<p>Hi guys. My question is, basically, should I buy my first car before college, or wait until after? My concern about buying a car now (going into my senior year) is that during college, depending on where I attend, I might not use a car as usually there is public transportation and campus transportation for free, and that a lot of the time, colleges don't allow first year students to bring cars to campus. As for right now, my family is sharing two cars; I contribute for the gas and insurance, so it's not absolutely necessary to buy one right now. Does anyone have any personal experiences/ advice regarding this subject, and whether it is worth the freedom of having your own car in college, or whether it will save a lot of money by just relying on public transportation as most residential students do? (On a side note, I am going looking at suburban/urban colleges such as Umass Amherst, Umass Lowell, Boston U, and similar schools where buses and trains are readily available.)
Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m a rising senior too and my parents just got me a car. (It’s not my first car. My first car had to be traded in in October because my mom needed a new van.) My parents plan on using it while I’m at school if I go to a city. My parents love my car because it’s fuel efficient, so they’re hoping I’m going to a city, lol.</p>
<p>I am only a rising freshman but if you aren’t going to use a car, why have one? Cars are so expensive; you should save that money for tuition.</p>
<p>^ I agree.</p>
<p>If it’s for convenience, it’s safer to wait until college! Benefits: you’ll have a newer car, and you may even save money!</p>
<p>I got my car given to me by my uncle, so I got lucky. If he had not given me my car then I would have bought one. Personally, I use my car a lot. There’s not much to do around my town so we go other places during the summer, and while it’s a very small town it’s not small enough to walk down the road and I’ll be at my friend’s house. In order to get to school we carpool instead of taking the buses because they come so early. It also comes in handy for when we have to stay after school and when we have sports practices. </p>
<p>Even if you don’t bring your car with you to college you’re going to want to have one for when you do come home and during breaks.</p>
<p>I plan on going to college in Manhattan, so obviously I’m not bringing my car along with me. During the months that I’m at school my dad will take me off of the insurance, and when I come back he will put me back on. It’s really as simple as that. Maybe it’s easier for him to do since he’s a private insurance agent so he has access to insurance almost every day, but yeah. That’s what we plan on doing.</p>
<p>Also, two years into college my brother will most likely be getting to use my car also when he’s at school since he’s four years younger than I am. He’ll be a junior in high school when I’m a junior. So, it’s pretty practical for my family.</p>