Car loan on small income

Hi all,

I will need to purchase a car soon and unfortunately, I do not have the savings to purchase it outright so will need to get a loan. I have a small income (part-time work in civil service getting around 1k/month, permanent contract but only been in a year), partner is starting a new job (public service full time with good salary), which is why we need the second car, but will be on probation for a while and we need the car asap. We have zero debt, no loan history, a bit of savings and limited expenses (we own our house with no mortgage, though we want to keep some savings for emergencies).

We're looking at buying an e-car to reduce fuel expenses, we were looking at some new ones around 20k for which we'd put about 5k deposit (possibly 8 if we stretch it), so we'd need a loan of around 15/18k. How do car loans work in this situation? Is it worth going to a credit union or a regular bank, or will they laugh in our face seeing our financial profile?

We have an account with a local credit union which offers Ok rates, but I saw that the Public service credit union has great loan rates, can I ask them for a loan right after joining or do you normally need to be with a bank/institution for a while before they agree to give you a loan?

Is it better to go for a joint loan or for a loan in my name only? We were hoping to have the car in my partner's name, will that be an issue if loan is in my name only?

Also I was always told to stay far far away from car financing/PCP etc, what's the deal with those?

Thanks!