5 points to consider before buying a Car

I know alot of you really know what you want when buying a car or some kind of transportation. However, there are alot of people, inspite of knowing what they want and considering it good judgment, have buyer’s remorse in the second month. Listed below, in no particular order, are five points that I would consider you should think about.

1) Purpose: What is the purpose of buying your vehicle? Is it to move your Family of 5 to church every Sunday, is it meant for those nice long drives to the country side for just the 2 of you, Do you want to go off-roading with it? These are some questions that you would really need to consider. The purpose is very very important. If it’s a city car for 2 people then consider a smaller hatchback that is fuel efficient since parking would be easier and filling up would cheaper.

2) Budget: Again a very important question that must be answered before you start looking. What’s my budget? Here’s why. When you set a budget before going out and looking for a car then you can shortlist all the cars that fit in your budget. However if you don’t have a budget then there is nothing that confines you and that is when you overspend.
Another point to remember here is that if you are planning to take an auto loan to finance your purchase then you would need to research various banks auto loan packages to find the most comfortable one for you.

3) Aftersales: Automotive companies business plans are not based on New sales i.e. the real revenue maker for automotive companies are not in the sales of new cars. The revenue is in the aftersales. Hence these companies make 70% of their revenue selling you car parts; car dealers make money selling you Service contracts etc.
You need to consider the cost of ownership of the car and not the cost of buying a car. The cost of ownership includes

• Cost of regular service checkups. Some dealers sell yearly service contracts that cover these costs.
• Cost of spares: if something breaks is it in your budget / financial capability to replace it.
• Insurance: for premium cars such as Maybach, BMW etc the premium on these is high as compared to a Toyota or Honda or a Fusion. Again consider what you can afford.
• Cost of Gas: Now a year ago when a barrel of Oil was at 146$ there was a sudden trend shift towards Hybrids. When buying a car take into to consideration what it the price of gas were to be remain at 146$ for a year could afford a Hummer H2 then?

4) Safety: If you live in a place where there is no traffic sense and no speed limit restrictions then safety maybe something that you would need to consider. Sitting in a Volvo is definitely safer than sitting a Toyota Corolla.

5) Re-sale: Re-sale value is an important way to figure out, approximately, how much money you could make if you plan to sell your car sometime in the future. It’s good to leave the re-sale research till when you have selected atleast 3 makes of cars that you would consider. Good ways to research, check local classified listings to see if the same makes are being sold and the asking price, Head down to the local used car dealership and research online too.

Hope these help you in your search for the ideal and most suitable car. If there are other points that you would like to add please feel to comment.