Peer pressure over houses and cars

Live where you don't need a car so that your money can be better spent.

I'm 24 and quite a lot of people who I went to school with have already bought their own places, have their own cars and in some cases have one or multiple children. I've not even passed my driving test yet, let alone bought myself a car and I'm only in the first year of university. I feel behind compared to these people. Should I save up my maintenance loan and buy a flat of my own in a year or so time?

If you need to drive and you can afford it, then yeah, why not.

I wouldn't take driving lessons or buy a car in order to feel "less" behind.... only if you need one. Also, bear in mind how incredibly expensive it is to learn how to drive. £25 per hour where I lived, and that's cheap. Some instructors charge in excess of £30 an hour - it's nuts.

Also, owning a car is not cheap. Unless you have some other income to supplement your loan, you'll probably struggle.

You'll need to service your car at least once a year to keep it in good condition, an MOT each year, consumables like oil, screenwash, coolant, bulbs, tyres, and then the cost of insurance and also unexpected repairs.

Plenty of people have full drivers licences but don't own a car, and use public transport instead as well.

Focus on university instead.



Also re: flats. Having a deposit that's X times larger than your income means the broker/mortgage provider will probably ask for evidence of where this income has come from. They don't like seeing a deposit consisting of debt.

Having a large deposit but low income (I'm assuming your actual income will be quite low as a student) won't necessarily get you a mortgage either.

Among my Oxbridge grad peers of that age there's literally less than a handful of people that have bought a house/flat, so I'm not sure what you're on about tbh.

Everybody has their own experiences with their peers I guess...

What school did you go to?

I'm not going to say the actual school name but it was one in East Lancashire

What type of school was more the focus of my question.

Up north houses are peanuts, and the poorest can get new cars on finance. It's not as great as you'd think. Also, good luck buying a flat in with your maintenance loan lol.

I have an income of about a grand a month

I'm 24 and quite a lot of people who I went to school with have already bought their own places, have their own cars and in some cases have one or multiple children. I've not even passed my driving test yet, let alone bought myself a car and I'm only in the first year of university. I feel behind compared to these people. Should I save up my maintenance loan and buy a flat of my own in a year or so time?