Owning a Car - Advice Sought

[sharkbomb]

Hello everyone,

I ship out for recruit training in late April, and will be attending corpsman school after completing that. Currently, I am trying to get all my finances and other obligations taken care of.

Trying to figure out what to do about my car and insurance-- Are personal vehicles allowed at corpsman school or FMSS? Should I just put it up on blocks and into storage for a few years? I'd prefer to just put it into long-term storage and keep car-related expenses at nil, but will I regret this decision later on?

Any insight would be much appreciated. What did all of you do with your cars before shipping out?

[Da-Chief]

Ok shipmate, congrats!

I take it you enlisted "ACTIVE" if so, Ditch the car, especially if you want to get stationed overseas. They do a Financial check on everyone who gets orders overseas and if you meet a certain % against your pay, they cancel your orders. We have had to do it for more people who have had orders to "Japan, Spain, Germany, Bahrain" etc..

Besides even if you get stationed INCONUS, it does not mean you will have driving priv's right off the bat.

If you want to see the world, sell the car, unless It is paid for (Read: you owe "0" on it)

Hope this helps!

HMC

[Doccaprio]

Unless something has changed, POV's are not allowed at Corps school for new sailors. FMSS at Lejeune allows them and if you want to get off base without forking over $20-$30 for a taxi I would keep it. Another thing is that if you sell the car and drop the insurance you may have to pay a higher insurance rate once you get another car. Even if you store the car, keep at least the minimum amount of coverage on it.
But again, as chief said, if you want over sea's orders (which I don’t know the odds of getting) you want to ditch it. Make sure if you keep the car you set up automatic payments from your checking account for the insurance, the car payment and any storage fee’s.


Congrats on enlisting!!!!

[hm1park]

You will probably not be in too many more instances of your life where you can save money like you can when you first come in. During this time you will spend much of your time in training and just hanging with the guys on base. Sure it will put you out 20-30 bucks for a taxi, but if you only do that once and a while or go in with several people, it keeps the cost down. By the time you get to your first duty station you can see what happens with your career. ie orders overseas, deployments, etc. Having car expenses during this time or decisions on where to store, should I sell, etc can be frustrating. Once you arrive at your first duty station, very often you will arrive to a unit whom will be deploying soon. That's why they order you there in the first place.(Fresh meat) ha! If a deployment doesn't seem imminent after a month or so at your duty station, make plans to retrieve your car from home. Get a special power of attorney ASAP to handle issues with personal property/car if need be.

Hope this helps ya

[sharkbomb]

Thanks for the advice (sorry for being so slow with a response).

I think I'm just going to put it up on blocks and keep the min insurance on it. I want to keep this car until the car dies or I die - it's been really good to me.

[dustmans]

Don't forget to unplug the battery. A paid off car that runs well is worth much more then gambling on buying one you can afford a year from now. It sucks if you get stationed somewhere where there is no public transportation and don't have a car. Good luck in school!