Question on 21 year old buying a car

[paulsharvey]

At 21, it sounds like he can buy anything they will fiance. You can advise some, but even that, at this point, probably should be reserved for when requested by him.

No idea on quality, but Mitsubishi had some Very affordable compact cars, new, available. Mirage? Lancer? Like $16k, brand new, with warranty, 2024 models.

But, hes grown, and not just barely, grown grown, so I would only offer advice if asked

 

[paulsharvey]

He "might" need to look at more than one bank. Our credit union, my 19 y/o son can't have a solo account until 24, which is complete BS, IMO, but there are plenty of banks that, with credit, will absolutely treat an 18 y/o or 21 y/o as an adult

 

[LouNY]

As I recall as a young Marine that financing a vehicle was quite easy. Especially at those thieves right outside the gate. They knew that a simple phone call to a Marines command would get immediate attention. I was fortunate enough to have my vehicles before I enlisted and to buy at a good price when others were getting rotated out.
I did have the misfortune to get involved with a couple of younger men at my last duty station at Cherry Point that got screwed by shysters, it was not nice seeing them being called in front of the 1st Sargent and one even had to see the CO before getting an automatic deduct from their salary.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, for the son, I would rather pay 15% interest on my own, then 8% with a parent co-signing.

Is he trading in the old vehicle? It sounds like he can pretty easily do 20%+ down. Even if he had the cash and trade value to not fiance; I would still fiance for 5 years. Get the incentives for using their preferred leanding partner, and after 6 months, if it makes since, pay it off; or dont.

 

[kenmac]

It's been so long since I've financed anything other than my home, I couldn't tell you what interest rates are on vehicles. I did try to finance my 2024 Kawsaki mule profxt (3.99%) but they denied my application even though I had a high credit score LOL

 

[ultrarunner]

Finance is a profit center and it can be more than the vehicle sold.

Growing up around the car business we would have mostly Navy come in to buy and opted for clean used and avoided finance.

I’m guessing rust free used doesn’t apply where you are?

I’ve never had a car loan going back to age 13 and same for the folks, etc. mostly because it makes it easy to get upside down on value in addition to paying twice for the car with some of the dealer rates and long terms common today.

Credit Unions often have straight forward auto loans for those going that route.

Most of the single military guys just need wheels and the smart ones sock away as much pay as possible to build a nest egg and buy for cash…

Can’t comment on all the offerings with CVT transmissions but older non CVT Toyotas in rust free states just run and run…

What about a lease return?