I Have a Confession

"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
08/26/2020 at 22:53 • Filed to: None

So when I was 19 years old I financed a car for the first time. It was my second car. I was DETERMINED that I would get something cool, sleek, fast, andmost importantly manual. So what did I buy? A 1999 Honda Civic EX Sedan obviously.

It replaced my 92 Camry, and yes it had obligatory hideous Altezza style tailights. thankfully the previous owner had the stocks and the Altezza saw a garbage can by the end of the week. I basically learned to drive stick while driving this home from Fon Du Lac wi, a 3 hour trip. I think.

Being a 19 year old McDonald’s employee I had no money, so my girlfriend’s Dad came with me to buy it, he agreed to front the cash to make negotiations much easier, with the plan being that I would go to the bank the next day to pay him back. Not a bad deal.

So this is when things got not so good. I went to my credit union, and basically the loan officer didn’t want to give me a loan, but My parents were friends with the branch manager so she told them to approve it anyway. Buuuuuuuut the cost of that approval was a 17% interest rate! I didn’t know or care what that meant. I would have signed anything to get my cool black manual Civic.

In the 9 months I owned the car I paid 130/ month and only paid off like 650 bucks!

I ended up buying a 91 Hatch because I love 4 gens and selling the 99. This was widely regarded as a horrible decision by my friends and family. But I justified by telling them I couldn’t afford the payments and the full coverage insurance. Which was true. But it has the added benefit of saving me from spending 700 bucks a year on intrest on what was at the time a 4000 dollar car.

The life less I learned is 1 intrest sucks, and 2 only finance a car if you can afford to pay considerably more than your minimum payment and insurance, so that you can pay off that loan ASAP.

What the confession?

For one, the fact that I once signed a loan agreement with a 17% interest rate.

But also I kinda want that 99 Civic back. It was such a fun little car. I actually found the exact same one for sale 5-6 years later, and was very tempted to buy it back, but I think I had just bought a car like a month before so I wasn’t happening

DISCUSSION (20)

facw > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/26/2020 at 23:23

When I was in school it was impressed on that collecting that sort of interest (well other returns, but similar enough) was sufficient to make Buffett one of America’s wealthiest men, so yeah, unwise to be paying for any length of time.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/26/2020 at 23:26

Kinja'd!!!

Mmmmm fondue lake

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/26/2020 at 23:50

I still daily my 96 Coupe, it’s stock except for 15” wheels. It’s impossible to find decent tires for 13” wheels anymore. I’m about 700 miles away from 300k with nothing broken or worn out. They hold up really well when not treated like a piece of shit. I don’t plan on getting rid of it anytime soon, but it will need some paint soon.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition
08/26/2020 at 23:51

I'm shocked it has any paint left at all unless you are on its third respray. You won't be finding one of that era with clear coat left very easily.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/26/2020 at 23:52

Why didn’t your parents co sign it? I used to do car projects, they would co sign and then I would work on it and pay it off, then I usually sold it to make money when I wanted something else. Because of that my credit was awesome when I got out of college.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
08/26/2020 at 23:57

I think their credit was shit at the time.

Also I just didn’t ask them. We weren’t getting along great.

shop-teacher > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 00:15

We all need to learn the hard w ay occasiomally. I once bought a second car with one of those credit card checks.

I actually had fantastic credit, so I only paid 3-1/2% interest, but that was still pretty freaking stupid.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > shop-teacher
08/27/2020 at 00:17

What is a credit card check?

shop-teacher > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 00:28

Balance transfer/cash advance check.

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available
08/27/2020 at 00:30

I have a small patch of clear coat peeling on drivers rear quarter panel. It’s original paint and could use color correction, but it would shine. It’s got some small dings and chips that’s the real reason I want to repaint. I can also paint match the rest since it’s a DX. I am third owner and all the previous owners were over 60. I have all the maintenance records from new.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition
08/27/2020 at 00:33

I didn’t know they still existed in that condition! It would be pretty hard to find one without clear coat peel in the usual places. Usually it’s the roof and hood that go first.

I'm glad to hear that someone is keeping them going. They've been at the bottom of their depreciation curve for so long now.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 01:27

My first car was a manual 93 Civic I had 2000-2005. It was pretty reliable for its age, had about 215k on it when I sold it. I kinda miss it some days; I don’t have any pictures for some reason.

Taylor Martin > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 02:01

The best way to stay out of loan interest/debt is to stay out of loans. I hated the idea of having a credit card, which was the polar opposite of my friends who liked to spend money they didn’t have. What can I say? I like knowing how broke I am and living off dust rather than having a credit card and digging myself into a real deep hole.

onlytwowheels > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 02:10

At 18, I bought my first street bike on a 17.5% personal loan from my credit union. I only needed to borrow $1500, because I had given an $1100 down payment. Like you, I wasn’t making much money at the time. In order to keep payments low I opted for a 36 month loan, having already been through 2 layoffs from the same company.

Shortly after purchasing the motorcycle, the awesome new technology called compact discs came out. I want a whole new sound system, so I find a store that will give me credit, at 19%. I go and spend almost as much on hi-fi equipment as I owe on the motorcycle.

Long story short. I crashed the motorcycle 13 months after purchase, with the aid of a gentleman in his 80's making a left turn across my path. Not my fault, motorcycle was repaired for more than purchase price, and I got a little extra from his insurance for incidentals. I used that to payoff the stereo and some of the motorcycle.

I hate monthly payments to this day.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 06:52

Everyone learns this lesson one way or the other. My parents (like many others here) had a mortgage once that involved 13-18 % interest per annum. Personally, I did 8% per annum on a new car fixed interest loan over five years...had to pay $1,600 to get out of it!

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 08:07

We had a 2000 Civic EX of that vintage for years as our family car....great little car. Ours had an Auto, as mom hates driving stick, so that made it less fun, but it was reliable and comfortable. Rust killed it eventually because Nova Scotia winter roads filled with salt... :(

I still posit that the control stalks for lights, wipers and turn signals in it had the best feel and ‘click’ sounds of any car I’ve ever driven...

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Taylor Martin
08/27/2020 at 08:36

I held off from getting a credit card until I was about 3 years into being married and we were beginning to think about buying a house.

I was just smart enough to know I was too dumb and impulsive to be trusted with a credit card.

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 11:06

The first car I financed was a 1993 Honda Civic EX. It was so awesome! I miss it sometimes. I only have photos from after a car accident which is frustrating.

Kinja'd!!!

Taylor Martin > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
08/27/2020 at 12:08

I was just smart enough to know I was too dumb and impulsive

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
08/27/2020 at 12:27

Aw it was purple too.

When I bought my 99 I was actually going to look at a teal 93 coupe, but it was a total rust bucket. Found the 99 just a few blocks away