I am 24 years old but have only been driving a little over a year. My first car was a 2010 Audi A5 and it got totaled on a road trip back in September ( I was not behind the wheel). But prior To the accident I did have a few fender bender’s that I decided to deal with out-of-pocket rather than insurance. That included backing into a mailbox, hitting a neighbors car when trying to make a tight turn into my driveway (in my defense their car was out on the sidewalk), And I hit a curb and blew out both of my right tires. After the accident I did not rush to get a car because my ex had two cars and I did not have a job at the time, by the time I did need a car to get to work in January, the insurance money was mostly gone and I could not get approved for a car loan due to my short credit history. So I wound up buying a 2006 Saab 9-3 with well over 100k miles, an oil leak, lots of dents and scratches, electrical issues and a giant rip in the drivers seat. After driving a 2010 Audi the old Saab made me super depressed. Not only did I hate being seen in that car but it also had lots of repairs, within the first month of ownership I spent about $1000 on repairs and maintenance. About three weeks ago I was sleep deprived and struggling with my faulty window controls to try to get a fly out of my car, I wound up rear ending a car on the highway when traffic suddenly stopped and I failed to notice on time. Thankfully my insurance has a rental coverage, but now I am faced with the decision on which car to buy. The original plan was to tough it out until May or June and then upgrade. The tricky part about my job is that I am in direct, outside, door knocking sales and am only commission, The first two months I sold third-party energy and made barely any money, after that I went to sell solar Which has much higher commission But it also takes time to get good at it and you don’t get paid until the system is installed, so again I went without pay for well over a month until I saw my first paycheck. I am still learning and still not getting nearly as many sales as I would like. I am also Driving two to three hours a day Spending well over $100 a week on gas and generally putting a lot of wear and tear on my vehicle. Considering that I drive a lot for my job and that I am not the best driver It makes sense for me to get a newer car that is fuel efficient and has the advanced safety features I need (backup camera, blind spot detection, forward collision warning, land keeping assist, etc) that will also be reliable. However, unless I can make lots of money selling solar and can pay off The car in a year, I will be saddled with very high monthly payments for 5+ years and I will pay nearly double the value of the car. Considering my insurance is only giving me $2000 for my car and considering how much I drive it does not make sense for me to buy a car cash but even if I buy a car in the $5000 to $10,000 range I am still going to be hit with high APR due to my credit issues and I wont have the driver aids I need. What should I do? Please do not lecture me on how I should just learn to drive a normal car and how you have been driving for years without those driver aids. I try my best to stay alert and pay attention but sometimes I get tired and distracted, I have ADHD And I have a job that requires me to drive a lot and I don’t have a lot of driving experience. The only way I’m going to get better at driving is just with more years of experience. I need a solution given that I am a bad driver right now and probably will not improve drastically over night.
Submitted April 28, 2019 at 05:12PM by guineagang http://bit.ly/2XWT09D
