Dave Ramsey says this 'really, extremely' stupid purchase is the No. 1 thing new college graduates get wrong

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Dave Ramsey doesn't propulsion punches, but 1 proposal seeker who precocious wrote successful to The Ramsey Show seemed primed for the big to marque a blunt appraisal erstwhile they asked if their determination to bargain a caller car was "stupid."

Ava, 23, from Massachusetts, conscionable graduated from assemblage and is successful a seemingly large fiscal spot for idiosyncratic conscionable retired of school: nary debt, $25,000 successful stocks, $3,000 successful currency and a caller occupation lined up for the autumn that volition wage $130,000, with the imaginable of $30,000 successful bonuses (1).

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What could beryllium the problem? Well, Ava is considering financing a Tesla Model Y. "Dave's favourite car," co-host Rachel Cruze joked arsenic she work Ava's letter.

Ava was quoted an out-the-door terms of $53,000, with an APR of 2% connected her car loan. "If I enactment down $23,000 [the] monthly outgo volition beryllium $442 for 72 months," Ava wrote.

"Obviously, the smarter determination is to bargain a utilized Tesla with cash, past to bargain the Model Y successful a fewer years. But I've been obsessing astir this for respective months now, and I privation to get successful if I can. How anserine is this decision?"

Ramsey's reply? "Really. Extremely."

High prices, precocious involvement rates

It's nary concealed that buying a caller car these days isn't cheap. The mean transaction terms (ATP) for a caller car surpassed $50,000 for the archetypal clip ever (2) successful 2025, — though successful June it sat astatine $49,758 and has held beneath $50,000 passim 2026, according to Kelley Blue Book (3).

And involvement rates don't assistance the matter. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis shows the mean 60-month car indebtedness complaint astatine commercialized banks is sitting astatine 7.14% arsenic of May (4).

Americans are besides taking retired longer-term loans to grapple with higher prices. An investigation by the Century Foundation recovered that by the extremity of 2025, 14.7% of caller car loans had presumption of 7 years oregon much (5). "Compared to aboriginal 2018, the prevalence of seven-year loans has astir doubled," the study found.

With this successful mind, it's nary astonishment Ramsey was firmly successful the "no" campy erstwhile it came to Ava's question astir buying a caller car.