I do not buy any vehicle I cannot pay cash for. Most are not very pretty. I still have to pay out for them but repairs which are not often have to be paid for but repair payments are on MY schedule, not a bank’s. If I can’t afford it right away the car can stay in the yard for a couple of weeks and I will get to work another way. I never have any worry that my ride is going to get repossessed.
She chose poorly.
I was her age,married, working summers, going to college when I walked onto a new car dealer used car lot and asked to see the cheapest car available. I left with a 73 Levi’s Hornet, 98000 miles and rusted for $300. Replaced it with a Malibu wagon for $500 two years later.
There are cheaper cars.
I drove a 500 dollar beater in college (about 1500 dollars in today’s money) paid cash for it and when I wrecked it, I bought another beater with cash. I paid for my college tuition and room and board by roughnecking on the drilling rigs in South Louisiana, that was hot dangerous hard work. I learned as much from my driller Francis LeBlanc as my professors though his education was limited. He was a hard man but kind. He often employed kids going to college so they had the money for school. Of the crew on my rig two became pharmacists and another a lawyer. Francis would have fired us in an instant if we did not work hard. Francis wanted us to have the opportunities he did not.
My sympathy factor for this lady is zero.
Two professional degrees later, 50 years later, retired and financially secure, I buy what I want but never extravagant and owe no one anything. I was raised by my grandparents who were products of the great depression. They taught me well as did Francis LeBlanc.
My family stopped buying new vehicles in 2005; choosing, instead, gently used for a fraction of the cost.
Even when I did buy my first new car, it was a Toyota Tercel with manual windows and no AC for $8K. Payments were $75 per month after my down-payment and I was bringing home $3,200 after taxes. It fit easily in my budget.
It’s all about the show. This girl is poor pretending to be rich. With this mindset, she will always be poor.
I knew I was struggling and wanted to be rich. I acted accordingly and didn’t waste my money on status symbols. My parents were wise teachers.
I purchased my first car when I was 31. True story.
I paid $10,300 for a Honda Cicic DX hatchback, drove it for 172,000 miles and sold it for $1,900.
I am 64 years old and on my 4th car (actually it’s a truck) with 159,000 miles.
Think of how much money I have saved over the decades.
“hundreds of dollars of in-app purchases, “
More gen-z newspeak?
Sadly you usually gain that experience through bad decisions. Either yours or, if you are smart, someone elses.
But this kind of thing is why I am in favor of getting a job and having to pay for things while you are in your teens. It is almost the only way you will learn to handle money when being stupid will not end up with you sleeping under a bridge.
Given that blatant falsehood, I wonder what else in the story is a lie.
Setting aside what is doable with on-campus housing, let's run through a few public universities with public transit available.
UNT and TWU in Denton. (DCTA)
UTD in Richardson (DART)
UNT Dallas (DART)
UT Austin
TAMU (Campus)
UofH (Houston lags the Dallas area for transit, but there is a bus network).
There are more, but I'm not going to dig them out tonight.
Uber or Lyft might be risky for a young lady, but she could certainly find some way to get paid to drive her car. Perhaps Instacart, or driving some elderly person around.
Its either cut expenses or increase income, those are the choices.
When I was a 20 year old sailor, I purchased my first car, a 1976 MG Midget for $3200. It cost me $1200 a year to insure.
I made $5500 a year. But I did have my housing paid for!
She chose poorly. Should have bought an older used car. My sympathy meter is still on zero especially after reading all the other dumb stuff she did.
She could get a used Honda CRV. They go forever. My 2006 has never had a major repair.
I was taught many moons
ago that one should ever
spend more than 25% of
their income on a house
payment (much less a
car).
How is she going back to college? She obviously failed 4th grade math.
The time for young adults to prepare for financial life as an adult starts before they become teenagers. We must NEVER again give any government funded student loans to anyone who hasn’t at least W2’ed 25% of what they are borrowing. And same goes for
I once worked for GMAC and have read probably 100,000 repo paperwork packets.
Someone will soon be reading hers.
I predict a 16k deficiency balance
I paid 12% interest on an ‘89 Toyota Canry in 1990. I think payments were $265 for 60 months.
No sympathy for stupidity. If you’re going to be stupid you have to be tough.
At least it’s a Toyota that has a chance of lasting a few years. Besides a few payments on an 88 4-Runner, I never financed a car. It’s time to go warm up my 2,000 Camry.