Hi everyone.
I'm a 21 year old college student. I also work full time and make about 30,000 a year. I paid 5,000 (cash) for my 2006 Honda Accord five years ago (I saved an entire summer). It's been great to me, but I drove it alot and the mileage was up to 200,000. It died on me 
I am not too familiar with cars but from what the mechanic explained something was unsealed in my engine and the cost to replace my engine isn't worth it.
I have recently opened a couple credit cards (my first ones!), one is a Chase Amazon with a 1500 limit, and the other is a Discover (joint account with my boyfriend of three years) with an 8500 limit. I literally fill gas and buy food and just pay them off as I start to build a credit history. I'm not really into spending money right now, I like buying things used and I'm on a full ride scholorship at school so I don't have many school expenses.
I decided that I need a car to get from school and work, (because Arlington, Tx has no public transportation). The problem is since my credit is so new I can't really find a good rate on a car loan. My boyfriend is 31 and has great credit history and wants to cosign for me, the problem is he only wants me to get a Lexus because that's the car he has always drove, and he wants me to get something from 2013 and on so that i can have a warranty. He thinks its a smarter investemnet because older cars "break down more" and he says Lexus are made to never break down.
I have about 20k in total savings, no debt (pay of my two cc to zero) and I wanted to put about 5k on a car. I really appreciate him offering to cosign for me, but I don't think I am ready to buy a car right now, I wanted to wait until I graduate and the big bucks roll in hah hah.
So because we keep arguing on this, I am thinking of asking to "lease" his car from him for the next two years (I graduate in two years). He has two cars paid off, one is a Lexus LS 460 L 2013 and he literally leaves it in his garage and the other is the ugliest Lexus GS SUV I've ever seen in my life he drives all the time lol. I want to be serious when I ask him so that he can see I'm not just trying to "borrow his car" but actually have an agreement to borrow his other car. The thing is I can't find online where you could lease a 2013 lexus so I have no idea what the monthly payment should be as well as any down payment. Could anyone give me some insight on to what you would offer if you were the one wanting to lease the car? I don't hink he would have any problems with me puting miles on it as I don't drive too far and he's already offered to let me use it in the short term. Any advice is appreciated.
I'm not worried about if things go bad, we've broken up before and we are both really mature about things. I don't think I need a formal agreement to "lease" his car from him but I do want to compensate him in the most fair way.
I really want to save up and buy a car outright if possible when I graduate. I know that seems kind of bizarre but I love not having a car payment for so many reasons. Has anyone done this while they leased?
@Anonymous wrote:Hi everyone.
I'm a 21 year old college student. I also work full time and make about 30,000 a year. I paid 5,000 (cash) for my 2006 Honda Accord five years ago (I saved an entire summer). It's been great to me, but I drove it alot and the mileage was up to 200,000. It died on me
I have recently opened a couple credit cards (my first ones!), one is a Chase Amazon with a 1500 limit, and the other is a Discover (joint account with my boyfriend of three years) with an 8500 limit. I literally fill gas and buy food and just pay them off as I start to build a credit history. I'm not really into spending money right now, I like buying things used and I'm on a full ride scholorship at school so I don't have many school expenses.
I decided that I need a car to get from school and work, (because Arlington, Tx has no public transportation). The problem is since my credit is so new I can't really find a good rate on a car loan. My boyfriend is 31 and has great credit history and wants to cosign for me, the problem is he only wants me to get a Lexus because that's the car he has always drove, and he wants me to get something from 2013 and on so that i can have a warranty. He thinks its a smarter investemnet because older cars "break down more" and he says Lexus are made to never break down.
I have about 20k in total savings, no debt (pay of my two cc to zero) and I wanted to put about 5k on a car. I really appreciate him offering to cosign for me, but I don't think I am ready to buy a car right now, I wanted to wait until I graduate and the big bucks roll in hah hah.
So because we keep arguing on this, I am thinking of asking to "lease" his car from him for the next two years (I graduate in two years). He has two cars paid off, one is a Lexus LS 460 L 2013 and he literally leaves it in his garage and the other is the ugliest Lexus GS SUV I've ever seen in my life he drives all the time lol. I want to be serious when I ask him so that he can see I'm not just trying to "borrow his car" but actually have an agreement to borrow his other car. The thing is I can't find online where you could lease a 2013 lexus so I have no idea what the monthly payment should be as well as any down payment. Could anyone give me some insight on to what you would offer if you were the one wanting to lease the car? I don't hink he would have any problems with me puting miles on it as I don't drive too far and he's already offered to let me use it in the short term. Any advice is appreciated.
I'm not worried about if things go bad, we've broken up before and we are both really mature about things. I don't think I need a formal agreement to "lease" his car from him but I do want to compensate him in the most fair way.
I really want to save up and buy a car outright if possible when I graduate. I know that seems kind of bizarre but I love not having a car payment for so many reasons. Has anyone done this while they leased?
When my daughter was 21 she was able to get a loan in her name making less then you and with no credit. IMHO, I would not consider 1. cosigning with a boyfriend, 2. getting a vehicle that's out of my price range (leasing or buying). If you have the resources pay cash for something reliable and drive it until it dies. DO not allow anyone to pressure you into getting something that's out of comfort zone. I make a good income and I am still driving a 1996 FORD Excort with over 300, 000 miles.
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I wouldn't mind spending half of my savings on a reliable car (10,000) do you think that's possible? I really don't care about looks at all. I don't know where to even look, my last car was from an auction so I got really lucky because my friend had an auction lis. Would you reccomend just looking like on craiglist and maybe seeing if I can pay a mechanic to come look at a car with me before I buy? I literally know nothing about cars.
My boyfriend says he doesn't think I can find a reliable car for 10,000 that I won't have to spend alot to fix every month. I definitley want to avoid that, minor stuff is fine but I don't want to have to use my savings for big expenses if that makes sense. Also, you mentioned your daughter had no credit, do you know how she went about finding a car loan with a reasonable interest rate? Just from researching online everything I've read said I'll need a cosigner. Thank you.
Playing a bit of devils advocate...
Do you know what your credit score is currently? If you have had those cards for six months they might not suck.
Car loans are the easiest loans to qualify for honestly, and money is absurdly cheap currently. While I can understand the desire to be debt free, that's not always a fantastic solution. That said, I absolutely wouldn't go out and get something you didn't feel comfortable making the payments on.
You found a cheap car that worked for you last time, clearly it can work... fact is most modern cars you can get 200k on if you take care of them; something of a risk with a prior owner, but vehicle history reports are sophisticated enough now that you can find out of there's water damage or the like which makes it a no drive zone.
Also calling it what it is, the advice not to cosign should really be given to your BF about you 
. In your case, either you were going to make the payments or not anyway so really it's no risk to you but if you were to flake, he's stuck with it. Not saying this is a forgone conclusion just crap happens over time... and there are plenty of horror stories on this forum to suggest cosigning anyone else except your spouse doesn't make a lot of sense.
As for car shopping, go trawl the listings of Carmax, that can give you a good idea as to what you're looking at price wise and getting a reliable car for 10K is pretty trivial; could get a car to last you till you get real income for 2-3K even if you're not worried about looks... sometimes a beater is the right way to go. I'd likely use part of the 10K for a downpayment, take the cosign offer, and pick up a car that I planned to keep for a good long while, but the 2011-2013 Lexus on 30k income, that doesn't strike me as fiscally smart even at trivial APR's. A car by definition is a depreciating asset, 5+ year old Honda/Toyota like you did last time is a better target most likely from a pure financial perspective.
Also any used car from wherever but especially private sale, get a mechanic to check it out absolutely.
End of the day you need to make the decision that's right for you.
@Revelate wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I wouldn't mind spending half of my savings on a reliable car (10,000) do you think that's possible? I really don't care about looks at all. I don't know where to even look, my last car was from an auction so I got really lucky because my friend had an auction lis. Would you reccomend just looking like on craiglist and maybe seeing if I can pay a mechanic to come look at a car with me before I buy? I literally know nothing about cars.
My boyfriend says he doesn't think I can find a reliable car for 10,000 that I won't have to spend alot to fix every month. I definitley want to avoid that, minor stuff is fine but I don't want to have to use my savings for big expenses if that makes sense. Also, you mentioned your daughter had no credit, do you know how she went about finding a car loan with a reasonable interest rate? Just from researching online everything I've read said I'll need a cosigner. Thank you.
Playing a bit of devils advocate...
Do you know what your credit score is currently? If you have had those cards for six months they might not suck.
Car loans are the easiest loans to qualify for honestly, and money is absurdly cheap currently. While I can understand the desire to be debt free, that's not always a fantastic solution. That said, I absolutely wouldn't go out and get something you didn't feel comfortable making the payments on.
You found a cheap car that worked for you last time, clearly it can work... fact is most modern cars you can get 200k on if you take care of them; something of a risk with a prior owner, but vehicle history reports are sophisticated enough now that you can find out of there's water damage or the like which makes it a no drive zone.
Also calling it what it is, the advice not to cosign should really be given to your BF about you
As for car shopping, go trawl the listings of Carmax, that can give you a good idea as to what you're looking at price wise and getting a reliable car for 10K is pretty trivial; could get a car to last you till you get real income for 2-3K even if you're not worried about looks... sometimes a beater is the right way to go. I'd likely use part of the 10K for a downpayment, take the cosign offer, and pick up a car that I planned to keep for a good long while, but the 2011-2013 Lexus on 30k income, that doesn't strike me as fiscally smart even at trivial APR's. A car by definition is a depreciating asset, 5+ year old Honda/Toyota like you did last time is a better target most likely from a pure financial perspective.
Also any used car from wherever but especially private sale, get a mechanic to check it out absolutely.
End of the day you need to make the decision that's right for you.
Thank you for replying. I think I didn't explain this well, the Lexus is my boyfriends car that he keeps in his garage. He's offered to just let me use it, but I was thinking I should just "lease it" from him until I graduate, but I wasn't sure how much it should be. I could only find leasing options for a BRAND NEW lexus. I would lease it from him as in give him a monthly payment for the car.
If I do see a car that I like, where can I find a mechanic to check it out? Could I just look up local mechanics and ask them what the rate is for just looking at a caar? I haven't really purchased a credit score, but credit karma says my score is 716. I have no negatives, I'm an authorized user on three of my boyfriends cards which have perfect credit history, and I have one credit card of my own and one as a joint user (all perfect history) one is like over fifteen years old. I know credit karma isn't accurate though.
The problem with the cosigner offer is he won't cosign something that isn't a Lexus because that's all he's ever drove. It makes me think maybe he is worried I will not keep up with the payments and he will have to take the car and he wants something he would drive? I didn't think that because he is the one that offered and he knows how hard I work at school/work but he's really adament about me buying something newer and a Lexus. I keep going back and forth on one hand it's like with him as a cosigner my interest will be low on the other idk if I'm ready for a more expensive car. I might research some more on getting a loan for myself though you guys are kind of giving me hope. Thank you!!
@Anonymous wrote:Thank you for replying. I think I didn't explain this well, the Lexus is my boyfriends car that he keeps in his garage. He's offered to just let me use it, but I was thinking I should just "lease it" from him until I graduate, but I wasn't sure how much it should be. I could only find leasing options for a BRAND NEW lexus. I would lease it from him as in give him a monthly payment for the car.
If I do see a car that I like, where can I find a mechanic to check it out? Could I just look up local mechanics and ask them what the rate is for just looking at a caar? I haven't really purchased a credit score, but credit karma says my score is 716. I have no negatives, I'm an authorized user on three of my boyfriends cards which have perfect credit history, and I have one credit card of my own and one as a joint user (all perfect history) one is like over fifteen years old. I know credit karma isn't accurate though.
The problem with the cosigner offer is he won't cosign something that isn't a Lexus because that's all he's ever drove. It makes me think maybe he is worried I will not keep up with the payments and he will have to take the car and he wants something he would drive? I didn't think that because he is the one that offered and he knows how hard I work at school/work but he's really adament about me buying something newer and a Lexus. I keep going back and forth on one hand it's like with him as a cosigner my interest will be low on the other idk if I'm ready for a more expensive car. I might research some more on getting a loan for myself though you guys are kind of giving me hope. Thank you!!
Guess I whacked that part of my reply during the rewrite: you can't lease anything but a new vehicle; if it's used, it's not leasable.
Mechanic is for the inspection of the used vehicle if you go that route; use something like Truecar to get vehicle price estimates.
TBH I wouldn't bother with coming up with a payment plan for the vehicle but what you should do is pickup maintenance, insurance, and of course gas if you're the one driving it. I think that'd be enough to satisfy both you and him that you aren't simply just leeching the use of his vehicle. Buying a car for roughly your annual income makes little sense, even when your expenses are low and interest rates are negligible: I'd love a Tesla Model S P85D but frankly, it ain't in the cards financially based on my current income even if I could "afford" the payment. Better uses of the money for me, and I would suggest the same is true for you.
There's no need to overthink this really; if you're dead set on paying him above what I suggest earlier, use Truecar to figure out the current value of his vehicle, factor in an interest rate of 2% (hey Lexus cosigner!) over 60 months and do that in full or some fraction of that to satisfy your own needs... but from what you intimate, he'll might not be OK with your paying for it anyway... right now it's losing value sitting in the garage, might as well get some use out of it.
