Think it's do-able?

[koda6966]

Still looking hard for a job. I hate big factories that fire all their workers so the old workers take the supermarket and fast food jobs.

Anyway, once I get "that job" I will be in the market for a new vehicle, one that gets 30+ mpg. This time selling the Ranger is a definite, although I will still be active on the site. You all would be lost without me. Won't happen until springish anyway.

So, what the subject is asking is do you think that I would be able to, on a part time job, commute 80 miles a day to college, AND pay a loan on a car? I finally realized that the reason I can't find a cheap car is because I don't want a beater, and that I'll need to take out a loan. The way I figure (based on what my brother has told me) is that I would probably be spending somewhere around 150 a month on a 3000 dollar loan, IF I can get it set up for what.. two years?

With a 3000 dollar loan, and lets say 1500 (give or take a hundred or two) from the Ranger, I could afford a pretty nice car. Hell, for 3000 I could afford a decent one and put the money from the Ranger down on it. So for two years all I would be paying is the Gas to college, and for my car loan. That's.. around 100 a week? I have no clue how much I would be making with a part time job, but I think its probably higher than that. Too lazy to do the math right now. I would also have money left over to save for the upkeep of the car and for personal spending money.

After two years, I wouldn't have a car loan anymore so I would only have to pay my college loans back, which also wouldn't be that much, whoot for being poor.

Post college, I would end up as a paid apprentice working with a union electrician, and depending on where I go (The school has a program that gets you the apprenticeship, plus I know of somewhere I would want to work if I can) I would be making between 8 and 12 dollars, starting pay as a first year apprentice. Probably 8 and work my way up to 12 in the four year program.

That's a lot of side chat that I didn't need to include.. what I'm REALLY asking is do you think it's doable for a student to commute to college at 80 miles a day, AND make a 180 dollar car payment?

If any of you wonder why I ask so many.. odd questions, I guess it's because I have no one else to ask. My mother has never worked, my Father's been self employed his whole life, and no one in my immediate family went to college. Yeah, I'm a hill billy.

 

[Shran]

I did the commute thing for my first year of college, and only 60 miles round trip. I hated it so much, and I was driving my F150 at that point too so my gas was outrageous.

 

[grey ghost]

to give you some more to think about. i just bought that silver 04 ranger for 8500 +tags and all the other bull.
my loan was for 9 grand and my payments are $247.90 a month,now something you didn't mention is if the vehical is fiananced you have to have full coverage and for mine that's $137.28 a month you then take the cost of the lisense, inspection, and other mis crap that's a total of about $400.00 a month..

just something to think about

 

[97BlackBetty]

Hey koda, I am proud of you for wanting to go to college, its a rare thing to find these days. It seems most kids just think that they need to go to college but they dont know why, or what they want to do so

Now for the money part.
A car that gets say 35 mpg at 160 miles per day = 4.5 gallons per day.

4.5 gallons per day times 5 days a week = 23 gallons.

Now lets say that you can manage to get a job that pays $8 an hour.

Part time is 20 hours a week. Now assuming that you are attending school 5 days a week, that leaves you Saturday and Sunday to work.

$8 an hour x 20 hours a week = $160

Subtract say 20% taxes = $128

Ok. 23 gallons of gas at roughly $2.50 a gallon (I am aiming high preparing for gas prices to rise again) = $57.50 That is based on 5 days of driving with no additional trips.

4 weeks in a month.

Income = $512
Fuel= $230

Amount remaining after fuel = $282

Car payment is roughly $180/month

Remaining after $102

You need to keep in mind insurance and other vehicle expendatures, as well as additional gas costs and food expenses. That and, you may not always have that 20 hours a week, or even the job.


I hope I gave you some food for thought, but you can also factor in Federal Financial Aid, for me it is $4500 a year (does not cover my classes for one semester but I will rant about that later).

 

[koda6966]

80 miles round trip, and work is on the way. Roughly 56 dollars a week at 4.00 a gallon. The reason I would commute is so I don't have to pay for food etc. I'd live with my parents still.

Oh, and greyghost, I wouldn't be getting something THAT expensive. Let's say maybe 4k. And whatever vehicle I have will be insured under my father's name, making my insurance cheaper.

 

[ejholmgren]

to give you some more to think about. i just bought that silver 04 ranger for 8500 +tags and all the other bull.
my loan was for 9 grand and my payments are $247.90 a month,now something you didn't mention is if the vehical is fiananced you have to have full coverage and for mine that's $137.28 a month you then take the cost of the lisense, inspection, and other mis crap that's a total of about $400.00 a month..

just something to think about

How many year loan, what was your rate, age, etc? I picked up an '04 4.0L 4x4 Ext cab 28K miles for $10K, and my payments are only $200/mo and insurance is $70/mo.

FYI: Big banks are horrible right now, especially for auto loans. Wells Fargo customer for 20 years, excellent credit, and a ridiculously low debt to earnings ratio. The best they would do was 13% ... I laughed all the way to the credit union with $5 in my hand and got 4.35%.

 

[rangerbum]

Also take into consideration an emergency account. I like to keep one solely for my truck. That much Highway use takes a toll on rigs.

 

[koda6966]

Also take into consideration an emergency account. I like to keep one solely for my truck. That much Highway use takes a toll on rigs.

I was thinking that. Working a 20 hour work week puts around 140 dollars (minimum wage with taxes taken out) in my pocket each week. I would spend about 60 of it on gas, and lets say 50 of it on money for my car payment. That would leave me with ohh... 30 dollars each week, or 120 a month. I would keep that in the bank so as to provide a little bit of cash to spend, and a little bit to save. Now out of that 120 a month, I would also have to take into consideration my insurance costs. Thankfully, I won't have the absolutely outrageous insurance rates that usually occur for people just out of highschool or college, since I would have the car insured under my fathers name. Technically I believe I would also have to have the car in his name in order to do that? Not sure. I'll have to check that out.

 

[superdave1984]

May I suggest looking into govt surplus/seized vehicle auctions? You can get a decent car for cheap that way but you have to pay the whole price at once. Go here and look around.
http://www.govdeals.com/eas/AdvSearch.cfm

 

[koda6966]

May I suggest looking into govt surplus/seized vehicle auctions? You can get a decent car for cheap that way but you have to pay the whole price at once. Go here and look around.
http://www.govdeals.com/eas/AdvSearch.cfm

My father suggested that. He knows a guy that went there to get a good work truck, the guy ended up coming home with a Dodge 2500 with a hydrolic dump bed, a small GMC Sonoma for a D&D, and a little Kia thing for his daughter, all in the amount of money he expected to spend on the truck.

 

[dburton07]

my trucks in my name, my own insurance policy and im payin 69/mo and im only 20 finishing college. itd probly be a little higher if i was paying instalments for it.....granted its a 93 lol

 

[Kdawg532]

my 99 2.5 5spd ranger got around 29-31 MPG constantly, and we had it from 17 miles to 260,000 never replaced nothin on it, very low maintenance vehicle

 

[koda6966]

Well I could probably get the truck financed for four years, at a cheaper monthly price. But I want to have that loan payed off before I get out of college, although it would probably be a good idea to have it be less money.. we will see.