Buying Your Brand New Car - Page 1 Doing your homework has never been more important By Mo2

Last October, I bought my baby. No I didn’t buy a girlfriend silly. I bought my first brand new car, a Subaru Impreza SE 2007. What a beauty, I still love everything about the car to this day and can't take my eyes off of her. Now, before I start saying some disturbing things, let's get to the topic.

Car buying should be taken seriously, there are just too many options to sift through that you couldn’t possibly make your decision just from the looks of a car. When I first started my car search I was lucky I had my best friend to guide me through the process, let’s call him Mr.Z for the purpose of this article.

The Type of Car
The first step is to think of the type of car you want. Sure everyone would like to have BMW M3 or a Mercedes Benz G Class (my two favourite cars beside my own car by the way) but that isn’t realistic. You need to take a look at your daily life and assess what you need to help you live a practical life. For those that commute, you spend a lot of your time in a vehicle and it only makes sense to make a sound investment in a car that will suit your wants and needs.

Do you like to have a lot of horsepower? Do you want a fuel-efficient and environment-friendly car? Or do you just want a practical car that will get you from point A to B? You need to write down what you need from a car. When I was looking I wanted a fun car to drive with decent but not excessive horsepower. I also wanted a sedan because I wanted to go on road trips with friends and most likely needed some trunk space. I was lucky because Mr. Z pointed me in the right direction and while he showed me like twenty cars, he already knew that I would pick one of three cars he had chosen in advance. He was right. Well according to Mr. Z buying a BMW will solve everything, don’t listen to him there…

Test Drive Similar Cars
Once you’ve done your homework you should have a decent idea as to which car you want! As I said before Mr. Z had an idea as to which car I would want and told me to test drive all three cars. I’m one of the laziest people on the face of this Earth (at least I admit it) so I only test drove the car I really wanted which is what I ended up with. The full time symmetrical AWD got to me, I’m sorry Nissan and Acura.

Don’t be lazy like me. When you know the car you want but know which cars are similar, go out and make appointments, preferably on the same day, and see for yourself which car is best. This takes time but if you consider how much time you will spend in this car it is worth your time.

The Price
First off you need to consider how much you can afford to spend for your car. How much in savings do you have? How much do you earn on a monthly basis? How much more debt can you handle? You must consider all of these before even setting your price. Sure everyone wants a $100,000 car but in reality only so much is attainable. Just because you’re neighbour is driving a new Porsche Carrera doesn’t mean that they could afford it. Buy a car that won’t lower your living standards.

The Down Payment
Everyone will have a different thought about this. But I’d say you should at least have 25% of the full amount for your down payment. If you can’t afford that, maybe you should reconsider that car. When buying a house, if you don’t have 25% down payment of the purchase price, you need to buy special insurance so that you won’t default your loan, ever wonder why? That’s because it’s dangerous if you have a low down payment and hope to pay everything through monthly payments.

True, relative to a house a car is a much smaller amount. However, if you can’t afford the down payment of either a car or a house, isn’t it the same thing? It means that you are forcing something upon yourself that you might not be able to afford. In my case, I put a third down. That was my budget for the down payment so if it was more than 25%, I was happy. That’s how my thought process works.

 

Don't Forget Insurance!
Insurance is actually a significant cost that can really kill you over time. The type of car that you decide to drive actually decides what the cost of your insurance will be. The length of insurance can also vary your costs. You must make sure that you factor in that extra $100-300 or whatever it is a month just for insurance. This is a necessary cost and just like gas you will need it until you stop driving so always include these figures with your calculations. You can get quotes online or at your nearby auto insurance dealer, just tell them the car and model year and they should be able to help you out.

Ok, take a deep breath, you're halfway done...ok that's enough. You will now be sent to Buying Your First Brand New Car Part 2. This is complusory reading you don't have a choice, sorry.

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If you would like to comment on this article or anything on this website, please feel free to e-mail Mo2. He can be reached at Mo2@Mo2Thinks.com. Thank you for visiting!