Next to buying a home or funding your children's education, buying a car is the most expensive purchase you'll make. And car-related expenses, such as gas, maintenance and insurance, can take a big bite out of your wallet. Kicking a few tires is only half the battle. Before you begin looking for a new car, you should know your limits and what you should be spending. Experts say you shouldn't spend more than 10 percent of your gross income on car expenses, which includes the cost of the car along with insurance, gas and maintenance.

Before zeroing in on the vehicle you want to buy-new or used-it pays to have your financing already in place. This will eliminate one more area where a dealer can slip a few more dollars from your pocket into his. There are several places to borrow the money: Brick-and-mortar banks and credit unions. You can get an auto loan from a bank, credit union or another financial institution. You can have these loans approved before you ever hit the showroom. These sources of financing will usually offer the lowest rates you'll find, and credit unions are generally lower than banks.

Theory's great and reality's scary. The answer is "yes." But there are several big "ifs" attached. The question? Oh, sorry and it's one I get asked so often I thought you might know what I was referring to. So let me back up. People from all walks of life are inundated through e-mail or snail mail with long-term, low-interest credit card offers. You know the type: 1.99 percent interest until the balance is paid off, or something similar.

Auto financing can come from one of several sources, including banks, credit unions, and auto dealerships. If you're serious about buying a car, you need to investigate the various possibilities. Here are the top mistakes some people make when seeking and securing an automobile loan.

How long is too long when it comes to financing a new vehicle? Apparently for many buyers there is no such thing as too long, provided the monthly payments are kept low. The average length of a car loan today is an astounding 70 months, up from about 62 months a year ago. On some higher-priced vehicles, nine-year car loans are starting to appear. And none of these figures take into account buyers who have taken out home equity loans to purchase new vehicles, often extending the payments over as many as 15 years.

The dealership experience can be extremely stressful, but it doesn't have to be. You could know everything there is to know about the cars you're considering, but that's only a fraction of the buying process. If you want that seductive new sedan at a good price, you're probably going to need to know what to say - and more importantly, what not to say. Some people loathe the whole car-buying experience simply because they anticipate getting conned. A few hundred dollars isn't a big deal on the price of a luxury car, but it's the idea of smart shopping and that sense of getting a good deal that's especially important. For luxury car buyers - notoriously labeled the shrewd shoppers - a good deal is icing on the cake.

These charities make no-interest loans to students. Many religious and ethnic organizations also offer no- or low-interest education loans. Central Scholarship Bureau Makes about 120 loans annually of up to $15,000 over four years to meritorious students from central Maryland whose families have adjusted gross incomes of less than $75,000. Rolling deadlines

Don't rule out the college of your freshman's dreams because you think it's too expensive. Experts say marketing a four-year college education resembles marketing airline tickets: Schools charge full price to those students who can afford to pay, then offer discounted "fares" to everyone else to fill their classrooms. When you receive a financial-aid offer, don't assume that the numbers are written in stone.

When the U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to halve interest rates on some student loans, it left out an entire class of borrowers: graduate students. Twentysomethings considering going to grad school should also know that there is less federal grant money available than for undergraduates.

Students are relying more and more on private lenders to fund their college educations. Last year, private college loans totaled $17.3 billion and accounted for one out of every five dollars borrowed for college, according to the College Board. A decade ago, private lenders provided only 4 percent of college loan money. Soaring college costs are driving the trend. When Sharlyne Woodbury was accepted to Northeastern University, she scrambled to scrape together cash for tuition and fees. Government loans helped, but because they have borrowing caps, her financial aid adviser recommended supplementing federal aid with private loans.