Buying a car in the military

Hey here is a valuable information that Mr. Evans Wuu shared with me. It's a good information to keep in mind.
Great videos! Your topics are fantastic. Here is my story to highlight some points your video made. My son joined the Army almost 3 years ago, and the topics you discuss would have been a great help to him. He has done well for himself, but your videos would have driven home my advice I gave him at the time. Here is my advice for buying a car in the military.

1) Join the Navy Federal Credit Union and make sure your paycheck is direct deposited. They have very good auto financing deals, and it is easy to automate your monthly payment. You do not want to rely on financing from who you buy a car from.

2) Make buying a car a 6-month process! You need to save $500/month comfortably, and not carry lots of credit card debt, or you will be in trouble. A modest new car can cost $250/month. Auto insurance from USAA for a single man under 25 years old is at least another $200/month for a modest car. It is a whole lot more for a sports car or monster truck. This took my son's breath away, but since he able to save $1000/month for the prior 5 months, it was not a deal breaker. You will also spend money for gas and maintenance too.

3) Do not get a car that is more than you need or more than you can afford! Research the car or truck you really need. I steered my son to a Ford Fiesta with manual transmission that was less expensive, good gas mileage, and solid reliability. We found one that was new, but from the prior year (a 2013 still on the lot on the 4th of July 2014), and a funny blue color that still makes me laugh. The dealer was desperate to move this car off his lot. If it had automatic transmission, some local girl would have bought it 9 months earlier. It was small, but well equipped (power windows, cruise control, bluetooth, moonroof, electric seat warmer) and it handled like a sports car. The dealer had slashed the price by $5K. After taxes, and licensing fee, it cost $250/month for 5 years at almost 4% interest rate. After almost 2 years, my son is happy he got this car because it still meets his needs and is affordable as well as reliable. I had him buy rubber floor mats at Costco, and a lifetime wheel alignment ($180 at Firestone).

4) If you decide to buy a new car, look at it as a 10 year relationship. Can you see yourself still driving it 10 years from now? Are you committed to maintaining it (oil changes, brake jobs, tune ups, tires, battery replacements, etc.). You may get married and have kids by then, but would this car still be useful? Remember that you may also have another car/van by then too. The longer you keep and use a car, the more value you get out of it.

5) Pay down you car loan as fast as possible. Make extra payments. If you get a smaller car with smaller payment (5 or 6 year loan), and pay off the loan in only 2 years, you are way ahead of most of your peers. Making your monthly payment for year really improves your credit score which is important when you want to buy a home some time down the line.

My son bought his car a year after he enlisted. Since he had a long AIT (Army A-School) at the DLI (Defense Language Institute), the car was really useful to him. He was able to log volunteer hours of base and earned an MOVSM. He really used it to visit his girlfriend some 300 miles away, but I'm guessing that got old and he moved on from her. He got married a little more than a year after getting his car. His wife is also in the Army and they are both stationed together. As E-4s, they live off base and both collect BAH. Because both of them have good savings habits, and he and his wife receive foreign language proficiency pay on top of their pay and BAH, his wife got a cross-over vehicle. My son's car is almost paid off, and his wife's car will be paid off in about 2 years from now. They are both 21 years old, have a big puppy that is more than half way to 120 lbs full grown.

My last though for you and your listeners is this. If idiots repeat their mistakes, and smart people learn from theirs, then geniuses are the ones that learn from the mistakes of others