to $10-12/gallon pretty quick here.


Dr. Hirsch speaks about it....and he did a pretty in-depth analysis about the time needed to switch to a different transportation fuel......his conclusions were....you would need 20 yrs lead time for a new fuel to come online and have NO impact on the economy. He think we have passed peak oil.....and we have NO plan to switch.


Here he is.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IWGsnW_NnxE


Make up your own mind.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys =)

I'm glad I wasn't over-thinking the whole image concept.

I think I'll have to go with the suggestions and definitely tell co-workers, supervisors who see my car that it was a gift and that it isn't worth much more than a new civic.

Thanks Quikag for your story and advice =) I'll definitely be very dismissive about the car.

 

As long as the car doesn't have much mileage, and remains reliable as a benz can be, then keep it.

Might even want to debadge it. hahah.

As others have said, just plant the true story and down play it as much as possible.

 

Good story by QUIKAG, everything is true to my beliefs also

I would not sell a nice car that was gifted to me with no payments, that is decently new, and a superior luxury vehicle. Who knows when you will actually be able to afford something that nice yourself?

Drive the sh*t out of it till the wheels fall off (its a MB, so that could be relatively soon, haha) and enjoy it while you can.

Park it in the corner of the lot at work, don't brag about it, make sure you do mention the parent gift part and make it sound like it's not a big deal, you are just happy to get a nice car with no payment.

 

haha for sure SD_S2K.

I might even show my parents this thread lol