How To Choose Your Next Car

How To Choose Your Next Car

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When you are buying a car you will be faced with a lot of different decisions that you will need to make. The car you choose is a major financial commitment. Ideally, you will want a car that will last you for a while, and one that will be cost-effective, and reliable. In order to make the right decisions, you will need to weight quite a bit up. 

New Vs. Used

A major decision that you will need to make is whether you are going to buy a new or used model. Both have their advantages and their disadvantages, and you will need to make the decision based on your own personal situation. 

New cars will come with a manufacturers guarantee. Although things can go wrong with new cars, they are generally covered for anything major. This means that you should not have to worry about dealing with any big maintenance issues anytime soon. 

The downside to a new car is that it will very quickly lose its value. Within the first year, it will have lost the biggest percentage of the price you paid for it. 

A used car, on the other hand, can vary dramatically in terms of quality and price. Once a car is more than a couple of years old, it will have dropped in value considerably and this is often a good time to buy. 

Used cars may have maintenance issues and you obviously don’t have the benefit of the manufacturer’s warranty to fall back on. Any repairs with the vehicle will need to paid for by you. 

Check Insurance Before You Buy

Whether you plan on buying your car new or used, you will need to get the vehicle insured before you are allowed to drive it. But insurance costs can vary dramatically. Get a few quotes before you commit to buying the vehicle, as if the cost for that vehicle is too high, you may end up being out of your budget. Get quotes from a number of places and check out transparent Metromile customer reviews to ensure you are happy with the insurer. 

Road Testing The Vehicle

Whichever car you are considering, you need to road test it. You need to feel comfortable behind the steering wheel. Making sure that the car is right for you is vital. 

If you are buying a used car, your road test will let you know if there are any problems with the vehicle that you should be aware of. Listen out for strange knocking or grinding sounds, see how the car turns in the road, make sure that it sits evenly on the road and doesn’t seem abnormally bumpy when driven. The more situations you can test the car in the better. Try a few manoeuvres and drive the vehicle at a range of different speeds. The last thing that you want is to miss a glaring problem that ends up costing as much as the car to get fixed.  

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