Car Shopping Tips for the Cost-Conscious Buyer

[AF News Desk]

Car Shopping Tips for the Cost-Conscious Buyer

By Jonathan Swigart – AutomotiveForums.com

Now that summer is in full swing, for many people it’s a good time to buy that new vehicle they’ve been thinking about over the winter months.

However, with the economy still working towards recovery (both in the United States and throughout the world), car buying hasn’t exactly been popular. This may be to an inability to afford a new car, fear of having a payment that may be too high or just trying to save the money you have until things turn around.

Well, for those of you who may want to invest in a new car but have some of the aforementioned fears about car buying, we’ve put together a few tips to shopping for a car while staying economical:

1. Do Your Homework – Some of you might read that and say “well obviously I should do my homework on a car before I buy it.” But that’s not quite what I mean. Obviously you want to know if the car you’re interested in has any mechanical faults, long-term problems, issues after a certain amount of mileage, etc. But that’s just the beginning of it.

You want to make sure you’re doing your homework on things like pricing as well. Set a budget for yourself and then determine what model years typically fall into that price range. Once you’ve established a price point and the years of the vehicle that typically fall into it, you can determine things like typical mileage for the price, expected condition and more. Now you have a way of comparing and haggling if you come across a vehicle you believe to be listed too high. And if sellers want your business, they’ll do well to listen.

2. Consider a Higher-Mileage Vehicle – High mileage used to mean high risk for repair work in the future. However, these days many vehicles are just reaching their prime when they break the 70-,80- and 90,000 mile marker. Expected lifespan of vehicles now hovers above the 200,000 mile marker if the vehicle is properly serviced and maintained.

Fortunately for many car buyers, this hasn’t necessarily translated to higher prices for high-mileage vehicles, which translates to more bang for the buck for you. Much like point number one, make sure you’re doing your homework in this area. Many dealerships offer Carfax reports to prospective buyers as a means of assuring them of quality. If you’re really interested in a car and want a second opinion, ask if you can drive the car for the day or for an hour or so (some dealers allow this, you may be able to swing this with a private seller as well) and take it to a mechanic you trust to make sure everything looks good.
Finally, remember – higher mileage isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you’re wanting a new Subaru, you can get a vehicle with 130,000 miles on it that can last you into the 300,000 mile range if it was (and continues to be) maintained.

3. Don’t Feel Limited to Shopping at a Dealership – Many people who live in fairly urban areas seem to feel the need to shop for their vehicles at local dealerships. This may be due to having a previous connection with the dealership or feeling better knowing that you have a service center that has a record of your vehicle. Unfortunately, dealerships are not always the best places to look if you are trying to find a bargain vehicle that will last you for a while.
Lucky for you, there are myriad alternatives to going through a dealer for that next vehicle. The Internet, for example, is a great place to find people who are selling vehicles on an individual level. Some of the best deals come from elderly drivers who are opting to use alternate means of transportation and are trying to sell their lightly-driven vehicles for great prices. Other times, you’ll come across someone who simply needs to get rid of a vehicle or doesn’t want it anymore and is willing to take less for it than it’s actually worth.

Don’t forget to check the local classified ads and Thrifty Nickel (a shopper, if you don’t know what that is) for deals on cars in your area as well – many of the reasons mentioned above apply to more than just Internet sellers. Also, ask around within your friends and colleagues, word-of-mouth is often a good way to get a deal.

4. Be Willing to Travel for a Deal – Unlike things like goods and services, cars aren’t something that you can always get at a good price by shopping locally. If you live in a town that has several dealerships but those dealerships only sell one of each brand, there isn’t much competition and therefore not need to work for a buyer’s business.

Instead, you may find a better deal elsewhere – even if that means traveling to get it. This shouldn’t dissuade you from looking, however, because if you CAN find a better deal elsewhere, the savings you’ll get from said deal (both initially and over the course of your ownership of the car) will be worth way more than the cost of a tank of gas. If you live in Central Illinois and the car you think meets your needs is in the Chicago suburbs, there’s no reason a 3 hour drive should stop you if it means saving $1,000 or more on a car.

5. Stick to Your Budget – Many car buyers can get themselves into trouble by ignoring the budget they have set for themselves. Don’t be one of those car buyers.

The reason we set budgets for ourselves is to make sure when we due make a purchase, it does not cause us any financial harm further down the road. That is why when you are buying a car, if you have a budget, you stick as close to that budget as possible. Now, going over by a couple hundred dollars isn’t going to bust you, but if you decided in the process of car shopping that a car $3,000 more than what you’ve budgeted for yourself is what you want, you may be setting yourself up for problems.

This idea draws its roots from the financial health method of living within your means. If you can’t afford $3,000 extra on a car, don’t borrow that much extra just because you’re going to be making payments. Every dollar amount the price of your car increases, the monthly cost you’ll be paying on that car increases. Therefore, if you’ve financed a car worth $10,000 and have 25 percent down with a six percent interest rate for three years when your original budget was $7,000, you’ll be paying approximately $122 MORE per month (your original payment would have been $106 per month).

Car buying is supposed to be an enjoyable process that helps you get the care you really want and at a price you can feel comfortable with. Unfortunately, many people don’t take the necessary steps to make that happen, and in today’s economy, it’s very important to make sure such a large purchase is dealt with in greatest of care.
Hopefully the next time you go car shopping and are trying to maintain a budget, you’ll remember some of these tips and they’ll help you get that car you want with the price you want to go with it.

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