Sigarms
Super Star Member
Our son has had 2 cars in his life, both my wife and I financed him, we bought the cars, and he paid us back in full (first car when he was 16)
He's 21 now, deployed overseas, and he sold his last car before he left.
There is a good chance he will be back 2nd quarter of next year back at his permanent duty station, which luckily is only 3 hours from us in another state.
1st car he bought, Mercedes, 2nd car Mustang (which he traded the Mercedes for). We think he's finally getting wiser and is now looking at something more practical like a Honda or Mazda (hatch back for extra room) but still good gas mileage and should be easier on insurance.
He's moving his criteria up to something relatively new (2025 model, less than 30K on the odometer and under $27K buy price). Both cars he bought in the past were less than 12K each, both with around 100K miles on them when bought. The mustang was easier on parts for him on what work he could do himself, and he figures anything "normal" like a Honda or Mazda will be less money on his end.
By the time he gets back to the US, he should have anywhere between 16-22K in his account (assuming he still gets paid in his words LOL).
He's had his own credit card since he was like 17, always had it paid off, and he's had a good credit score of like 725, but after he got into cars after he got his first one, started spending more money on working on them and sinking money for parts on them. Point is he never really had a high balance in his bank account after that, and what he actually puts on his credit card is now basically food (mess hall at PDS in the U.S isn't open) and car parts.
Both he and my wife and I would like for him to build up his independence from us on buying a car, and was wondering at what point does a 21 year not need their parents to co sign a car loan on their behalf? I thinking with the limited credit history, if he can't buy the car paid in cash in full, he would need our signature.
That said, his buddy on base in the U.S bought a somewhat new car for over 20K (in a larger city 45 minutes away from base) and I don't think he got his parents to co sign, but I also think the interest rate was still beyond kind of beyond stupid. If it would help with the interest rate, we would want to co sign because the one thing at this point we've instilled in him is interest rates are not your friend and our son would agree (so he says).
He's 21 now, deployed overseas, and he sold his last car before he left.
There is a good chance he will be back 2nd quarter of next year back at his permanent duty station, which luckily is only 3 hours from us in another state.
1st car he bought, Mercedes, 2nd car Mustang (which he traded the Mercedes for). We think he's finally getting wiser and is now looking at something more practical like a Honda or Mazda (hatch back for extra room) but still good gas mileage and should be easier on insurance.
He's moving his criteria up to something relatively new (2025 model, less than 30K on the odometer and under $27K buy price). Both cars he bought in the past were less than 12K each, both with around 100K miles on them when bought. The mustang was easier on parts for him on what work he could do himself, and he figures anything "normal" like a Honda or Mazda will be less money on his end.
By the time he gets back to the US, he should have anywhere between 16-22K in his account (assuming he still gets paid in his words LOL).
He's had his own credit card since he was like 17, always had it paid off, and he's had a good credit score of like 725, but after he got into cars after he got his first one, started spending more money on working on them and sinking money for parts on them. Point is he never really had a high balance in his bank account after that, and what he actually puts on his credit card is now basically food (mess hall at PDS in the U.S isn't open) and car parts.
Both he and my wife and I would like for him to build up his independence from us on buying a car, and was wondering at what point does a 21 year not need their parents to co sign a car loan on their behalf? I thinking with the limited credit history, if he can't buy the car paid in cash in full, he would need our signature.
That said, his buddy on base in the U.S bought a somewhat new car for over 20K (in a larger city 45 minutes away from base) and I don't think he got his parents to co sign, but I also think the interest rate was still beyond kind of beyond stupid. If it would help with the interest rate, we would want to co sign because the one thing at this point we've instilled in him is interest rates are not your friend and our son would agree (so he says).
