Wew lads

Remember at the end of the lease your cars residual buy out is usually less than the value of the car in that if you don't take the residual buyout the dealership will claim the car and put it back on their lot for 3-4k more

You can negotiate on all of this by the way. The lease terms, mileage, the payment and residual you can all negotiate on so don't get lost in thinking you're helpless

So how are you bad with money, but it's not your fault? You could do what the other user said and go for a $1500 beater while you sort yourself out before moving up. That's what I would do in your position. Keep yourself out of debt and you'll sleep a lot better at night.

No where did I cam it's not my fault

I can't blame anyone for myself for the fact that I should have $500 a month AFTER luxury expenses and all my bills paid but right now I have less than $500 in the bank

Literally pathetically bad at money and I just got my wakeup call

why'd your parents kick you out? it would have been impossible for me to save money if I moved out after graduating

>Parents promise to sell me their car for a reasonable price if I graduate and get a job (My car was a junker)
>We agreed on 75% of KBB
>Sure fine
>Graduate
>They tell me to fuck off
>Get in an arguement
>Tons of other issues we had between us come to a head
>GET THE FUCK OUT user

You're better off leasing the Civic and then buying it out at the end for a much lower price.

Take it to a shady diesel mechanic, bring him some beer and pay in cash.
One break job/no exhaust bs needed and inspection passed.

>inspection
what shithole state do you live in?

I was supposed to get my moms PT Cruiser for my first car.
>Fuck you, it was still a cool car in 2006

But then my mom divorced my dady junior year and my new daddy decided they would keep the car themselves because it had enough room for all his fishing gear.

I don't speak to him at all now, and now whenever I go home to visit, there that fucking PT Cruiser is, sitting in the back of the driveway parked indefinitely because its needed major work since a belt snapped in 2013.

The United States of Trump

no just no. buy a used car or buy a motorcycle. it will be highly expensive in the long run with a new car

If a dealership is pushing you to get a new car, then they very well might have fudged the labor and parts required to pass inspection. Take your car to a regular inspection station and have them check it and tell you what it needs to pass. Then fix it.

Or you can finance a car. They'll be using your car as a trade in. You apparently have no fucking clue how to buy a car, so for the love of god, GOOGLE "HOW TO BUY A CAR". Here are the dealerships in the PA area. Go to a different one that doesn't put pressure on you, and that has good reviews. Call at least three of them, explain your scenario, and get numbers from them on the specific car you want. Go buy it from the one who has the best number. Done.

I sell cars for a living. AMA.

let me put this in simple terms for you
>got a car on a loan
>car needs work to be roadworthy
>want to bullied into another loan by a company who lives off people like you

If you can't afford to pay for it in full you can't afford it.
Get rid of your car and loan and buy shitboxes until you can buy a decent car again. Otherwise you'll forever be in dept to someone waiting for one accident like your ski trip to fuck your entire life over in an instant.

Actually, financing a brand new $20,000 car is really stupid idea. You can if you want to, and you know that it's what you want. Otherwise, buying a lightly used car for thousands off sticker of a new car, at a good price, will be much wiser of a choice.

Go to Cargurus or Autotrader and search cars that you want, then filter by good price. You need to figure out exactly how upside down you are by calling your bank and getting your payoff. Then, call the places with good reviews and explain your situation to them.

You also need to be completely honest with yourself when determining your payment. Going for a loan at 36-48 months is really the most you should be doing in your situation. So if you can afford only 200 a month comfortably, at a reasonable interest rate, you need to be 8600 out the door. That;s taxes, tag, their fee, and any negative equity you have in your shitbox trade in.

People like this are retarded. As long as you're wise about the payments, and your loan length, you'll be perfectly fine financing a car. Gap insurance covers getting your car totaled.

>I sell cars for a living. AMA.
When buying a CPO from a dealer, can I ask how much they paid for that car, or do I have to rely on a number I found on my own (average trade in prices)?

>People like this are retarded
all the rich people I know. Truly rich people not the people who lose their job during recession and have to live on food tokens in their financed manor and keep driving their financed cars to keep up appeareance.
Know what those truly rich have in common?
No loans unless it's an important investment that will gurantee returns.
If you're not rich stop pretending you are, buy a cheap shitbox and drive it.
That way even if your bank account goes into red people won't come to take away the shit you need to make it go green again.

Any sort of loan is retarded and they only exist for the benefit of the company giving the loan not for the person getting it.
Only get loans you could pay off on the spot even after a financial breakdown, if you want to boost your credit score for that certain-return financial investment.

You don't own shit you lease or finance.
Its someones elses property. Never fucking forget that.

I mean, you can ask anyone anything at any time.

If you asked me? I would tell you either a. that's not my business to ask my management as a sales consultant, or b. that's none of your business. Frankly, it isn't any of your business. It actively impacts what we can sell the car for if you know our bottom line. Dealers also have lots of other costs added on, aka shop costs, detail costs, and bank costs for how long it sits there.

Average trade in prices will help you immensely, though. While things like KBB and NADA are rough estimates, they can get you an idea of the typical margins for trades are. NADA is generally more accurate from a consumer standpoint.

>can I ask how much they paid for that car

Oh yes user! This $8000 car you want? We paid some idiot $2000 for it :)

Rich people generally have the capabilities to buy outright more so than someone of lower income. I hope you would agree.

While financing a car for longer terms, i.e. 72 months, is nearly always foolish, sometimes it financially makes sense to borrow money on a newer, possibly more reliable car, that also gets better gas mileage than it would be to buy outright a cheaper car that is worse off. Factoring in costs for possible repairs and maintenance on a older car will often offset, or come close to the cost, of just financing a newer car comfortably.

Cars are emotionally driven purchases. Being entirely logical and financially sound sometimes isn't worth the cost of putting up with a vehicle that doesn't give you satisfaction. That's where you're missing the boat. It's important to be financially responsible when buying a car, but there's no harm in also getting what makes you happy. This is true especially when considering the time spent in said car.

In regards to safety (which my reckless self rarely considers), older cars are often significantly less safe than newer. This is a huge push in decision making for lost of people. This is in high contrast with that 1995 Honda Civic

yes they are emotionally driven purchases.
A car is a tool first: it needs you to get you from point A to B.
If you are poor and are spending or, god forbid, financing or leasing a car that you enjoy you are not putting your financial situation first, which you should in order to get to a financially stable situation where you can afford a car that makes you happy.
Now I know I am oversimplifying things and world is not black and white and you may not have these opportunities. Sure OP fucked up but hardly anyone can blame him. My only intention and hope is that he may read all this and think about it and end up in a position where he is not walking a financial tightrope over a big pit of homelessness.
Especially in USA where car is vital in many cases to keep and get a job of which security is all ready brittle when compared to EU and such.

>Any sort of loan is retarded and they only exist for the benefit of the company giving the loan not for the person getting it.

Even the 0% APR ones?

Really, if you have $30k cash to spend, and your options are to get an auto loan at 3% APR for the next 5 years, or invest in an index fund that has projected returns of 5% per year, you're being awful fuckin stupid if you choose to buy the car for cash.

Financing is not always the devil. Sometimes it is, but not always. Yes, 25% APR loans for a 30 year term are a bad idea. 0% APR loans for 5 years won't kill you, won't cost you a damn thing, end up getting cheaper as the loan continues due to inflation, and boost your credit score - in other words, they're not the devil.

The "rich" people you see on youtube that always tell you to burn all your credit cards, always pay in cash, never finance anything at all ever, up to and including a $350k house, and never ever ever finance a depreciating asset, generally do so because most people are too stupid to figure out loans, and simply having no debt whatsoever is generally the safest guaranteed way to make sure they don't have their entire life repo'd in one go.

Just like get an turbo mr2 and up your insurance on a literally rainy day.
You don't have to obey the rules. You can play by them.

These are not your only options
Spend that 30k to buy some reliable car and invest the rest not in some magical fund or whatever. You can do stock or just invest it in making sure you can keep earning your living via education or moving to a job or whatever.

Honestly even using it to start buying real estate when you are 101% certain you will be able to pay off the loan in the timefraim is a great idea because real estate gains value.

If your credit is good enough to lease, then it is good enough to purchase (thru finance).

Take your car to your mechanic and have him perform the repairs. OR start turning wrenches on your own. Brake work is not difficult and can usually be performed with basic hand tools and a jack. Parts are cheap for that car. Info and how to videos are everywhere. For the exhaust, go to a muffler shop.

Do not lease. Do not trade in your car. You will dig a very deep hole for yourself and possibly end up with a repossession since you will be increasing your monthly debt by $100's a month .

LEAVE STEALERSHIP NOW.

>Otherwise, buying a lightly used car for thousands off sticker of a new car, at a good price, will be much wiser of a choice.

Depends on the car, depends on the seller, and whether or not you regularly keep money set aside for repairs.

Anecdotal evidence time!

I bought a car once. It was rebuilt, a few years old, seemed like it was in good shape. Went through two wheel bearings, a timing chain set, all four injectors and a coil pack within a year. After that, it was fine for several years until the rot took it off the road.

Bought another car. 5 years old, at the end of the highest rate of depreciation, just under 100k miles, 4 cylinder 5 speed Toyota. Absolutely perfect shitbox, should have been dead reliable, bought right when it was cheap but still in good operating condition, textbook perfect used car purchase. 3k miles after I bought it the throw out bearing went bad. Replaced it. 3k miles later it went bad again. Turned out some bearing in the transmission had gotten fucked by the previous owner and made it eat throw out bearings regularly. Ended up costing me about $5k for the privilege of driving it for two years.

All used cars are going to have issues in time, some more than others, and some more expensive than others. If you get a dealer backed aftermarket warranty, it'll probably be fine. If you keep enough saved and set aside to cover catastrophic major component failures, or at worst vehicle replacement, you'll also be fine. Generally that means having $3k in the bank at any time to cover repairs, up to and including engine replacement if the value of the vehicle warrants that kind of investment.

The point is that with a loan at a reasonable APR, most any purchase that can be financed generally should be, assuming you actually have enough to buy it in cash if you want to. The money you have in cash can just about always be put to work somewhere else building value in the form of investments or other purchases which increase in value over time, such as real estate, as you said. Paying cash for a depreciating asset, such as a car or truck, just takes that money and dumps it into something that loses value over time, instead of allowing you to build value elsewhere. In other words, it's a damn stupid idea if your goal is to actually make money. If your goal is to stay out of debt, it's a great idea, absolutely fantastic, nothing wrong with it at all. But staying out of debt doesn't make you rich. It just keeps you out of debt.

>they can get you an idea of the typical margins for trades are.
Thanks. I'm ok with -/+ accuracy of within $1,000. The car I'm looking at has an average trade in value of $10-11k, so I'm shooting for $13-14k OTD.

Maybe the Honda dealership I go to is different, but I've never seen a sales person push a new car on someone in the service department.
In fact, the only time I ever see a sales guy in the service department is when they're sneaking a donut.