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Am I OutTA luck? Car loan~student

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By a used car and be done with it. You do not want a car note in college. Get an American or Korean made front wheel drive car and call it a day.
 
You can't afford that car. Period. Forget the loan idea, you can't afford the car. You have 6k. With 6k, you can't afford a 6k car. You're young and insurance is expensive. Maintenance is expensive. Look in the 3k-4k range tops. Forget the scheming to figure out how to get a 12k car, you can't afford it. So, what I'm trying to get across is that the 12k car is out of the question, out of your price range no matter how nice it is. You can't afford it.

The advice above about a bicycle or bus is best.
 
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+ you're young and shit will happen. Living life budgeted to your last cent with no backup plan for emergencies is very foolish.
 
You should be able to get a loan with that much of a down payment without much of a problem. The only issue you might run into is if the lenders do not think that your income is high enough. It seems too low to me.

Generally a large down payment can easily make up for a low/no credit score. I've also noticed that banks tend to prey on college students and like to load them up with debt as they have a high chance of getting paid back vs someone that is not persuing higher education.

I am, however, of the same opinion of most here that think that you cannot afford this car and it seems very unnecessary to me. You can buy a pretty decent car for 3-4k which would be quite suitable for a college student. This would leave you with plenty of funds if repairs are required and would also free up your income for other purposes. Plus there is a huge difference in insurance costs if you have to get full coverage with the loan as opposed to just liability insurance.
 
You can get a car loan with no full time job? If they do this, expect some insane rate like 15%. At that point, your better off buying a pos and blow.
 
You're young. Why don't you reverse the trend that the majority of people are in? Instead of purchasing cars and having your income reduced by interest, why don't you pay cash & let interest increase your income? Imagine how much farther you'll be ahead over your lifetime by earning 4% on what you make, rather than paying 10%?

Just purchase the 6k vehicle, and save your money from your job. If you want a nicer vehicle, then after you've saved enough + the trade/resale value of your current vehicle to purchase a newer car, get one then. On that $$$$$ that you spend, you'll have to earn less than that actual amount, since interest will accrue. The alternative is paying $$$$$ now via a loan and having to earn much more money because of interest accruing on the loan. Over the next 30 years, you'll come out 1000's ahead, if not 10's of 1000's.
 
Why have debt when you don't have to? Buy a car in the $3-4K range and put away the left-over money. When you get out of college and you're making more than $7.85/hour (or whatever you said it was)... THAT'S the time to get the $12K car.

Also, like another poster said, shit WILL happen. You want to have enough money to be ready for when it does.
 
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I vote for a high mileage Honda, but that's just me. It's what I did when I was your age and it retained its value very well. Until I got rear ended by a semi truck. They gave me a nice check for that though, definitely helped...

So my advice? Buy a junker!
 
ok ok ok over the 12000 dollar car. Found a car I can afford, a 2004 corolla s with 113000 miles for 7500. He brought it down from 8000, its a small dealership. Clean interior, no dings dents on exterior. Its pretty high for for the mileage and I think i'm just paying for the name. What do you guys think?
 
cr2250 said:
ok ok ok over the 12000 dollar car. Found a car I can afford, a 2004 corolla s with 113000 miles for 7500. He brought it down from 8000, its a small dealership. Clean interior, no dings dents on exterior. Its pretty high for for the mileage and I think i'm just paying for the name. What do you guys think?
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Are you hell-bent on getting a newer car or something? You can get older cars with significantly less miles than that '04 Corolla.

Also, where are you located?
 
DrPizza said:
You're young. Why don't you reverse the trend that the majority of people are in? Instead of purchasing cars and having your income reduced by interest, why don't you pay cash & let interest increase your income? Imagine how much farther you'll be ahead over your lifetime by earning 4% on what you make, rather than paying 10%?

Just purchase the 6k vehicle, and save your money from your job. If you want a nicer vehicle, then after you've saved enough + the trade/resale value of your current vehicle to purchase a newer car, get one then. On that $$$$$ that you spend, you'll have to earn less than that actual amount, since interest will accrue. The alternative is paying $$$$$ now via a loan and having to earn much more money because of interest accruing on the loan. Over the next 30 years, you'll come out 1000's ahead, if not 10's of 1000's.
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+1. That's pretty much my philosophy on big purchases. The only thing where I buy before I can afford is a house, but who actually buys a house cash? 😱 At %3.75 interest, it's not too bad. Tack on a car loan and other loans and that's where it gets much more ridiculous.
 
That's still dang expensive... my Bronco II cost 3700 in mint condition back in high school and has lasted me 7 years so far with no work required (obviously brakes and oil...)
 
I had like $20k in credit card limit when I was in college. Why no credit? Maybe these days it's tougher but you should have started buying stuff and paying off your CC when you were in HS.
 
xanis said:
Are you hell-bent on getting a newer car or something? You can get older cars with significantly less miles than that '04 Corolla.

Also, where are you located?
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Whats wrong with me getting a newer car? 2004 isn't that new and I'll be paying that in full...No financing whatsoever. I bought a 2003 ford focus zx3 for 4000; worst transaction i've every done. I want to buy a good car that won't have to do big maintenance work, I live on the east coast.

And yes i'm hell-bent on a newer car. I dont want another beater car, why not spend my money on a good car and keep it for a long time then cheap out on some domestic car and deal with repairs later? Not saying the toyota will not have repairs but we all know they are "somewhat" reliable (not a toyota fanboy)
 
summit said:
i bet you can't find two major loan companies that practice this. every company i've dealt with has accepted extra payments, from cars to mortgage to hardware supply.
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Bolded the key word. Dealerships run all types of financing scams (by scams I mean technically legal, but definitely not normal).

Note that I'm not advising the OP to take out a loan. In fact, I'm specifically advising him against it. I showed him a list of ~15000 cars in his area that he could purchase outright.
 
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Buy a $2500 manual transmission Honda or Toyota that has recently had maintenance done. It will take some looking, but you can find them. Be weary if the car is in bad shape, that most likely means it wasn't taken care of.

Have it gone over by a mechanic you trust before buying.

Used cars are hard because they're always a crapshot. If you find a nice specimen, though, you'll probably be able to put many miles on it with only routine maintenance.

Save the rest of your money.
 
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