At the end of November, I finally made my mind up and decided that it was time for me to buy a new car. I had the old one for almost 5 years and in truth, it was starting to cost me more money than it was probably worth! I decided to do a little bit of investigation prior to Christmas, with an idea to go ahead and start looking in January.
Having only bought one car in my life I was a little bit at a loss as to how to go about identifying the best car for me, as there is just so much choice. Thankfully my very good friend Alexis Fecteau is a car enthusiast and someone who knows just about all there is to know about cars, and he was my ace in the hole when it came to helping me in identifying which was the best car for me. Having recently been through this experience I wanted to share with you some of the things which you ought to be thinking about if you are on the lookout for a new car.
Car Needs
The first thing that you need to start thinking about is what exactly do you need from a car and how exactly you plan to use the car, in the main at least. When thinking about this you have to consider both where you plan to take the car and how you will be using it in terms of who will be riding and what goods may you be transporting.
The reason why this is so important is that if you are only ever going to be taking the car around town, then you aren’t going to need a big powerful car, as it will be wasted and it could make parking pretty tricky. On the other hand, if you are planning to really rack up the miles in your car then you are not going to want a small and relatively powerless car as it just won’t be able to handle the long distances.
The same can be said for space if you have kids who you often ferry from A to B and they load up the car with equipment and all manner of things then you are going to need a spacious car to fit it all in, even if you are single but you play golf every weekend, the same thing applies. Think about what you need in terms of performance and space.
Budget
One of the best pieces of advice which Alexis gave me was to come up with the budget before I go out car shopping. The reason why this is so important is that you can very easily get swept away with some of the beautiful cars that you see when you go shopping, and this means that it is not difficult to overspend. Even if you plan to buy the car using finance, come up with your budget first and then go out shopping, be strict with your budget and only seek out cars that fall within your price range.
Remember when you are working out your budget that it is important to factor in insurance and running costs into the equation. The last thing you want is to find a car which you love, but which is going to cost you a large amount in terms of monthly running costs.
Additional Features
We can often get blinded by additional features which we really don’t need in our lives but think that we do, which is why it makes sense to see what options there are on the market and then find cars which offer the features which you need. For example, you may want a car that has lots of eco-friendly options or which has tech that you will be using. Making this decision first enables you to have a bit more resolve when a car promises all manner of bells and whistles which impress, but which you really don’t have any use for.
Take it for a Test Drive
Always make sure that you take a number of cars for a test drive before you even think about buying it. This is not the ultimate test but it will give you a much better idea of how comfortable you feel in the car and whether or not you can see yourself driving it in the future. Test-driving multiple cars will give you the chance to really gauge what is best for you.
Always make some time to sit down and work out all of these factors before you go car shopping as they will greatly help you to make the right choice when it comes to buying your next car.