Buying a new car is an important financial decision to make because you’re spending a lot of money and it’s something that you rely on heavily. It’s always sensible to keep your old car going for as long as possible before you decide to get a new one but eventually, you’ll have no choice. The problem is, buying a car can put a real strain on your finances and most of us aren’t lucky enough to be able to afford it easily. You can’t avoid the purchase either because you need a car to get around, so what can you do?
It’s true that you can’t avoid buying a car completely, but there are a lot of ways to make the costs more manageable. By shopping around and taking a bit more time to find the right car from the right place, you can save yourself quite a bit of money. These are some of the best ways to save money on your next car.
Buy A Used Car
The most obvious way to save money on your car is to buy used instead of new. As long as you choose wisely, you can still get a good car for a fraction of the price of a brand new one. However, the car buying process is very different when buying a used car. If you’re going in to buy a brand new car, you can pick the one that you want, discuss finances options, and drive it off the lot. You don’t need to worry about any potential problems with the car because you’re the first person to drive it.
However, buying a second-hand car is a very different story. The majority of the time, the car will be in good condition and while there might be a few small issues, it should still run fine. That said, you will find some dishonest car dealers that will sell you a problematic car that will be breaking down constantly, and you need to make sure to avoid that.
Check Reviews
The first thing to do is to check out some reviews of the different car dealerships nearby. You’ll soon find out if a company is in the habit of selling bad cars and you can avoid them. Once you’ve found a reliable car dealer, you can start looking at some different cars. When you find one that you like, you should always ask for the vehicle history so you can see what repairs have been made in the past.
If the same problems keep coming up over and over, it’s best to avoid buying the car because it’s likely that you’ll be paying for repairs all of the time in future. Taking a test drive is a good idea as well because you can see if there are any obvious problems with the car. If the dealer doesn’t want you to take a test drive or they’re not willing to share information about the vehicle history, that’s never a good sign.
Buying a second-hand car is the easiest way to save money, but only if you pick the right car. If you choose the wrong car, it will cost you more money in maintenance in the long term.
Shop Around Different Dealerships
When you first start looking for dealerships, don’t just pick one. Even if they’re reliable, they might not have the best prices so you should find a few different places and then you can compare on price. This helps you to find the lowest possible price for the car and it also gives you some negotiating power. It’s important that you don’t just accept the first price that they offer you, you need to haggle them down a bit. It’s a lot easier to knock the price down if you’ve seen the same car for a lower price elsewhere.
Research The Car Beforehand
When you see a car that you think that you’d like to buy, it’s important that you do some research on it before making any decisions. The first thing that you should look at is the average market price of the car, to make sure that you’re getting a good price on it. Check as many dealerships as you can and see what the average cost usually is, and you’ll be able to tell whether it’s a good deal or not. You should also see if you can find out what the resale price of the car is because you might decide to sell it in the future and you want to get a good return on your investment. If a car is going to depreciate in value a lot in a very short space of time, it’s not a good idea to buy it.
As well as the value of the car, you need to research the running costs and the repair costs. Even if the car is cheap to buy, you’re not saving money if the fuel efficiency is bad or it’s prone to breakdowns. You should also avoid cars that aren’t very common because a mechanic won’t have easy access to parts and you will end up paying a lot more if it needs to be repaired.
Pay Cash If Possible
Most people get a loan to pay for a new car because they don’t have the money to pay for it upfront. The thing is, you’re paying quite a bit more than the actual value of the car because you have to pay all of the interest on top. If your car breaks down suddenly and you need to replace it right away, you’ll probably just have to get a loan and deal with the interest. But if you know that your car is on the way out and you’re going to have to replace it fairly soon, you should try to save up and pay cash if possible. That way, you don’t need to pay the interest on a loan and a lot of car dealerships offer cash discounts, so you might be able to get a better price on the car as well.
Compare Financing Options
If you can’t afford to pay in cash and you need to get financing for the car, spend some time comparing your different financing options. The dealership may offer to finance but it might not be the best deal so don’t take it right away. Have a look at a few different options and compare the interest rates on each one so you can find the cheapest possible loan. Those interest payments add up over time so a small difference in the interest rate can save you a lot of money.
When you think that you’ve found the right financing option, you need to read the contract in full, including all of the fine print, to make sure that you understand it fully. Some car loans will have a penalty for paying back the loan early, which is something that you definitely want to avoid, and it’s usually hidden away in the fine print.
Ditch The Extras
When you’re buying a car, the dealer is always trying to get you to spend as much money as possible so they’re going to offer you extras. Sometimes, those extras are worth spending money on but a lot of the time, they’re a bit of a waste of money. If they’re offering safety features, it might be worth investing in but things like expensive stereo systems aren’t essential. The added extras can quickly add up and even if the base price of a car is a good deal, you can easily end up spending a lot more than you need to. Before you go in, you should make a list of the features that you actually need in a car and if you’re offered anything else on top of that, just say no.
Take Care Of The Car
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Once you’ve bought your car, you need to make sure that you take good care of it so you can extend its lifespan and avoid having to buy another one for as long as possible. Learning how to drive sensibly is a big part of that because constant speed changes and sharp corners will put unnecessary strain on the moving parts and they’ll wear down a lot quicker. Reckless driving will also use up more fuel so your running costs will be a lot higher than they need to be.
Regular maintenance like changing the oil and keeping the tires properly inflated is important too. You should build an emergency fund to cover repairs too. If you carry out small preventative repairs right away, you can avoid any bigger problems with the car that will be a lot more expensive to fix. A lot of people waste money because they ignore small issues with the car and hope that it will be fine. But most of the time, that problem won’t go away, it will just get worse until you’re eventually forced to take it to a mechanic and spend a lot of money.
Buying a car is always going to put a strain on your finances but these are all simple things that you can do to make it a lot more affordable.
