i should mention, that most banks will also take into consideration all other expenses like rent/house payments, electricity/gas/internet/etc etc for that percentage (mine did at least)

aaaaannd, they MIGHT require a w2/1099 or other tax forms from the previous year.. they did for me because of my small business to see if i was positive or negative but that might just be because i have self employment/small business on top of a fulltime job. Not 100% sure on that.

I was way in the positive so it didnt matter but i remember them saying that if i was negative/showed a loss that it impacts the percentage many times over then normal.

but yeah.. cant remember if that was for the car loan or when i applied for the house loan, i just remember it happening.

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Oct 22 2014 08:00pm

well my w2 previous would be while im in school right? so it will be like 13k or w/e I had part time

wellas i stated in my edit to that post, i cant remember if it was from when i applied for the car loan or the house loan. But i think you should be fine.

I know for sure that when i applied for the car loan, they required the most current pay stub and proof of insurance. It can be on any vehicle, you just have to show you currently have fullcoverage on something because they will require full coverage for the duration of the loan. ..edit (or until the loan amount is under the bluebook for the vehicle) friends bank told him recently he could take full coverage off of his car and have whatever insurance he wanted on his wrx because the loan amount was under the bluebook on it.

bank to bank will vary on some things but its fairly standard what they want/look for /etc

This post was edited by TURBO_DODGE on Oct 22 2014 08:08pm

A couple consecutive current pay stubs will be fine. I still think you should give it a couple months before you make a move then you won't have to guess.

My personal opinion on the matter would be to spend way less than 40k on a car, or wait until you're a bit more established in your new job.
Making a big investment right out of the gate could land you in hot water quick if something goes wrong.

Do you also have student loans to worry about paying off?

edit: just saw you mentioned debt on page 2.
What I did when I graduated was focus 100% on my loans and got them paid off completely in less than a year. Then went out and bought a Jeep that I had been wanting.
Interest on student loans stacks up fast. After like 6 months of payments (a couple hundred a month higher than the minimum $) my loan amount had only dropped a few hundred dollars. It was then I decided I didn't want to worry about these payments and the interest for much longer.

TL;DR
Put yourself in a good financial position before spending 40k on a car (by paying off loans) or buy a cheaper car.
NN bankruptcy if something bad were to happen.

This post was edited by AXIS on Oct 22 2014 09:37pm

FYI Im recently out of college and started my career as an engineer making about the same you are. Its very tempting to go and buy a C7 Corvette right now and I could manage the payments alright. With that being said, I wouldn't have nearly as much "extra" money to spend day to day or to save up. More money in your day to day budget + more money towards savings accounts > fancy car right out of school.

Setup a budget once you get started at your job and really lay out where your money will be going. I use the app Mint to track mine and its pretty useful. I can see how much money Im guaranteed to spend every money (rent, utilities, food, gas, phone, etc.) as well as how much I actually spend every month and then compare it with what I bring in every month.
Even after my car payment which I pay a few hundred a month extra on currently, I still have over 1.5K unallocated that I could potentially put towards a car. It goes fast if you're like me though. I like my toys.

This post was edited by AXIS on Oct 22 2014 09:44pm

are you taking retirement funds into account? so that 59k turns to 45k-ish if you max out the 401k, so roughly 3700/month. around 1k on rent/utilities, 500-1k+ in savings account, 500-1k on food/gas. your car payments are what, 700/month if you don't put money down? that's the rest of your paycheck. you'll want some more for entertainment/clothes/dates/etc. if you're moving, dont forget 1 time costs (furniture, kitchen ware, computer, tv, sound system, etc).

it's do-able if you dont spend (or save) much, but personally i'd wait 6 months to make sure your job is fine and re-evaluate your expenses if you havent lived alone before. i somehow end up spending more money than i thought i would. i make a bit more than you do, and i'd look in the 20k-30k range for myself, but cars aren't really my priority.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Oct 22 2014 09:50pm

I was trying to stay in the price range when I got my Jeep too. I actually ended up finding one closer to $16k (but then put at least $4-5k into it) and Im glad that I went that route instead of a newer one closer to the $30-40k territory. And cars are still fairly high on my list or priorities!