3 Questions You Need to Ask before Buying Your first Car

Thinking about buying your first car? This can be an exciting time in your life. Owning a car for the first time is a freeing experience. No more relying on unreliable public transit, or even worse relying on your parents to lend you their cars. But often times people tend to jump into buying a car before really questioning what they need from the car and how owning a car will impact their overall quality of life.

Before you purchase a car you need to ask yourself these 3 critical questions:

Firstly, how will you pay for your new car? If you are considering buying a brand new car financing is often the choice to go with. However don’t forget to factor that into your budget. Buying your dream car for only 600 bucks a month may seem like the best thing since sliced bread but it may cost you in the long run. Remember that Automobiles depreciate quickly, when you borrow money against an asset that depreciates rapidly, you’re simply purging money. Car loans are fairly high interest loans with a consumer interest or roughly 6% and higher. Any loan that has such a high rate means that you’ll be investing much of your monthly payment into interest.

Therefore be realistic with the cars you are looking to purchase. Is that brand new BMW really in your price range? Will you ever be able to pay it off? If not consider something more reasonable.

Ok so you’re sure, you want a new car and you have planned your budget so you know your price range, great! Now it’s time to think what you need your car for. If you’re living in an urban, big city environment a monster Ford F250 may not be the best choice. Urban cities equal tight parking and a lot of stop and go driving. In this case your best option may be a smaller compact car with great fuel efficiency.

The third question you need ask yourself is how this new car will affect your insurance. If it’s your first car, you may not fully understand insurance or which insurance policy and company is right for you. Buying reasonable insurance to go along with your new car is hard enough, but remember that the type of car, the colour, the engine and plenty of other variables affect your insurance premium. Do your research!

When making a big purchase like a car, doing your research is critical. It’s not a decision to take lightly. Remember to first be realistic with your budget. Ask yourself, are you going to buy in cash or finance and what the implications of your choice are? Budget for insurance, as much as everyone hates paying for it, you have to. Remember that the type of car you buy will affect how much you pay per month. Finally, pick a car that fits your lifestyle now, not one that fits your dream lifestyle. The choice you make will impact you more than you think, chose wisely and don’t forget to enjoy the ride.

Billy Macklin is a car enthusiast and can be found on many weekends at the local car junk yard picking up parts for his hobby cars. He can Take Apart A Rebuilt Enginea name="_GoBack" or a tranny in under one hour.