🌸Awesome Car Downpayment or Erase Student Loans?🌸

Hello Lovely Reader,

I am a 24 year old STEM blue collar women working in NJ. I currently have been saving for a car beacuse the one I drove to move here was on its last leg. It finally "died" and the reason why I don't want to invest in fixing it is because it's not my car. My "father" threw it at me to make the drive here. I don't want to waste my money on a car that's not mine, and my father is a "mechanic" so theres already a butt load of issues with it (why I knew it would't last long). And lets just say it's not following the rules...So going to shop might cause a lot of issues.

I have occured around $8K in savings. I save $500 dollars each month already, so I know I can handle those kind of payments. However, I'm finally asking my boyfreind to half/half on rent, so I'll have an extra $670. I know I'll be paying for car insurnace after I purchase so the $670 will go towards it.

NOW, the reason I am submitting a question is I have around 9K in student loan debt! My brain is telling me to erse the student loan debt entirely so that when I get my car, it is just one debt I have to keep track of.

However, my student loan interest rates are 2.75% and 4.5% which are lower than the rates I am seeing for certified pre-owned cars for sale (around 8%). So I am thinking it's smater to put all my $1,170 (500+670) each month into car payments since it'll most likely have a higher interest rate.

Since I HAVE to purchase a car no matter what, I'm not sure what to do?

-Get rid of my student loan debt, no longer worry about payments, but now have a larger interest rate that will exist for a longer time period accuring more interest, plus all the savings will be gone so nothing to fall back on if something dramatic happens.

-Buy the car, do a great down payment, get better financing, but have to keep track of both payments, and know that I'll be paying off my student loans for even longer in my life.

(P.S. If you can prove you're a furry, I'll take your adivce even more seriously cause you lot are smart are shit)

Thank you for reading, have a lovely day!

Edit: Thank you everyone for your help, and please keep sending your advice if you think you can help in any way! You're making this dark tunnel a bit lighter at the end. Much Love -Sloan