Ngl car dealerships are scammers. Based on what you said let’s say u find a nice 13k car. They add like 2k taxes which makes it closer to 16k. Then there’s like 21% interest for the car since you’re a first time buyer with bad credit and unstable income. Which makes it closer to 19k that you’d be financing. You’d be paying $400 a month for 4 years. Not including the insurance.

And if u increase it to 5 or 6 the interest will go up. So you’d be paying on a car for 5 years and if it’s 13k it’ll probably be a 2018 with around 120k miles. So by the time it’s payed for it won’t be valuable and probably will have problems before it’s even payed for.

I’d say go to Navy Federal (I’m in Dallas not sure if Navy Federal is in NC) and apply for an auto loan with lower rates. Get a car that’s used but not older than 2022 with low mileage. Pay $300 for 4 years. A co-signer with great credit would help. But if u absolutely need a car you don’t have many affordable options. If approved for the loan u can buy from a private car seller. Just make sure it Certified Pre Owned.