Willy Buys a Car
13 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2019
Abstract
For the past three months, Willy Fuller has been working as a fry cook at Hal's Café. He has no car, and due to the unpredictability of the bus service, Willy has been late to work several days. His boss has told him that if he is late again, he will be fired. Willy can't afford to lose his job. His family relies on him to pitch in $500 a month for food and household expenses, as well as $200 a month for his grandmother's medical bills. He also tries to save $400 a month for his college fund. Something has to change, so he finally decides that it is time to get a car. This case explores the details of buying a car, from the pros and cons of buying new versus used, to negotiating with a dealership over the terms of a loan, to budgeting for car expenses.
Excerpt
UVA-F-1871
Jul. 1, 2019
Willy Buys a Car
Introduction
Willy Fuller checked his watch. 8:45 a.m. already, and still no bus. He had to be at work by 9:00 a.m., and he had been waiting at the bus stop for more than 50 minutes, eagerly watching the road for any sign of the Downtown 7 bus. As the sun climbed overhead and the morning got hotter and hotter, Willy's work uniform started sticking to his sweating chest. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and grew more annoyed and irritated with the late bus, as well as the summer heat and humidity.
Willy was always worried about getting to work on time. He worked eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, and had just started working on Saturdays every week this month. He had been working at Hal's Café (Hal's) for only three months, and he had already been late several times because of the unreliable bus system. He didn't want to disappoint Hal or his mother (who helped him get this job in the first place). He looked down the road again. 8:50 a.m. Still no bus. Willy started pacing anxiously. Of course, living as far out of town as he did didn't help—the bus came only once an hour, if he was lucky. That also meant that if he missed the bus, he was out of luck if he needed to be somewhere on time. There was nothing Willy hated more than having to rely on other people to give him rides or having no choice other than taking a bus that seemed to show up only when the driver felt like bringing it around.
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Keywords: Resilience education, car buying, loan, personal budget, financing, negotiations, credit
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