Submitted by Soggy-Drink-2528 t3_11ckrki in personalfinance
I'm in the military and let's just say life without a car fucking sucks. Having to ask coworkers for rides, having to carry groceries back home, and not being able to go off base and explore the town sucks. I think I'm ready to make a car purchase but it's a big step. I'm 19 years old and have never made a major purchase. I also have very little credit history so I'm not too interested in buying anything that's going to require me to get a large loan from the bank and incur a lot of interest. I want a car that's reliable but affordable (is that still realistic to say in this economy, lol) as well as affordable insurance. I have about $5,000 saved and I'd like to put at least 10% down on the vehicle (I'm not buying a $50,000 car) and be very aggressive with car payments because I'm expecting APR to be pretty high and I don't want to be overpaying. Any and all suggestions/advice are welcomed.