After passing your road test and receiving your driver’s license, it’s time for your first car. It’s incredible, and you’ve probably told all of your friends about it. But there are some things that they don’t tell you when you buy a new car. The salesperson might mention them in passing or gloss over them, like common sense things like “Don’t leave the gas tank empty” or “Don’t put bad gas in your car.” You might even consider these silly things that you already know.
But wait, don’t start spending more time with your car just yet. There are essential things to know before getting your first car. They’re the little details that you never think of because no one ever told you. You might not know them right away, but after owning your car for a few months and learning by trial and error, you’ll begin to understand what they are and how important it is to follow this advice.
6 Things You Need To Know Before Buying Your Car
When you get your first car, it’s essential to be educated about what you’re getting into. You might think that you know everything there is to know about vehicles after driving for six years and all the research you did before buying a new car, but in reality, it’s a whole different ball game when you have one in your possession. Here are the top 10 things you need to know before buying or owning your first car.
1. Personal Loans Can Help You Out
Sometimes buying a car means that you don’t have to borrow money from your family. You might want to do it because you’re young and can’t get approved for anything, but when it comes time to buy the car with cash, you’ll find yourself scared of how much is left over after spending all your savings on it. It makes more sense for people to look into personal loans to afford what they want instead of settling for something else while paying high interest rates. If you have bad credit, check out a round-up of the best personal loans for bad credit to help you decide which one you can afford to pay off. Most of them aren’t as bad as you think, and some of them even offer lower rates than your family members.
2. Don’t Push The Dealer For a Deal
If you’re unsure how much money you can spend, ask them to give you a price range and don’t budge from it. When they tell you their prices, don’t make a counteroffer. Offer them a slightly lower amount than what they asked for, because if this is your first time buying a car, the salesperson knows that no one will drive off without buying anything. They’ll try to sell anything at full price to have something to put on their resume as being sold today instead of yesterday or tomorrow. Don’t let them. Be strong and give yourself some leeway to negotiate the prices of the cars before you start putting down “deposits” on your dream car.
3. Leasing is Not The Same as Buying A Car
When you buy a new or used car, you own it at the end of your term. At least that’s what they say, but there are so many hidden odds and ends when buying or leasing a vehicle that can make owning it not worth it in the long run if you do not know what you’re doing. In a leased vehicle, at the end of your term, you have to turn it back into the dealership and buy another if you still want one. If not, they’ll charge an unbelievable amount for the miles left on your car or completely take away any trade-in value so that it’s even worth less than what you paid for it.
4. Don’t Forget About Insurance
People underestimate insurance because they think their new car will be worth more money as soon as they drive it off the lot. This isn’t true unless you know something about business that no one else knows about or have some time machine that turns everything into gold since you drove it off the lot. Even though there may be a big deal about insurance, it’s nothing compared to your first car payment as well as the other expenses you’ll have as a new driver.
5. The Lure of High MPG And Gas Efficiency
Ever heard of hypermiling? It used to be something that only certain people knew about because they had money to burn, and we’re researching ways to save on gas. Nowadays, everyone is doing it, and it’s all over YouTube and social media. It will change the way you drive, and if you’re tired or not into it, then hypermiling might not be for you. Some cars claim to get high MPG ratings, but they fall short on some of their promises in reality.
6. A More Expensive Car Doesn’t Always Mean it’s a Better Car
BMW is known for making quality cars, and buying one is expensive but not worth the price you pay since they’re not doing anything special with it. If you want to go this route, buy at least a used car so that your money isn’t going towards something new and non-existing like their warranty or free maintenance services (even though they don’t do anything). With every purchase of a BMW, you’ll still fall short on basically everything if you’re on an entry-level job. It might be wise to stick to buying used cars in general because when someone buys a new car, they think that it needs to be taken care of more, so whatever they do to it, at least it’s new.
You don’t want to waste money on something you think is great because it has a considerable increase in value and instead falls short for the rest of your years driving it. As long as you do your research, take care of it, and stay away from high-MPG cars and overhyped cars, you should be fine. After all, why not just get a cheap, reliable car that gets good gas mileage? You’ll still get looks from people who think that there’s nothing special about what you’re driving, but at least you won’t have to worry about having something everyone else has.
