Other than the house, car also represents a significant amount of expense. Having a new car is convenient and makes us feel good, but there is a financial consequence that we need to consider. Many people tend to choose the flashiest car, but this will be very expensive. It is better to choose a car model that best suits our requirements and more importantly, it won’t hurt our finances so much. We should ignore the ads and check the car directly to make sure that it is really suitable for us. The car should also be easy to maintain. Car parts can be quite expensive depending on the make and model of the car. Instead of buying sports car with powerful engine, we should consider choosing cars that are less expensive to maintain. Also, we should consider buying the manual transmission version, which is cheaper and less expensive to maintain. As long as the car fits our needs, we should be able to justify our decision to purchase it.
There are basic concepts to make sure that you don’t overspend when buying cars. You need to set up your fixed budget at home and before you go to the showroom. It is important that we insist on sticking on this budget. There are many other cost components related to car purchase and ownership, such as registration and insurance. So, we need to set the price of the car lower than the total amount of our budget. If we don’t have the cash to fully pay off the car immediately, it is important to organize the proper financing options. This requires us to do more research before we go to the dealer. The interest rate can cause our car to become more expensive than its original price. So, we should make sure that we are able to negotiate a lower interest. This is an easier thing to do if we have good credit score. Also, perform comparison shopping, so we know how much that we will need to spend.
Another option is to choose used cars, which can be significantly less expensive than brand new ones. However, we should make sure that the used cars are in good condition. If it is in poor condition, we will need to spend much money on maintenance and repairs. Before buying a car, we should know our legal rights so we will not be fooled by salespeople or other dishonest individuals. Many salespeople in car selling business are honest, but some of them are actually scammers. They will be able to fool us if we don’t perform enough research at home. As an example, if we don’t know about the standard market price for a car model. We should be aware of the bait and switch trick that can cause us to spend so much. In this case, salespeople may draw us in with amazing bargain offer only to force us to spend more on sunroof, high-end audio option, alloy wheels and others.