I went out today and got various price quotes on both a car loan and insurance. It's a heck of a lot of money to be paying for both at the same time. I want all my ducks in a row before I jump into buying a new car. I want to be able to afford all my bills and have enough money left over for savings and mad money, and at this point I can't do that with both an auto loan and higher insurance. I don't understand why I would take out an auto loan vs paying in full. I know it's good for my credit, but at the same time, I'm borrowing money I don't have and the bank owns my car until the loan is paid off, and if I miss a payment my car gets repossessed. I'd like to say I worked my butt off to save up the money. It's the idea that I worked hard every month to put away money for this car, and the car I have now is 20 years old but if I take care of it, it will last me until I can get a new one. So why jump into an auto loan and make monthly payments just so I can have the car now when I can work hard at my job, put in as much money as I'd like every paycheck, and in a year or so I'll enough money to pay for it in full? I can understand why my brother took out an auto loan, he needed a car ASAP. I have a dependable SUV that will get me from A to B and it will last me a solid couple more years, more than enough to save up for a new car without taking out a loan. I really don't understand why people take out an auto loan instead of paying it in full when the golden rule is to never spend more than you can afford, and an auto loan means you're borrowing money for something you can only afford through monthly payments, and it's not considered yours until it's paid off.