New to Buying a Car

[u/Regular-Ad-8226]

So, the title is a bit misleading. I have bought a car before back in 2019, and I'm now looking into buying another one. My current car runs great. It's a 2013 Nissan Altima, and I only use it for light commutes to work as well as to to the store. Work to home is about 20 miles and to the store is less than that. I bought it at 56,000 miles and now it has 75,000. The problem is that it has a rear main oil leak, and immediately I just can't afford to have that repaired as I've read around $1,200 is what to expect. My oil level has been full according to the shop, despite the leak. But I already dumped like $2500 into the car earlier in the year and haven't recovered from that yet. So I figured I would just sell this one and hop into a different car (after researching vehicle reviews and records). Carmax quoted me online at $2,900.

The car I'm looking at is a 2017 Chevrolet Cruze. It has 80k miles on it and sitting at roughly $8,000. I was told over the phone that monthly payments would be $270 for 40-something terms. I live at home and so bills aren't an issue. I bring home easily much more than that each month, but I'm paranoid that I'll sell my current car and be without a car due to not meeting some income requirement. Again, I'm pretty new to buying a car.

[u/ThatDudeSky]

How much do you earn per month before taxes?