Convincing my dad to buy me a car?

[Cognizant]

Long story short, my dad's anti-trust in the United States economy led him to withdrawal all ~$11,000 of my college fund and put it in a safe somewhere in my house. The nice thing is it allows me to choose how I utilize the college money without getting the banks opinion on whats useful and what's not.

That now lies in the jurisdiction of my dad now, and I guess will continue to be that way until I'm 18. That normally wouldn't be an issue, but I'm having problems with trying to convince him that I need a car, and buying a cheap car with my college fund is worth while. Especially now since I have a few candidates for cars I'm interested in.

I mean, it's true. I do need a car of my own - my Nissan's lease is expiring in March (i'm not in love with the car anyways), and even if my dad just bought it out and gave it to me, it doesn't fit my needs. Again, I'm not trying to lease a Maserati and blow my entire funds. I'm just planning on buying something around 4-5 thousand, and community college should only be $5,000 for two years. I could easily pay it off by then, and/or I would use my job at Jamba Juice to pay for gas and shit. He doesn't need to loan me a cent.

Do you guys have any ideas of ways to convince or suggest to my dad that I need a car and I would be financially ok to buy one from my funds? Because I've tried to just tell him that and he keeps arguing that if I plan on going to community in the area, I don't need anything else. But I do - I'm actually pretty limited by what I can do in my LEAF and it's annoying. So if ye have any ideas I would greatly appreciate it

[James Dean]

I would first do more research on cars that you want to buy before you make this decision. You can always take public transport or whatever before you find a car that is in your budget. As far as your father is concerned, that is up to him as to whether or not he wants for you to use that money in that manner. If you are responsible, explain to him the reasons as to why you want to purchase the car, and probably buy your own insurance gas etc, then I don't see why he shouldn't be in agreement for you to buy something cheap and not too expensive. I do hope things go well for you, just sit down and talk be honest with him. If he says no, he says no. I do hope you end up happy regardless of the outcome. :)

[Pacaveli]

If you're city has a good transportation system, and you can take some form of transportation to get to you're jobs and basic places such as a store, by all means use the transportation system. Even if that means taking a bus. Cars, are a utter waste of money and if you decide to buy a car for $5,000 you run the risk of having an issue with the car. Eventually, maintenance and insurance will take over you're paychecks, and if you plan on moving out in the future, that is a big no no. Stick with public transportation, no insurance, no gas, all you pay is for an all day pass (likely if you live in the USA). You can always ask you're friends for a ride to goto social events, or if you need to be taken places.

[SethfromMI]

how about you buy the car? i don't have my own. i use the old family truck. it is technically "mine" but at the same time not really. I still take the bus sometimes depending where I am going. we got a decent bus system which runs semi regularly here. if I was in a city like New York, I wouldn't even bother owning one

[ImCoolBeans]

Is there something wrong with the Nissan you have now? How come it doesn't suit your needs? I would personally use the money for college, and save up money from my job to buy myself a car, and once I saved up a good amount I would sell my car and buy the one I wanted.

[Cognizant]

Thanks for your feedback guys. He finally told me (very angrily, for some reason) why he couldn't buy me the car. He is legally bound to a contract that states what I can and can't do with the money; even if he withdrew it all and my dad wanted to give me a car with the money, he can't.

As far as the questions about the actual car is concerned, it's honestly not feasible for me to take the bus - once I start college (assuming I go to the community college I'm interested in), i'd have to take 2 trains and a bus to get to school. Not fun. In addition, if I kept my Nissan, I'd have to pray each day that I could charge it while I'm there, otherwise I'm stuck to taking surface streets home or something. Doable? Yes. Convenient? Hell no. That routine would get so tiring super fast.

Now I may be a lead-footed driver who has the AC on all the time, but I want a car that doesn't really force me to change my driving style - something that my Nissan makes me do. I'm fine with waiting now that he's given me an explanation, hell he said he'll help me with paying it once my Nissan is gone. I might even be able to get something nicer and newer the time March rolls around.