Buy a Car Project

In this consumer math project, students learn about the costs associated with buying and owning their own car.   To start, students choose a car from the 6 car choices. Each car comes with stats: purchase cost, gas mileage, gas tank size, annual insurance premium and deductible.   Students then choose a bank loan. There are 4 loans to choose from. Each loan has a different term, interest rate and down payment.   For the first part of the project, students choose 4 car/loan options. You can have students choose 4 different loans for the same car, 4 different cars with the same loan, or have them choose themselves.   Students record the price of their vehicle, interest rate, term and down payment. They then use an online auto calculator (linked inside) to find total interest paid over the course of the loan, total paid for their car and monthly car payment.   Next, students figure out the cost of gas based on their car’s mpg and tank size. Students then calculate the cost to fill their c