Having a car in Chicago (Lincoln, Grant Park: house, safe neighborhood, purchase)

[gomexico]

Originally Posted by rparz

Not trying to bust your balls, but I couldn't find any rental cars for less than 37 a day and then add on city rental tax and it's getting up there.
How far out are you booking a car, what branch do you use? Any other tips for getting this deal?

Enterprise offers 9.99 daily weekend rentals most of the year, including at holiday periods. Not all locations, but there has always been a location close to me. The company advertises the specials on a variety of websites. Monday thru Thursday is excluded. I've been doing this since the early 2000s. I haven't found another rental car company which offers such a good deal. On top of the 9.99 I pay applicable taxes (but not the airport surcharges) and I also accept the liability insurance, but decline collision because that's covered by one of my credit card benefits. Overall, it's a substantial savings.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by hindukid

More or less I am arguing that if you keep your car expense to $400 or less you can live in a cheaper neighborhood and the car will be payed for. Overall commute time will be same or a little less than without a car in south loop. And IMO life will be better.

Yeah there are tradeoffs, but it all depends on where you live really and where you WANT to live. Point is though that let's say you're strapped for cash because you're a college student (yes, grad student counts in this). Even if your rent is $900 and your car expenses are $400 total, that's still $1300 not counting other things.

And they might be rich in the future, but this is the present. I remember when my friends had their wedding in Trinidad and Tobago and wanted for me to come, but I was in college with not enough money. I had accepted a job for after graduation already, but it wasn't starting for 3 months. Just because I was going to be making $$$$ in the future, doesn't mean I could afford it at the time.

We are talking about the present with the $$, not the future. If that was the case, then all grad students would be living like kings and queens because of their *future* situations. Just not the case. There's a reason why so many people are in debt in this country right now. They go and pay for stuff they can't even afford, even if it means in five years they will be making bank, they still can't afford it *now*


If you can swing without having a car and live in a neighborhood with all the amenities, then think about it. Cash strapped...$300/month (I say $300 because that's the net between car payment and public transit let's say) is a lot. That's $3600/year. Think of what you can do with that money if you are tight with money at the time.

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by marothisu

If you can swing without having a car and live in a neighborhood with all the amenities, then think about it. Cash strapped...$300/month (I say $300 because that's the net between car payment and public transit let's say) is a lot. That's $3600/year. Think of what you can do with that money if you are tight with money at the time.

Agree. I just think you will have to pay more than a $300 monthly premium to live in the south loop. And definitely more than that to live in river north or downtown. The only way to have cheap rent, no car and not an awful commute would be to live in Hyde park.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by hindukid

Agree. I just think you will have to pay more than a $300 monthly premium to live in the south loop. And definitely more than that to live in river north or downtown. The only way to have cheap rent, no car and not an awful commute would be to live in Hyde park.

You'll have to pay $300/month anywhere not counting parking if you don't have your car paid off and you want a halfway decent car. Add in parking and it's even more if you can't get it included in your place.

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by marothisu

You'll have to pay $300/month anywhere not counting parking if you don't have your car paid off and you want a halfway decent car. Add in parking and it's even more if you can't get it included in your place.

So then its pay extra to live in the south loop or use the money instead for a car and save on rent. I would choose the second option but that's a personal choice.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by hindukid

So then its pay extra to live in the south loop or use the money instead for a car and save on rent. I would choose the second option but that's a personal choice.

All I'm saying is that if you have a car and you need to lease it out or do car payments, it's going to be at the minimum $300/month even if you get free parking and for someone who doesn't have tons of money..$300/month is a lot of money to save...especially if you're living in Chicago and want to live semi comfortably.

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by marothisu

All I'm saying is that if you have a car and you need to lease it out or do car payments, it's going to be at the minimum $300/month even if you get free parking and for someone who doesn't have tons of money..$300/month is a lot of money to save...especially if you're living in Chicago and want to live semi comfortably.

And all I am saying is that if you need to live in the South loop or downtown to be near public transport than you are not saving $300. It will cost you at least $300 more to live in those areas due to higher rents. So I don't see why you keep harping on $300 being a lot of money. You are going to have to spend that anyways.

If You live in north side near lake or Ukrainian Village you can spend $1000 on rent plus $300 on car. If you live in South Loop you will spend $1400 on rent. If you live downtown you will spend like $1700 on rent.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by hindukid

And all I am saying is that if you need to live in the South loop or downtown to be near public transport than you are not saving $300. It will cost you at least $300 more to live in those areas due to higher rents. So I don't see why you keep harping on $300 being a lot of money. You are going to have to spend that anyways.

If You live in north side near lake or Ukrainian Village you can spend $1000 on rent plus $300 on car. If you live in South Loop you will spend $1400 on rent. If you live downtown you will spend like $1700 on rent.

It doesn't even matter where they live. You are still missing my point..

How about this? To a cash strapped college student, $300/month is probably a lot for a cost you don't 100% need.

[luckyducky87]

Wow, thank you for all the suggestions! I have a few more information updates:

1) My bf's parents are so generous to provide us with money to purchase an economy car (probably used). So I will not have to consider monthly payments for the car.

2) STILL, considering insurance (I estimated $800/yr for one "main driver" of the car, mid-20's), gas for commute (~20mpg @ ~$4.6/gallon gas price in Chicago), parking at apt ($200/mth), AND parking at school ($500-900/year depending on whether it's NW or UC), it ended up being $250/month per person.

3) My bf will be going to UC Grad School for biology, which means working in a research lab. The reason why we thought he may need priority over living near HIS school is because there may be times when he may have to come back at 11pm to do something briefly for 15 minutes, or weekends where he may have to come back to the lab just for a quick 30-minute procedure. Of course it's not the end of the world if he'll have to commute for that, and in a way, I will be in a similar pressure to live somewhere near school 3rd+4th year when I will be rotating in NW hospitals.

-----------

We haven't come to a compromise yet...

But South Loop doesn't sound ideal for us... if we DON'T have a car, then it will be an inconvenient commute for both of us. If we DO have a car, then might as well live in Streeterville since the driving distance isn't SO different to UChicago (I think) and I can avoid a commute to Feinberg. I think same reasoning goes for any neighborhood other than Hyde Park or Streeterville.

So let me ask... why does Hyde Park get such a negative rep? People seem to describe it as somewhere that you get "trapped" in, and a place people move out of once they've experienced it. If we were to have a car, is it such a bad place to live in? What my bf and I would care about the most is (1) safety of the neighborhood -- are apartments in HP near UChicago prone to break-in's? Vandalism on cars parked outside? Getting mugged? (2) convenience on a daily basis -- are there not many things within walking distance (or is it just not safe to walk?), like bank, post office, grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. We aren't really the kind of people who like to try out fancy restaurants often or go out to bars at midnight. But we do want to have the option of walking to/from grocery stores without getting mugged or having to traveling a mile...

[hindukid]

Originally Posted by marothisu

It doesn't even matter where they live. You are still missing my point..

How about this? To a cash strapped college student, $300/month is probably a lot for a cost you don't 100% need.

They could probably live in Kankakee for half the cost of anywhere in Chicagoland. You have to draw the line somewhere.

The only places with reasonable public transit commutes will be downtown, south loop or hyde park. All other places will either be a southside ghetto or have a 80 minute commute each way to hyde park. If you are taking the bus 80 minutes to school to avoid getting a car, that is crazy IMO. And I am sure your grades will suffer from it.

How about this:

If you live north of roosevelt and not in the south loop or downtown/river north then you 100% need a car if you will be attending UofC.