Refreshing a Camry for an entitled old man

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Originally Posted By: Astro14
The finance part is critical to your justification of labeling your FIL as "entitled". I appreciate you explaining everything.
Originally Posted By: pandus13
[off-topic] P.S.2 : sorry for having so many replies in this thread, but it hits so close to home... I'm a SIL too..... [/off-topic]
Awww... Group hug guys. Thanks for being there for each other.
Originally Posted By: Tosh
Take the Camry to Japanese Beetle in Sunnyvale: They are totally honest and will tell you what the problem might be (if you're handy), as they are not looking for extra spendy work. Great guys!
That's actually 4 miles from us! I was going to tow it to Hercules but I'll go there instead. This is going to help. Thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
...What I am planning to do now, is to "throw parts at the old Camry" to replace anything that can cause reliability issues 10 years down the road in a warm climate with no rust concern. Basically, I want anything that won't last 30 years and 200k miles on that Camry replaced as preventive maintenance.
Woah there pardner. I sense you're flustered with the situation. Therefore, don't over-react. First things first. First, fix the hot start problem. That's money well spent as it'll result in no one being stranded anywhere. Second, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially with 'reman' parts. Bad juju there. Don't temp fate. Many of those OEM parts may go far longer than you or they imagine, especially given very low mileage/day. Third, you can't predict 10yrs down the road. No one can.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Third, you can't predict 10yrs down the road. No one can.
Well, I predicted correctly 1 day down the road: their new car bug leads to a new car lease request. FIL went out on his own new car shopping trip today. He went to a dealership and got all excited about a new XSE ($26k, instead of the $15k Camry we were looking at yesterday, or the $8k Hyundai I proposed) that cost $259 a month with 2600 down for 36 months. He then told my wife that he want us to contribute $100 per month as $8k / $26k would be about $100 a month. Wife knows not to promise anything and tell me to call him. I called him 3 hours later, he was "asleep" and MIL picked up the phone. I told her that my initial offer was to help them secure future travel expense for at least 15 years, not to enable them to get into financial uncertainty. So I told her I would not be able to contribute if they are financing or leasing a new car, but I will be glad to help contribute $8k to any car they are buying with cash. He took over the phone and said they need to put one car under my wife's name so they can be qualified for low income health plan assistance, and see if it is ok or not. I said it is ok by me, and then he hung up on me. If he is not an entitled snow flake, I don't know what is.
 
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Originally Posted By: pandus13
[off-topic] Yay, we finally got Astro-The Teacher. P.S. still think Astro name is from the Jetsons kid looking and dreaming at the stars..... P.S.2 : sorry for having so many replies in this thread, but it hits so close to home... I'm a SIL too..... [/off-topic]
Astro is the name the Jetsons gave their dog, actually. Bonus points if you know what Astro's previous owners called him....
 
Assuming a usage averaging 5 miles per day, that lease works out to almost exactly $2.00 per mile driven. Not counting gas, registration, and insurance of course.
 
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Couple things... 1. You are a generous man, good on you! 2. The old man seems quite entitled 3. So a lease is 3 years...so how does that help for 10? I think fix the Camry...I mean it's top of the line, basically only a Bentley could replace it. smile It seems like fixing it is the least expensive option that satisfies both parties. I would get the hot starting issue fixed (just take it somewhere so you don't have to waste time with it) and then fix other things as they crop up. Aside from the timing belt stuff, nothing in your original list has a replacement interval.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
...I said it is ok by me, and then he hung up on me. If he is not an entitled snow flake, I don't know what is.
But but but but but, You know he loves you, don't you? Dear PandaBear, I still stand by this set of options: -fix car, replace with similar when un-fixable -get dear kids transported by somebody reliable and with better judgement/reaction time -get extra left-over money for kids or you or missus PandaBear
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Third, you can't predict 10yrs down the road. No one can.
Well, I predicted correctly 1 day down the road: their new car bug leads to a new car lease request. FIL went out on his own new car shopping trip today. He went to a dealership and got all excited about a new XSE ($26k, instead of the $15k Camry we were looking at yesterday, or the $8k Hyundai I proposed) that cost $259 a month with 2600 down for 36 months. He then told my wife that he want us to contribute $100 per month as $8k / $26k would be about $100 a month. Wife knows not to promise anything and tell me to call him. I called him 3 hours later, he was "asleep" and MIL picked up the phone. I told her that my initial offer was to help them secure future travel expense for at least 15 years, not to enable them to get into financial uncertainty. So I told her I would not be able to contribute if they are financing or leasing a new car, but I will be glad to help contribute $8k to any car they are buying with cash. He took over the phone and said they need to put one car under my wife's name so they can be qualified for low income health plan assistance, and see if it is ok or not. I said it is ok by me, and then he hung up on me. If he is not an entitled snow flake, I don't know what is.
So he's looking to commit fraud, too. Good luck, man. In your situation, I wouldn't be inclined to do anything beyond fixing the starting issue.
 
Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
I know WAY too much useless stuff. Tralfaz, right?
Yes!! "Row arout rat?" "Tralfaz...Yeccchhh!"
 
Originally Posted By: 02SE
So he's looking to commit fraud, too. Good luck, man. In your situation, I wouldn't be inclined to do anything beyond fixing the starting issue.
Doubt it. Knowing him long enough (17 years now), this is a polite way to tell me "I'm broke, please help me". So, I took his word literally and say he can transfer one car's name to my wife.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Astro14, Sir, I'm going to hide in a corner.... I just called our most experienced Flyer/Navy man a sci-phi Dog...
To go OT again, for a moment... Call signs in the Navy are given/earned for a variety of reasons. Pun on a name. ("Soup" Campbell) Perhaps a bit of a colorful incident. ("Chunks" after throwing up in front of the CO.. "Torch" when dumping fuel in AB) But sometimes, they just happen to be applied because they capture some aspect of the person. My favorite: "PSYCO"...but not because they were crazy, no, this aviator simply talked a LOT... and the call sign stood for "Please Shut Your Cake Opening"... I majored in Astrophysics. This wasn't common, and I never mentioned it. But very early in my career, an instructor discovered that in my record, and he happened to be giving the radar theory lecture in F-14 training. The name "Astro" was used over and over in that one day. But it's Astro the dog that gave the callsign persistence...for every real, or even just perceived, mistake I ever made, every joke, every slightly iffy situation, I heard "Ruh-Roh!!" Now, 30 years later, there are lots of folks who simply call me Astro. And it seems as familiar as my own first name. In certain contexts, it IS my first name...
 
Pandabear, you're a generous man. And you have a family dynamic to deal with that nobody here knows. My kids are grown up but the lens that I looked at anything through when they were small was what was safe and in their best interests. 2 things would give me cause for concern; a 20 year old proven unreliable car with 20 year old safety features, and a nearing 80 year old driver in Silicon Valley. Fixing the starting problem doesn't fix the lack of current safety features or the driver. It sounds like you have the means to do whatever you choose. Err way on the side of caution with your kids' well being.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Well, I predicted correctly 1 day down the road: their new car bug leads to a new car lease request.
Don't forget, you started their new car bug! Hopefully lesson learnt for when you need to be considerate in future.
 
Originally Posted By: CharlieBauer
Don't forget, you started their new car bug! Hopefully lesson learnt for when you need to be considerate in future.
I think from now on AAA membership is what I'll give them.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: Tosh
Take the Camry to Japanese Beetle in Sunnyvale: They are totally honest and will tell you what the problem might be (if you're handy), as they are not looking for extra spendy work. Great guys!
That's actually 4 miles from us! I was going to tow it to Hercules but I'll go there instead. This is going to help. Thanks!
Call Japanese Beetle first and have a long chat about what you've told us here about the car and its owner, and I'm sure they will help you keep costs down, and maybe even point you toward doing it yourself. Like I said, they're totally up front and trustworthy, and busy enough so they're not looking to pad the bill. They've been around forever and have a great reputation, and I'm surprised anyone in the area with a Japanese car hasn't heard of them. Good luck!
 
He went out and financed a 18 Camry XLE Hybrid for $31500 and 60 month 0% APR, in a color combination that is not in stock so it is "ordered" and will arrive mid Jan. At least it is not a lease, wife will help out with $8k. I don't think he drove enough miles to make it a good deal, but he seems to think it has less NVH and "close enough" to a V6. We'll probably start saving up for a new battery pack in 15 years.
 
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