How Should I Go About Buying a Car? (College Student)
So you want to buy a car but have no money saved up.... That's going to be hard!! I'd suggest you get a part-time job, save up and buy a used car. Even with the minimum wage pay in the U.S., if you are in the U.S., you could save up and buy a car in less than a month. This route would be the quickest way for you to get a car but it would also teach you the responsibility of having one since it appears you have never owned a car before.  Now the car will most definitely not be fancy or look like the cars that your peer's parents bought but at least it will get you from point A to point B.  I'd look on Craigslist or your local neighborhood for cars that have not moved in a while or have for sale signs. Bring a mechanically inclined friend with you and contact the owner and explain them your situation. There are nice people out there that would give you deep discounts based on the fact that you are a student trying to get by. Now you have to get registration and insurance. There are many insurance companies that give discounts to students as well who have good GPAs and driving records. If you happen to get a car for a good deal, take good car of it. Once you graduate and further your career, you can resell it for a profit.  I also would not suggest you get any loans for a car given your situation.
"There's an aspect to this question that I really love. In general, it's a question about consumer behavior that can be expanded to inquire about the purchasing profile of any luxury good. Who buys $500 pocketbooks, $1000 wristwatches, etc? I can offer one observation regarding the car. Two close neighbors, both couples drive cars valued well above what my wife and I drive. Both families moved, and shared with us that they failed to save for their kid's college tuition. My response was to feel that this was a choice they made. As I commented to my daughter, ""We can afford anything, we just can't afford everything."" Our budget started with saving both for retirement and college. Very little eating out, and modest vacations, cars, and clothing. This story is getting more common for us as our peers have high school age children.  As others have mentioned, the millionaire next door does not drive a Ferrari or wear a Rolex. To some extent, if you were able to peek at the budgets of these car buyers, you'll find what members here would consider at best, an interesting set of priorities." "No hope for you, my friend. Your life is over. Smile. Not true at all. If there's anything America is all about it's redemption and starting over. In fact, starting over is our middle name: United Starting Over States of America. Ulysses Grant failed once as a farmer and twice as a businessman before he became, well, U.S. Grant, major hero and president. He also graduated near the bottom of his class at West Point -- as did Sen. John McCain from the Naval Academy. John F. Kennedy had basically a C+ average in high school and his daddy weaseled JFK's way into Harvard, and he didn't turn out too badly. Other than the assassination, I mean.   The idea that your grades or your former life have much to do with your later life seems logical. But it's also not very accurate. Grades predict very little. Many people who screwed up pretty badly, later became very successful.   So, stop even worrying about past grades or your silly DUI. If I were applying, in fact, I'd write my essay about redemption, mentioning the DUI as a life turning point and noting that you no longer drink because of it. Unlike some other college students, ahem ahem ahem. They may be relieved to hear from an older student who has reformed his life, a type of student colleges very much like as opposed to little 18 year old children who get drunk all the time of which they have quite enough, thank you very much.   I'd also attack the bad grades from a few years ago problem by enrolling in a local college in some way (perhaps they have an extension program or maybe you have a junior college nearby). Take a group of solidly academic courses (perhaps including business course) and do very well in them. I'd take two or three at a time, giving you time to focus on them deeply. Do what you need to do to do well -- talk to the professor early in the course about the course themes and goals (and so they know who you are), work well ahead of time on all papers and edit, edit, edit them. Study like crazy for every test. Use available review books. Get a tutor if you need one, preferably someone at the college who has taken the class. Talk to others who have taken the class before you for their advice. Also talk to the professor about how best to review for each test -- meet with them a week before the test to ""go over"" your questions. A good approach is for you to say that you think ""such and such"" are the main themes so you'll be studying them for the test. Few professors can risk correcting you if those are not the main themes. This can be immensely helpful to you in getting your focused on what you need to study (meaning what they plan to ask about on the test). As a former teacher, I always corrected students who misunderstood major course themes or were focusing on trivia rather than larger issues and problems. This also sends the message that you are a hard worker, likely giving you some benefit of the doubt (""89? Oh, heck, give him an A-"").   With a few tough courses with good grades behind you, you have a much stronger record to apply with. And this shows you are serious since you went out of your way to take these courses.   Broader your view of ""top tier"" schools as many schools that are not in the Top Ten silliness will offer programs that are just as good. Then research your ""top tier"" schools to find out what kind of student they're looking for. Do they want someone who has done something different? Someone who took some time off (like you!) to travel and work? Emphasize this in your application. Emphasize your extra effort to take courses, your job, your maturity and experience. Colleges love that. Whatever kind of application essay you write, make it about your life and how it's shaped you, your outlook and your efforts. And make sure it's carefully edited -- not mistakes, no bad grammar, no spelling mistakes, etc. Perfect. Get and English teacher or someone you trust to advise you on it.   No, of course you are not wasting your time. Just make every reasonable effort to make schools want to accept you, and every reasonable effort to prepare well for more college. That is, after all, all you can really do. Then whatever happens work hard and do your best." "What is your biggest wealth building tool?  Income.  If you ""nerf"" your income with payments to banks, cable, credit card debt, car payments, and lattes then you are naturally handicapping your wealth building.  It is sort of like trying to drive home a nail holding a hammer right underneath the head.   Normal is broke, don't be normal. Normal obtains student loans while getting an education.  You don't have to.  You can work part time, or even full time and get a degree. As an example, here is one way to do it in Florida.  Get a job working fast food and get your associates degree using a community college that are cheap.  Then apply for the state troopers.  Go away for about 5 months, earning an income the whole time.  You automatically graduate with a job that pays for state schools.  Take the next three years (or more if you want an advanced degree) to get your bachelors.  Then start your desirable career. What is better to have ""wasted"" approx 1.5 years being a state trooper, or to have a student loan payment for 20 years?  There is not even pressure to obtain employment right after graduation.  BTW, I know someone who is doing exactly what I outlined. Every commercial you watch is geared toward getting you to sign on the line that is dotted, often going into debt to do so.  Car commercials will tell you that you are a bad mom or not a real man if you don't drive the 2015 whatever.   Think differently, throw out your numbers and shoot for zero debt. EDIT:  OP, I have a MS in Comp Sci, and started one in finance.  My wife also has a masters.  We had debt.  We paid that crap off.  Work like a fiend and do the same.  My wife's was significant.  She planned on having her employer pay it off for each year she worked there.  (Like 20% each year or something.)  Guess what, that did not work out!  She went to work somewhere else!  Live like you are still in college and use all that extra money to get rid of your debt.  Student loans are consumer debt." Many colleges have offices that can help students find off campus housing. They will have information about rooms being let by families, and about houses being shared by groups of students. The biggest issue is that many of the best places were filled months ago. With only a month to go before classes start time is tight. You can also look for electronic listings organized through a campus newspaper.  The advantage of going through university resources is that they will have more information regarding the types of students they are looking for. A house full of undergrads is different than a family house that rents only to young professors. Don't let the tail of credit score wag the dog of prudent financial planning. If you have a sufficient emergency fund in addition to the car cost, then buying the car for cash is to my mind a better plan. But if the car purchase would deplete your emergency fund, then I'd go for the loan. Cash in hand gives you optionality that can be very valuable when things go wrong. And credit will be withdrawn at exactly the most painful moment. If you are looking to build wealth, leasing is a bad idea.  But so is buying a new car.  All cars lose value once you buy them.  New cars lose anywhere between 30-60% of their value in the first 4 years of ownership. Buying a good quality, used car is the way to go if you are looking to build wealth.  And keeping the car for a while is also desirable.  Re-leasing every three years is no way to build wealth. The American Car Payment is probably the biggest factor holding many people back from building wealth.  Don't fall into the trap - buy a used car and drive it for as long as you can until the maintenance gets too pricey.  Then upgrade to a better used car, etc. If you cannot buy a car outright with cash, you cannot afford it.  Period. "I bought a car a few years ago. The salesman had the order, I knew the car I wanted and we had a price agreed on. When I refused the payment plan/loan, his manager came over and did a hard sell. ""99% of buyers take the financing"" was the best he could do. I told him I was going to be part of the 1%. With rates so low, his 2 or 3% offer was higher than my own cost of money. He went so far as to say that I could just pay it off the first month. Last, instead of accepting a personal check and letting me pick up the car after it cleared, he insisted on a bank check to start the registration process. (This was an example of one dealer, illustrating the point.) In other cases, for a TV, a big box store (e.g. Best Buy) isn't going to deal for cash, but a small privately owned ""mom and pop"" shop might.  The fees they are charged are pretty fixed, they don't pay a higher fee cause I get 2% cash back, vs your mastercard that might offer less." "Consumer Reports offers a service that can tell you detailed actual cost to a dealer for a specific model and accessories -- real cost after rebates, not just invoice price. It costs a bit to order these reports, but if you are serious about buying a new car they are a highly recommended tool -- cu is independent and will give you the best info available, and simply walking into the dealership with the report in your hand can save huge amounts of negotiating. ""If you can give it to me for $500 over the real price, as shown here, I'll sign now."" Of course, standard advice is that it's usually better to buy a recent-model used car. I believe cu has other reports that can help you determine what a fair price is in that case, but usually I just bring it to a trusted garage and pay them to tell me exactly how much work it needs and whether they think it's worth the asking price."