Listen to this guy.

Never ever pay interest on anything unless it's a montage or a business loan or a loan on an investment.

 

depending on your credit, you're looking at approx $20 of monthly payments for every $1,000 you finance. However, finding someone who will provide an auto loan for an older vehicle is extremely difficult to find especially if its a private party purchase (which I am currently finding out). ive had auto loans before and they're easiest to get thru a dealership that is selling you the car because they will do whatever they can to get your business. financing a car is also a great way to build up credit, but keep in mind your future expenses because you definitely don't want to default on your loan.

anyways, I wish you the best of luck.

 

I personally hate owing money to anyone at anytime. Payments for a car are unnecessary, so I would not do it, especially in college. Right now you are at a point in your life where you have no idea what the future holds for you, health wise, career wise, personal life wise, everything. Attaching unnecessary financial responsibility to yourself during that time is something I would avoid at all costs.

I understand there has to be a good mix of life enjoyment and self discipline, I just personally suggest you focus on obtaining that balance after college, based on what ive seen happen to my peers.

PS In college I drove a miata at one point to suppress my desire for a fun car, but not break the bank. Maybe that'll work in the meantime?? And at the end of the day you won't feel bad parking outside or getting door dings etc, because its a $2k car.

To answer your original question, you can use an online tool to figure out what a monthly payment would be: http://www.carmax.com/enus/car-finan...r/default.html

 

A lot of good advice already in here. My personal takeaways that I agree with:

1. Get a credit card now, don't be a ditz; pay it off every single month, your goal is to never pay a penny in interest on this - use it for things "you need" and "would buy anyways" (gas, food, etc)
2. Don't get a car loan during college unless it's a practical vehicle - s2000 is not practical, trust me (or don't, your choice of course)
2a. You don't have a solid income stream, a car payment is a MUCH larger burden this way - sure you can "afford it" (maybe) but it's too volatile for your current life and priorities
2b. When you have a big boy job out of school, car payments aren't such a big deal - if you have ambitions but still want to have fun, it's a good way to be able to have a much larger safety net and not have to worry about money at the cost of just a little interest while you focus on augmenting your income. Otherwise, it's hard to focus if you've got all your early money tied up in the vehicle you want
3. Get something you'll be able to tote friends around in, trust me it will come in handy and make college life so much more enjoyable
3a. An s2000 is an insurance and theft cost hog that will make you cry if something happens and you have to fork out premiums for because it was a target - especially since you don't garage it. Cars on college campuses get vandalized ALL the time from drunken idiot behavior, whether they're good people or not we all have stupid moments "hold my beer, watch this"

 

If you have 6k, go buy a cheap reliable used car. You are nuts to finance a car while in school, lol. You have your whole life to ruin with debt. Why would you start now? Holy crap, people are now financing things without even having a full-time job, lol. Wow.

 

I'm grateful to my parents for not letting me finance a car while in school.


You'll have plenty of time to build credit. The only thing you really need it for is to buy a house, which you probably won't do straight out of college anyway.

Not a single person has screwed up their financial life by paying cash.......lots of kids come out of college in a financial hole (student loans, car payments, and credit card debt).


Save your $$ and get the best thing it will buy you. Something with room is always good in college. Plus, college campuses are hard on cars (bad parking, door dings, high theft rates).

 

And, if living in an apartment means paying for school with loans, don't do it!

Being able to graduate debt free puts you MILES ahead of the game!

 

I'll put something into perspective...

I'm 21, live with my parents, go to school full time for Computer Science and Marketing.

I pay around $700/month for my car payment, got my s2000 for around 9k financed at a credit union. Interest rate is 14% with a 7 year term, but I'm paying mine early obviously probably under a year. (opted for gap insurance, because it was like $150, and offered peace of mind). I could have gotten a 7% interest rate if I had my dad co-signed, but I didn't want his credit to be F'ed up if I made a mistake, so I went solo with this, and swallowed the interest rate.

Since I got a good deal on my car, I don't care that much that I'm paying interest because my car will be worth the same/more.

I pay around $200 a month on insurance through state farm for my S2000, this is after bundling with my good student discount, 3 years accident free, multicar discount, and bundled with my parent's home insurance plan. Without it, insurance would be roughly $499 a month for $100 deductible comp, $250 collision, and 250k liability.

I also have a 2005 toyota camry that I use as my daily driver that I pay around $150/month for insurance also.

Tuition for me is roughly around $3,700 a term for 21 credits, and I'm paying that in 3 installment plans.

I make roughly around $30k yearly for working just on the weekends as a vendor.

I also do web development on the side for around $20k under the table.

Even with this, I feel like I'm barely making it.

LIVE AT HOME IF YOU WANT TO DO THIS YOUNGER ON.

PS: if you get a ticket, do yourself a favor and defer it with traffic school, if you don't, you'll get shafted by insurance.

Regarding credit:
I currently have a 700 credit score with 9 credit cards, mainly for cash back purposes. Although a lot of people will say this is bad, if you're using the money anyways, might as well get some cash back and increase/raise your credit score.

My rates when I had a 640 credit score as far as financing a car was roughly around 24%, and I did use that to get a Miata which I paid off in 5 months. (most regretful thing I did, but I wanted the car so bad) But since then, it's been going up gradually.

 

Firstly, this thread is 7 months old...

Secondly, you remind me of someone else in the "money / investment" section. You're all messed up lol. You're managing things fine and seem like you're not in too deep or anything (you understand credit, insurance, among probably other thing), but the fact that you made the statement "Even with this, I feel like I'm barely making it." Yea no s*** because you have $700 in car payments... You're essentially nullifying the fact that you're living at home. The average apartment (in my area) is about $750/mo for a 1bd. You're just choosing to work your to pay for your cars. That's fine and all, but think about what you could be setting yourself up for in the future if you just put off those cars a little longer? Dividends my man. But at the same time, I assume since you're not paying rent... then you aren't paying any other bills except maybe phone. If that's the case... you're going to be hurting when you leave home unless you make some drastic changes. At least get them paid off before you leave.

 

I would be interested in finding out who that is haha.

Feeling like I'm barely making it, and barely making it are two different things lol.

I forgot to look at the thread date, my bad.

I definitely don't take the fact that I live at home for granted. It's actually the reason why I rushed into these cars because I knew that if I lived by myself, it wouldn't be realistic. (I have paid rent before, downtown portland is roughly $1.3k for a 1bd. One of the most stupid financial decisions I've made.)

I pay around $1200 a month for college ($3700 a term) which is my only real "bill" apart from my phone bill, and internet. I understand that credit is not the same as cash unlike some people, so far I've been able to purchase anything that I deem repayable, and wouldn't put me in a financial distress if I lost my job or anything like that.

Maybe I should make a thread on advice. I feel like I'm setting myself up nicely as far as school, and doing work in the field that I love. I'm actually going to start a business soon. I've had 2 failed businesses since I started college, and so far it's just a learning experience for me. I'm rather young being 21, so I think if I'm going to experiment, nows the time to do it.

Nonetheless, I'm just sharing my experience to anyone else that may be looking to kind of understand what it takes, and the sacrifices and opportunity costs you give up/pay to get something such as a 16k car at the age 17-19. I consider myself decently well off for a college student (making around 30k ~27k after taxes, and 20k cash) yearly. Nothing to brag about, but I'm not a victim to student debt, so I'm happy.

My mindset is that instead of just having the weekends off and taking a break from classes, I'm earning spending money which I can invest into random business ventures that I think might be successful, and throw some money into hobbies or things I enjoy. Nothing wrong with that imo, sure I can be investing that but I'll do that in a year or two.

When I open up my garage door and I see my S, makes me smile and keeps me going! Motivation is good.