Need General Jeep Advice

I have a place in my heart for single mothers trying to raise kids on their own . I really do.

Keep us posted , If I can do anything at all to help , I will.

You should be proud of what you are doing , we are.
 
If it were me, I would try to have an honest conversion with her\them. “Wranglers are awesome, but since I got you excited about them, I feel obligated to tell you the pros, cons, and what ownership can entail.” That kind of talk. The pros are easy, they already get that part. But they should also hear the cons. I would hate for them to end up with a piece of crap and then be coming back for further advice. Time for some tough love, and then allow them to make their own decision.

For example, If they are in an area with salty roads in the Winter, I would explain how the frames tend to rot and how important it is to look and choose a Wrangler carefully. Many selling for a lower price that may look good on the surface almost always have underlying issues of some sort. I would then explain , that Jeeps are simply expensive to own in general, and I would share the JEEP acronym (Just empty every pocket). The saying shows how it isn’t just you with the word of caution. These vehicles are are older than most vehicles on the road and will have issues, it’s just a matter of when they will have them. The older and worse condition Jeep they purchase, the more expensive the repair bills will likely be in the short and long term. These things are expensive to modify, if they want a lifted one. Many for sale have old and tired, or improperly installed, lift kits and many have been wheeled hard and put away wet. Sometimes it is wise to be patient to find the right one, spend a little more money if you are serious about owning a Wrangler for the long haul. Tires are expensive relative to cars and gas can get expensive for a daily driver. For a teen driver, or anyone really, many Wranglers don’t have ABS, and the old ones don’t any other modern safety nannies like traction control, stability control etc. (we may see this as a good thing to keep things simple, but it can bad thing, especially for inexperienced drivers).

Best of luck, let us know how this story progresses. You never know, they may pull out a few more bills and make your job a lot easier. Or you may level set expectations and steer them out of a bad life decision and that would be noble as well if they don’t have a lot of $ and the kid really just needs cheap transportation when he turns 16.