<prompt> Human: Hi rpersonalfinance,I have a 2011 Hyundai Accent. I owe 10K on it, and its worth probably 9K. I am a graduate student in a town where I dont really need a car, except for pleasure trips. I could easily downsize to a scooter as well, as it never really gets extremely cold or rain very often. So I have an option: sell the car now, and break about even, and use the money I save on payments and insurance to pay off 55k in student loans. Or, I could keep the car, pay it off, leave my student debt alone, and use my salary probably 55K to pay off student debt after I graduate without a car payment. I expect to graduate in 4 and 12 years. The car is fairly reliable and I expect it to last probably 10 years or so I take good care of cars. Im not flashy and I dont need new cars or anything. I will probably need a car after I graduate, though. So, whats the best thing to do with the poor investment that is a car? Sell now and buy when you need one, or keep it forever until it dies?Edit: Doing the math, the total difference in debt is about 11,400 at the end of the 4 and a half years I will be here. This includes buying and selling a scooter, or using a zipcar. Without that cost, the difference is about 13,400.So, subtract from that the cost of a car after I graduate. The projected cost of a car of my quality I looked up the 2007 Accent cost is about 7,000. So, thats a grand total difference of about 4,400 6,400 without the scooter, not including interest post-graduation. So, to answer uc2reason, is owning a car for four and a half years to explore California where Ill only be for my graduate career worth 4,400? Yes, I think so. Unless theres some financial thing Im missing.  <response>: Depends on what you define as best. It is certainly causing you to have less money. How much do you value having a car for pleasure trips? How does that compare to what youre spending on interestdepreciationinsurance?Also remember you can always rent a car if you want to go out-of-town for the weekend or something. Even better if you live somewhere with Zipcar. 