Young and in debt.. Help!

MrsTinks

Happytogetdebtfree wrote: »

Hi well done for posting. I had a luxury car but it was just working out too expensive I now have a cheap banger for a to b trips oh has company car. I spend less that 40 a month on fuel and my insurance this time is 20.06. Although I'm insured as a named driver on my mums insurance. Not bothered about building no claims I'm bothered about comfort and affordibility. What about asking your parents to insure the car and u be a named driver that is how I am able to afford. 1500 might seem very little but when you are struggling to pay it seems alot. Rethink things. It was hard for me at uni but I was running my old banger so I didn't care I still say when I buy my next car it will be out right! And I will demand to go home with it that day or il not buy it. Ahh one can dream x

Carefull with being named driver... if you're the only one driving the car and yoru mum is not the main driver then YOU should be the policy holder - some will still make it cheaper if your mum is named on the policy though. Don't let a technicality and £5 a month be the cause of invalidating your policy!

Happytogetdebtfree

ahhh i see well im not the policy holder i am just a named driver and make use of the car 3 times a week xx

Ostinato

Thanks very much for all your advice so far guys really appreciate it

Yeh I know I basicaly have to increase my income or get rid of the car... I have taken on more shifts at work so I will have more of an income - but then I need to consider other things to be paying.

I'm started to get annoyed with all this.

I know the best solution probably is to sell the car and I can pay off the debt and have some to spare and be back to the position I was in.... However do you think I would even be able to sell it? Imean although it is a brill car and everything Im sure a lot of prospective owners would be wary of the fact I am selling it after a month of having it... Then I have to go down the route of buying another car (even if it is only another run around) and the insurance and all that comes with that...

JamieT1977

Ostinato wrote: »

I know the best solution probably is to sell the car and I can pay off the debt and have some to spare and be back to the position I was in.... However do you think I would even be able to sell it? Imean although it is a brill car and everything Im sure a lot of prospective owners would be wary of the fact I am selling it after a month of having it... Then I have to go down the route of buying another car (even if it is only another run around) and the insurance and all that comes with that...

This is my story, when I was 19 I had a debt of £750, I found this hard to pay, and so the spiral started, by the age of 26 I was in £31,000 worth of debt.

If I was you I would "nip this in the bud" now and sort your £1500 debt out. Sell the car or increase your income.
If you are a uni student, that would suggest you live in a large city/town so jobs are out there, not all are advertised so pop in and ask shop staff/management.
Jobs that work around Uni - Nightclub Flyering, weekend retail jobs, seasonal jobs for the summer break etc.

bouncydog1

I assume that you still live at home with parents, and just use your car to get to the station each day to get the train to Uni. The rest of the time you use your car just for pleasure.

Do your parents have a car that they might let you use occasionally? If you go out with friends, why can't one of them pick you up etc. - you could give them money for petrol etc. I'm sure the occasional taxi would be cheaper for nights out than all this is adding up to.

At 19 you should be having a great student life, not spending all your income on your car - what happens if it breaks dowN? At the moment you would have to borrow more money to fix it and put yourself further into debt.

Could you not get a moped to get you to the station and back - surely this would be loads cheaper than a car.

Sorry - but as things stand unless you can up your income - you cannot afford to run a car. Sell it and reduce your overdraft over the next few months - you can then start to enjoy your life instead of worrying about this debt - and don't worry about the amount being small compared to others - it is important enough to you to be pro-active and deal with it before it gets worse - WELL DONE!!

twistedmoosie

Hey Ostinato,

Do you absolutely have to have the car? Seems to me while you're at uni that's the time when you need more cash for food and socialising? Although totally understand that sometimes it's impossible not to have one.

I bought mine after uni and while I felt like I deserved it, and loved it to pieces, I had to face up to the fact that everything I spent on it was only ever extra debt never earned money, and gave it up. Seems to me you're in the same situation here.

I've ended up 'selling' it to my mum - basically the time I was trying to sell coincided with the time when her HP deal came up and she hated her old car so now she has mine, but gives me the £200 a month that she paid before. In a way it's not so great as it doesn't cover all the interest that accumulates on my debt still whereas a lump sum would have cleared it - but it feels great not to have to freak out about where my next insurance, servicing or petrol payment is going to come from. Seems to me if you've only just bought the car you've got a fair chunk of that to come, and not always predictable.

Times are hard and if you told prospective buyers you're selling because you lost your job they'd totally be on board with that.

twistedmoosie

Oh, and totally agree with JamieT - if I was you I would have nipped this in the bud too years ago!!!

talana

I have to agree with everyone else.
I'm not quite clear why you say you NEED the car at the moment. Is it for the job?
But then the job is bringing in £200 and the car is costing you £205 + tax, MOT etc.
Goes without saying working so you can afford a car to drive to work is daft. Can you get to work by any other means? Bus, bicycle, walk?

Ostinato

Wow jamie... your story has scared me a bit and made me really want to take action! thanks...

I am only at uni a couple of days a week so I just drive to the station yeh. Apart from that I use for my car for general going about, but I do need it as I work 20 mins away and sometimes have 6am starts so can't always rely on lifts...

Yeh i really am starting to wonder how I will afford the car in the long term especially if things do go wrong... I am going to look at selling it and see if theres a cheap one i can run around in... as much as it pains me lol

petrolhead69

how economical is the car? you could deliver takeaway food a couple of nights a week, I did this for a while when I was made redundant straight after moving in to my first flat and averaged £70 a night once you included the tips after putting autogas in plus a free meal for me and the mrs, that was the chinese, speaking to others generally chippys pay less than chinese and indian food you get better tips.
There are only 2 ways around this, increase your income or reduce your outgoings. work harder or downgrade the motor unfortunately. in general, unless you caj off your parents or are lucky enough to have a decent job for your age most folk i know drove cheap bangers until about 22/23. I`m 28 and just traded down to a £500 Audi fron an £11000 mercedes to be an MFW.