<prompt> Human: Car shopping is slowly killing me. This is going to be a pretty long post because there are a lot of pieces to juggle in this tricky situation.I found a car that Im not 100 in love with, but Im really interested in it. Im mostly looking for advice as to whether this is a reasonable purchase for me to make using a bank loan.Just to give some background, Im a 23 year-old who recently graduated from college back in June with around 36,000 of student loans from the governmentnon-private loans for my degree in graphic design. Ive been working as an intern for a year and half, and when I graduated I was offered a starting salary of 38,000 a year. That means I make a little over 2000 a month after taxes and my 4 401k. In December, my grace period will end and Ill have to pay a little under 500 a month for my loans.Back in November I experienced a really rough break-up with my long-term girlfriend that has left me extremely unhappy with my life, even a year later. I feel trapped and isolated because I live with my parents and have to borrow their cars meaning I cant come and go as I please. Its really made me unhappy.I wasnt one of the lucky kids who inherited their car from their parents. For all my life, Ive known my parents to live month-to-month and have a terrible history of debt and bad credit. They dont plan for anything and take out tons of loans for terrible, but kind-hearted reasons. My sister went out of state to a dance school and could only afford to go for one term. They took out a 30,000 loan for that one term which is insane compared to the 36,000 5 years cost me. And since theyre so deeply in debt, Ive been forced to help them pay rent and help out with the bills. We live in the outskirts of a pretty expensive city and pay 1500 a month for a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house. Which is an amazing price for the city we live in despite the fact that my parents taxes say that they make nearly 150,000 a year in combined salaries. I guess that can tell you how bad they are with money.I hate it. I hate it so much. I feel like Im forced to pay for something that I didnt chose. In 2 months, Ive helped them out by paying a little over 3,000 to help with rent and other bullshit that I didnt ask for. This is mainly because my dads a teacher and doesnt have much of an income during the summer. They hope their money will even out now that schools started again, but Im skeptical. Yet I feel like I owe them because theyve given me so much and have supported me completely. Theyre not terrible people. Theyre just extremely bad with money.I really want to help them create a budget for their income and bills because Im not a sustainable resource. Im 23 and need to start my own life at some point instead of being defined by my parents mistakes. That said, I want them to be debt free and happy. I want to help them as much as I can.This all has taught me a lot though. I have great credit according to credit karma, I have a credit score of somewhere between 750765 and I love savings. They are amazing to me. Having money in my savings makes me feel safe. Unfortunately, college is expensive so I didnt have a lot of savings throughout my 5 years of school. I started trying to save money, but my parents have nearly bled me dry. I only 700 of savings right now despite having little to no expenses right now.But I so badly want a car so I can feel free and happy. I talked to my bank about getting a loan for a car and they said theyd only offer me an 11,000 loan at around 2 interest for 60 months. Theyll only give me a loan for a car thats less than 7 years old and with less than 100,000 miles on it. To be completely honest, Im so afraid of debt that Id want to pay it off as soon as possible instead of paying smaller payments for 60 months. Id split my earnings between 500 for rent, 500 for student loans, 350 for the car, 350 for savings, and 350 for everyday spending. For the past few months Ive been car shopping and looking at my options. At first, the VW Golf and Subaru Impreza caught my eye, but theyre not cheap enough for a typical poor college graduate to afford.After that disappointment, I really narrowed down my options to something more affordable and reliable. Ive looked at tons of cars and done tons of research. From the beginning, the Honda Fit stood out to me. It really fits my needs a lot, but its not an amazing car. I dont know if Id want to drive one for over 3 years at most. It would really suit my needs right now. I bike a lot and commute via bike to my job so I wouldnt be using the car for typical commuting. Id only use my car for road trips or meeting up with friends late at night when I didnt feel like biking.I found a Honda Fit that I like, but that Im not 100 in love with. Its a 2009 Honda Fit with a navigation system and 55k miles. The initial price for it was nearly 15,000 which was absolutely insane when it came onto the market. After seeing it a month ago, the price has dropped all the way to 11,500. Ive talked to the dealership a lot and this is honestly pushing them hard. I cant imagine that theyd be willing to drop the price any further based off comparable market prices. Its a fun car, but Im nervous about taking out a loan that big for a car Im not in love with. My gut says that this is a bad idea, but thats because Im deathly afraid of debt and Im worried about making a bad deal. That being said, Im honestly very convinced that this Honda Fit is the best deal for what Im looking for in a car. And Id really hope that being able to drive freely would help my happiness a lot.Is this a bad idea? Feel free to ask me any questions.tl;dr Should I take out an 11,000 loan to buy a used Honda Fit while managing 36,000 of student loan debt and trying to help out my own my familys enormous debts while maintaining a wage of 38,000 a year? Is my happiness and ability to travel freely worth that additional debt or am I going to be insanely unhappy with more debt?The tl;dr kinda makes me think this is a bad idea...Edit: Super sorry for not replying to everyone yet. I was out with a friend so I havent had enough time to reply to all the posts. But thanks for the advice so far! I really appreciate all the tips everyones given me. I think the consensus is, dealer or private owner, I should set my sights a bit lower and to save up a bit of cash for a significant down payment instead. It may take a few months longer than I hoped, but itll make me more secure for my future on my own.And just so everyone knows, I do plan on creating a very detailed budget for my family and I, but my end goal is to be out on my own when the lease expires next summer. Until then, Im going to stick it out with my family and try my best to make sure were all prepared for the future.Thanks again! Im going to sleep. Ill respond to everyone in the morning.Assistant: Dont buy that car. When dealers know youre in love with a vehicle, theyll eat you alive. Look elsewhere. I like to buy privately instead of from a dealer, because I get to talk to the previous owner, look at his house and garden, and get an idea of how he looks after things. Here is a Honda Fit near me I could get for 11 grand Canadian. Thats 8500 US. It has 93,500 km. Thats 58,100 miles. Dont buy that Fit from the dealer. Human: You know what, youre totally right. Thank you. I really wasnt in love with it because of the price mainly which is why I havent pulled the trigger and bought it. According to KBB, Nada, and truecar, the Fits in the fair market price range for my city, but I havent really checked out many private listings. Mainly because dealing with a dealership is very easy when dealing with bank loans.But thank you. I needed a bit of a slap in the face.  <response>: Im glad youre listening to good advice--honestly Id forget the love and just figure out what your base requirements for a car are. Reliable, good gas, affordable, etc. Look outside your area--if you get can there in a day on a hundred dollar train pass, its worth it if youre paying a thousand less, and it should be taken into consideration, even if its just in negotiating with your local dealers.Its a car, not a house. You see it every day but you generally spending less than an hour in it if youre spending more than that you live way too far away from work. If you truly want to get out and not be dragged down, you need an affordable vehicle that gets you from point a to point b reliably and without causing you back pain. Thats pretty much it. Seriously.From the family side...I know its hard to get past feeling obligated to pay for things, but theyre adults too. You shouldnt feel obligated to them for taking care of you--they were legally obligated to do so while you were a minor and into school. From an outside perspective, this goes double when their poor money management of 5,000 a month leaves you paying their bills you may want to come up with an agreement of how much you owe in rent each month and leave it there. Youre making less than a third of what they are, you are supposed to be saving money in this period of your life and theyre draining it from you out of a lack of caring about money. This is WRONG and NOT your fault. It goes triple when they chose to pay for a single semester of schooling for your sister in something that she could never continue in as she cant pay for any more over paying the same amount to you in something youve successfully completed.You are an adult, and you want to take care of your family. I totally get that. You feel you owe them, and you do, in many ways. But you do NOT owe them your future in exchange for their unsustainable lifestyle, while they turn a blind eye. Theyre not doing it on purpose, but they are doing it, and you need to know that its not okay, and that regardless of intent, you are being taken advantage of in a way that limits your future. If you want to rise above it, youll HAVE to set clear boundaries and youll have to stick to them without allowing yourself to be guilted.Good luck soldier :- 