Car Payment in Med School

[HelloGoodbye]

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Hey everbody,

I will be starting med school here next year and am also looking at buying a new (used) car. According to my school our transportation budget is $480 a month. This is to include payment, gas, and insurrance. What do you think a feasible montly payment on a car would be?

What are your experiences? Should I try to buy as cheaply as possible or spring for a newer car?

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Hey everbody,

I will be starting med school here next year and am also looking at buying a new (used) car. According to my school our transportation budget is $480 a month. This is to include payment, gas, and insurrance. What do you think a feasible montly payment on a car would be?

What are your experiences? Should I try to buy as cheaply as possible or spring for a newer car?

Definitely go for the more expensive one.

 

[ChemEngSoonMD]

Hey everbody,

I will be starting med school here next year and am also looking at buying a new (used) car. According to my school our transportation budget is $480 a month. This is to include payment, gas, and insurrance. What do you think a feasible montly payment on a car would be?

What are your experiences? Should I try to buy as cheaply as possible or spring for a newer car?

Pimp your car AFTER you become a doctor.

 

[reedman]

get a 10 year old toyota, honda, or nissan that doesn't have too many miles on it. I'm driving a car that is 15 years old and it runs great. sure, there are a few oil leaks, belt replacements, alternator problems, etc... over the last several years, but the costs of repairs always turn out to be far ,far less that a car payment over the course of a year. Plus you probably won't be doing a whole lot of driving (in terms of mileage) anyway, so an older car would likely get you through 4 years.

I bet you could get set up for 2-3k.

 

[Medikit]

It's Hyundai time for you, keep it during residency. Honda Civics are a good way to go too. Get online bids toward the end of the month. Try Edmunds.com using a junk/secondary e-mail account.

 

[Usernamed]

Not that this is going to help the OP, but when I was working at a local hospital as an undergrad, there was a 60-year old anesthesiologist who was STILL driving his Pontiac Grand Am from med school. It didn't have AC (this was in TX, mind you), was 3 different colors, sounded like a tank when driving into the parking garage, and was 30% of the body was covered in what looked like rust (though it might've been years of compacted mud). I think it was a badge of honor for him.

Oh, and just so everyone knows he's not crazy, he drove a $100K convertible BMW when it was nice outside.