Teen Auto Loans. If you are going to buy a used car with teen auto loans, be sure you read the guide "How To Buy a Used Car And Avoid Scams." It's the best used car buying advice, with the used car bill of sale form, reviews of online used car classifieds.

First Time Car Buying
If you are a teenager in high school, or a college student with no established credit history, there are a number of barriers in the way to your entry into car ownership. When you are young and invincible, you have all these starry eyed dreams about the car you are going to get with teen auto loans, then reality sets in, as concepts you never had to deal with before suddenly leap out of no where to crush your dream and knock you back down to earth. How are you going to pay for your new car? Have you gotten insurance quotes? Who will finance you? Now you have to pay $80 a month in gas, and there's oil changes, new batteries to buy, and other unexpected expenses other than your teen auto loans. We advise all car buyers to purchase a car that you can afford to pay off in 48 months.

You must also put down 20% on your teen auto loans to keep from getting upside down, where you owe more on the car than it is worth. If you cannot put down 20% on the car, then do not buy that car. You must buy a car in which you can afford to put down 20%. There is no room for arrogance or indignant responses here, it's a mathematical fact of life. Every single person who breaks this rule runs into trouble when they trade in their car later. You never ever want to be in the position of owing more on your teen auto loans than your car is worth. If you determine that you can afford a new car, then make sure you enter new car dealers with The Folder* of competitive new car price quotes, or you'll overpay by thousands. Cars.com, InvoiceDealers, Autoweb, Edmunds.com, Autos.com and CarsDirect all help you save on teen auto loans when buying new cars.

*The guide, The Folder and other information can be found at the Car Buying Tips web link to the right of the page.

If you cannot squeeze teen auto loans into 48 months, do not buy that car, you are heading down a path of destruction.

You don't want to spend the next 6 years paying off a teen auto loan. Go buy a cheaper car instead. Remember, your car loan is but one of many cost items contributing to your overall cost of vehicle ownership. Most people overlook all the other cost items apart from your teen auto loans and get into trouble real quick, not realizing insurance goes up on a new car. You should create a budget that accounts for all your annual costs to own that car, like teen auto loan payments, tires, insurance, maintenance, etc. Then from your budget, you should determine if you can handle that much of an annual drain on your finances. If you cannot afford a new car, we suggest buying a quality dependable used car like Honda Accord or Toyota Camry with your teen auto loans, which typically run years with out costly repair issues. That is what is most important with your first car, safety and dependability, especially once you head off to college and cannot afford a single thing to go wrong.

If you are going to buy a used car with teen auto loans, be sure you read the guide "How To Buy a Used Car And Avoid Scams."* It's the best used car buying advice, with the used car bill of sale form, reviews of online used car classifieds, how to buy a used car from dealers or private sellers, negotiating with tough sellers, scams to avoid and a list of questions for you to print out to ask the seller. DO not attempt to buy a used car with your teen auto loans until you read that chapter. If you buy a used car, you absolutely must go get a CARFAX Vehicle History Report on the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) AND have a mechanic inspect the car on a lift. If you do not do both of these vital steps, then do not buy that used car. You have been warned. You must nip the problem proactively in the bud, not reactively after it happens.