Who gets it??

I think a lot of it has to do with 'How hard did I bust my butt to get this rig' kinda' thing.
When I sent my son's off to college, I bought them both used Caravans. Totally 'Not Cool' but they were:
A: Vans .. could fit all their stuff in them.. And could get good used ones for pretty cheap..
B: A decently reliable rig and parts were cheap if needed...
C: I knew how to fix stuff on them inside-out (And yes I did)
But because they didn't have to pay for them themselves, they treated them like crap. I remember having to yell at them about 'WTF! Can't you even be bothered to CHECK THE OIL??!!' kinda' thing.
Once they got out of school and they had to buy their OWN rigs? Taking out a loan of $35K+ for a 3 year-old used rig ..
EVERYthing changed. All of a sudden, they started taking care of their new rigs like a parent would, taking care of a 3-day old infant coming home from the hospital...
Amazing how that works....

 

Very nice! How do you get away with the dark/tinted headlights? (At least for it being 'street legal' ..)

 

Do you really kiss it good night?

 

lol, not anymore, wife got mad at me

 

Totally agree, but I'll add that maybe the fact that they were caravans and not something more respectable played a role as well. Had the kid chose their own car (and had to buy it themselves) you can bet they would've treated it much better. Just my opinion

Edit: my kids too young yet so I cant comment on the experience as a dad, but only on my own experience, always had to buy my own cars and walk my ass to school/work if they ever broke down, you can bet your tail that was enough motivation to learn basic mechanical skills to keep them running!