Most people on rotating shifts work out what they can afford on their best month. One month of overtime and five nights lands a fat payslip, and an 180-dinar installment suddenly looks easy. Three months later the rota goes quiet, the payslip drops, and the installment stays exactly where it was. The payment is fixed. Your income is the part that swings.
Pull six months of payslips and take the lowest net figure, not the highest. That is the number you actually live on in a month with no overtime and no night allowance. If the payment fits that month, you are safe. If it only fits your best month, you are buying a car on the rota's mood rather than on your budget.
Watch one more thing: shift allowance and overtime are usually not part of your basic salary. Banks look at the basic because it is the part that does not move, so the maximum installment they quote will often come in lower than the one you calculated at home.
Keep every debt payment combined, car and everything else, under 15% of that lowest net salary. On a 750-dinar month that caps the installment near 112 dinars. Plenty of banks will approve more than that. Approval is not the same thing as affordable.
Run those numbers before you walk into a showroom. A car that breaks your budget sits outside the building while you work extra shifts to pay for it.
Depending on your employer and your job, the bank will ask for a salary transfer or a guarantor. Read the contract properly: the interest rate, the insurance on the car, any early-settlement penalty, and the admin fees. Ask specifically about the final installment. And take the guarantor request seriously, because that person carries the debt if you stop paying, so speak to them honestly before you sign anything.
The payment is the cheapest part of owning a car. Fuel, insurance, servicing, tyres and the annual inspection arrive every month or every few months, and on a used car you should set aside at least 100 dinars a month for them. Wait rather than sign if:
Waiting is not failure. A car bought a year later, with room to breathe, beats one you drag home today and then count every dinar for.
To see where your salary actually goes, you need a clear picture of your shifts and hours. That is where Shiftat-E helps: log your shifts and your hours, plan your leave, and see which months carried overtime and which were plain.
Before you sign anything, spend ten minutes with your real numbers. Log your shifts, your hours, and plan your leave with Shiftat-E so the next decision sits on paper instead of on a feeling.
Download it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.q8dm.shiftate
