How old are you? I'm a few months past my 23rd birthday and bought an '08 Tahoe LT about a month ago--first car I've bought myself. Basically I've been trying to save up a downpayment since I graduated college in May 2011. I was working at the family shop and not making a ton of money, but saving everything I could. I recently got a job as a financial analyst with a Fortune 100 company and the new income finally made the Tahoe possible. I had about $5-6k saved up before the job and was able to up that to $8k by the time I made my purchase. In addition, I got my first credit card back in February. I had never wanted one because I saw no need to go into any sort of debt, but when I started looking at cars I realized it was imperative for me to build credit (I won't go into a lot of detail on building credit here, but my quick advice is to get a credit card, use it sparingly, pay off the card AHEAD of time--think paying the entire balance every two weeks instead of just the monthly payments--and never have a balance of more than 10% of your total available credit).
The main place I looked was Carmax, mostly just because it was so easy to search their inventory. Friends suggested looking at other dealerships, but in the end Carmax was the first place that got a perfect match for me in their inventory. The truck ended up being a few dollars under $28k, though taxes/titles/tags/fees added probably $1000-$1500 onto that. This may be different depending on where you buy the car. I have no experience with a traditional Chevy dealership, but you may want to look into the fees/taxes there. On top of those fees, I dropped another $2000ish on a warranty (Carmax charges for warranties, I believe Chevy dealers might include decent ones for free. Again, you'll have to check that yourself as I don't actually have experience with the dealerships). My total amount financed up a little over $23k which meant my monthly payment would have been somewhere around $388 (they gave me about a 6% rate. Little higher than I would have liked, but just having the auto loan will really help me improve my credit score), and with the warranty (6 years or 150,000 miles) my monthly payment is now at $437. The point I'm getting at here is to improve your credit as much as possible, get a low rate, and most importantly, save up a
huge downpayment! Put off getting the Tahoe as long as possible. The longer you wait/save, the more you can afford.
As far as buying at Carmax goes, I'd recommend it. It may end up a little more expensive because of the warranty, but overall it was a nice experience. You know what they have in inventory and you know what the price is. If they have something within a few hundred miles of your closest store, they'll transfer it there for free. Also, their sales commission is set up so the salesperson gets $150 for each car they sell and $150 for each warranty they sell. This means they'll definitely push a warranty on you (which you'll probably want anyways), but they won't try to push you towards a more expensive truck. Also, it doesn't matter what warranty you buy, they get the same commission. They're just as happy with you buying the $1800 warranty as they would be with you getting the $2200 one.
As for having the parents as cosigners--I'm sure that will help with the finance rate. If possible, keep the loan in your name though. If you're making those auto payments, you want it to help build
your credit!
Once you actually have the 'Hoe and are making payments, ALWAYS pay MORE than the standard monthly payment. I'm a finance guy so if you'd like, I can explain the details about loan amortization--the short version is that when you make your first payments, most of the payment is interest with only a small portion actually paying off your principal. Any amount you pay above the required monthly payment goes purely towards the principal and not interest. The more you reduce your principal, the less interest you have to pay. If your "MAX" monthly payment is $250, you're going to want to get a monthly payment under $200 and try to pay $250 every month. If you run into some trouble and can't pay the $250 one month, that's fine. Just give yourself some wiggle room. If you don't, Murphy's law dictates that something will come up and you'll end up late on some payments and wrecking your credit.
I know this is mostly just a story of me buying my Tahoe, but I hope it gives you some insight. I'm attaching pictures of my 'Hoe because I'm still in the honeymoon phase and love it so much that I have to show it off!
2008 Tahoe LT
-Tan interior with captain's chairs in the second row
-Aftermarket exhaust
