Time to buy a new car and you really have no idea what you want or where to start? Don’t worry you are not the only person who has dealt with this. The following points should help make the process slightly easier for you before making a big commitment to your new set of wheels.
Brand
Many people support a specific brand and you may have a brand you fancy as well. Whilst growing up, my parents only bought BMW’s and are still buying them to this day. My first and second car were Volkswagens so I have a loyalty and slight bias towards this brand, but that doesn’t mean my next car will be from either VW or BMW. If you do not have a preference in terms of brand, do not fret because there are many aspects to look at to narrow your search down.
Purpose
What are you buying the car for? Is it going to be your daily driver where you commute 10 minutes to work and back or is it for long distance family traveling, or even for hauling big loads around. If the car is going to be multi-purpose, which it will most likely be, then weigh up which purpose will be the main one and focus on a car in this sector. The most versatile vehicles these days are the compact SUV’s as these can easily be a daily driver and if need be you can pack the kids and bags in there and head off on holiday. An important thing to keep in mind is to never get anything more than you need. It will end up costing more in many aspects. The tyres will cost more to replace, the insurance premiums will be higher, your fuel bill will generally be higher and more car means increased service costs.
Running Costs
This aspect is often forgotten especially if you are a first time buyer. Insurance and running costs can get rather big fairly fast if you are not careful. As mentioned previously, the more expensive the car the higher the cost of running the vehicle will be and before you know it, you are over budget. If you are younger than 25 and driving a ‘high-performance’ car, you will pay a very inflated premium because the chances of an accident occurring are higher, so ask yourself the question “is a high-performance car necessary?”. If not then you are looking at a decent saving in insurance premiums.
Research and Quotes
The more research the better. There are so many companies online where you can search based on anything from age of car, price range and even colour. Go into some local dealers to get a feel for the market and they may also be of some assistance in helping you narrow your search down. The age old saying “it’s too good to be true”, is probably better guidance when car shopping than at any other time. If the price of the car you are looking at is considerably lower than the other prices, then chances are you will be buying a car which has been completely written off and repaired or even stolen at some point. The smaller, lesser known dealers are sometimes guilty of this so be aware of who you are dealing with at all times. Even if a bigger dealer has a slightly higher price this may be the safer option, as you will be getting your money’s worth.
REMEMBER: A salesman wants to sell the car and will pull out all the stops to do so. If you are lucky, persistent or have the correct salesman, you can even bargain your way for a couple optional extras on the car at no additional cost. I hope you found these tips helpful, for some even more tips on dealing with the indecision of buying a new car, check out this blog post I came across on Hippo’s blog.