[Dadhawk]

Not 86 related, but to close the loop on the 2016 Ford Focus transmission drama, SonHawk, who recently completed his Masters and landed the job he wanted as a school psychologist decided "to hell with the cheese, I want out of the trap" and got rid of the demon.

It had started running funny again, and to me it seemed it was slipping first gear but drove fine. It was going in the shop on Monday to be checked out, this time at the independent shop we use for our cars.

In the mean time he had started the replacement search.

He's a 4-door sedan type of guy and really wanted a Volvo S60 (his first car was a Volvo he did a modest restoration on as his Senior Project in high school). They were out of his price range. We found a nice 2022 KIA K5 with about 20K miles on it at a fair price.

He went in on his own to only test drive it, but I knew when he went in he'd be leaving with the car (we all know how that goes).

They offered him slightly more the KBB for his car, and that combined with the Focus needing work, he decided it was time to let it go.

Then the real adventure began.

Between the Focus and some cash he was putting about 10% down. He has a 10 year work history (at 26) because he's always paid his own expenses. We paid for his undergrad, and he paid for his Master's (no debt). Problem is he has no credit history.

So, the first offer was a payment of over $900 on an $18,000 loan with an interest rate of 30%! That's what being fiscally responsible gets you.

Anyway, after some haggling about pulling garbage fees off the invoice (we removed about $5,000 of extended warrranty, paint protection, "dent protection", etc) and with Dad as a cosigner, he got the deal we wanted and he is all good with the "new" car and the demon car is gone!