My daughter is 17 and is planning to get her license after her 18th birthday this summer. She’s graduating June 1st. I have to cart her around several times a day every day, so of course, I’m all on board with her getting a license and her own car!
The licensing process for minors in TX is pretty intense, and she just hasn’t had that kind of free time while in school. Between school, work, and sports, she has stayed pretty busy. It’s also much cheaper and significantly faster if you wait until you’re 18, which is what influenced her decision to wait.
She saved up a little money and wanted to go ahead and start car shopping now so she can fix something up and have it ready to go when she does get her license. Being the kind of person who “gets it done” once I’m tasked with something, I set right to work hunting for a car. I sent her some photos and links for a few days to give her an idea of what’s out there and what they cost, and then I found something I thought was worthy of going to see.
So we rushed out immediately after school on Wednesday but before she had to be at work. We had to drive out to Arlington in busy afternoon traffic and still make it back in time for her to go to work. The guy met us at his little office/car lot, and we took it for a test drive. It looked great on the outside, but the inside was not good, and when we drove it, the steering made a loud whine like it needed power steering fluid. It didn’t feel right. Also, the air conditioning didn’t blow cool air…that was something she requires here in hot TX. I told her we should pass.
When we got out and said we weren’t interested, the guy said he had a couple of other cars on the lot that were priced a little bit higher, but he would be willing to give us the same price as the one we came to see since we were already there. So he showed us two other vehicles. One was in terrible shape inside…just terrible. That was definitely a no-go. The other one, though, was a 2010 Pontiac G6 in really good shape other than a hole in the front bumper and peeling/fading paint. No major issues, though. The inside was perfect. So we decided to take it for a test drive. Wow! We were so surprised! It started instantly…didn’t even hear it turn over. It ran so smoothly and was very comfortable to drive. It was actually in pretty good shape. I took it to another parking lot during our test drive and got out to check it out without the guy hovering over us. I did notice a bent rim, but it held air fine. It looked like someone hit a curb and scraped the side of the tire, but definitely replaceable. Also, the air bag light is on, so we’ll have to get that checked out.
Honestly, I was so impressed with how well it ran! Haylee decided this was the car she wanted, and with getting it at the same price as the other one, it worked out perfectly for her, as that was the limit of what she wanted to spend. So we sat down in his office to do the deal, only to find out that it did not have a current state inspection! The guy said he could give us a 60-day temp tag, and we could get it inspected during that time frame so we could go get full registration, but I said no…we needed to know it passed inspection before we went any further. I didn’t want her to run into immediate repairs that she wasn’t inspecting. So we waited 2 days for it to get inspected, and all was well! I got my son to drive me back up there on Friday, and he waited with me since a cash transaction was required. I don’t generally walk around with $3,330 in cash ($2,950 plus title and registration fees of $330), so I was uncomfortable being there with this guy unescorted carrying all that cash. But it went off without a hitch, and I paid for it so Haylee can make bi-weekly payments to me for it and pay it off in 7.5 months. She was so excited!
I didn’t have any issues with it on the highway driving home, and it already had more than half a tank of gas, which was a nice bonus. Haylee plans to spend Sunday afternoon hand-washing it and cleaning it up with her boyfriend while she has the day off, so I told her I’d give her my Meguiar’s complete car care set to use. I already got insurance set up, so we’ll be able to take it to get any repairs, cleaning, etc. done. It came with only 1 key and no remote, so I told her for graduation or her birthday, I’d order a 2nd transponder key and remote fob and get a locksmith to program them for her. I’d hate to see her lock the key in it one day and not be able to get in when she’s trying to go to work or something!
She’s dying to drive it. I let her drive it in a parking lot when we were test driving it. That’s all she can legally do in TX until she gets at least a permit, but she’s gonna try to go straight for a license. She’ll just have to do a 6-hour online course with a 50-question multiple choice test at the end, then a 1-hour TX Driver Impact Course, and then go to DPS to take her behind-the-wheel test. If she passes that and is 18, she can get a temporary license that day and get the permanent one in the mail. Yay! Then it will be no more chauffeurring for me! I’ve got her younger brother starting public high school in August, so I’ll be trading off one for the other…I’ll have to start getting him to and from school the same month she gets her own license! Good thing…I don’t think I have enough hours in the day to get them BOTH everywhere they need to go with all they’ve got going on.
Anyway, it’s such an exciting time for her! Another kid growing up to adulthood very shortly. Time flies.
