3 Things You Need To Know Before Buying a Car

Buying a Car. Its kind of a scary and intimidating idea! Would you believe that up until a month ago, I had never actually been a part of the car buying process? Yup. Thats right! I’m in my 30’s and have never bought a car from a dealer before. When your Dad is a mechanic, you kinda just inherit them as you need them as a teen and young adult. Then I got married, and just shared the truck with the hubby, since we really didn’t need 2 vehicles. Fast forward 6 years, and we were due for a new vehicle! Since I had NO idea what we needed to know before buying a new car, and didn’t want to ask the wrong questions while my hubs was “negotiating”, so I did my due diligence and discovered the 3 things I really needed to know before buying a car!

3 Things You Need To Know Before Buying a Car:

#1. Know what you want.

What kind of vehicle do you want? New? Used? Make? Model? Year? If used, how many miles are you OK with? How long will you want this vehicle for? Will it work for you long term and through the next stages of your life?

I knew I wanted a mid sized SUV. I’ve wanted one for the last 5 years, and have mentioned that to my husband on a number of occasions. Small enough to be practical and fuel efficient, but large enough to take ALL of my displays, inventory and handmade paraphernalia to markets all year long, and be able to pull a small trailer if I end up needing one as my handmade business grows. New, used, make, model and year didn’t matter so much to me, although used was going to suit our budget and have enough cargo room.

 

#2. Know what you can afford.

What is your budget? What price point are you comfortable with? What is your absolute MAX monthly price point? Do you qualify for financing? How do you get financing?

This is where Capital One comes into play! Capital One developed Auto Navigator to simplify car buying and financing. Capital One® Auto Navigator® focuses on adding transparency to a sometimes confusing process by allowing consumers to pre-qualify for auto financing and see their financing terms before visiting a dealer. With Auto Navigator, consumers can find a car and see their financing options, all in one place, without impacting their credit score.

 

#3.  Know where to go.

What dealers are in your area? What dealerships have your friends and family used? Are there reviews available to check out? What are the standard warranties and policies? What sort of inventory do they have available?

Once again, Capital One® Auto Navigator® comes to the rescue! Consumers can browse more than 3 million cars from over 12,000 participating dealers across the country, including in your area. You can also get dealer ratings and car reviews – all in one place – and even access car history reports, so you can arrive confident and ready to buy when the time comes.

With my research done, and our budget in place, we headed off to look at vehicles. A few test drives, lots of questions and a little haggling later, we were the proud owners of a new-to-us Chevy Trailblazer! It had everything that I needed, all of the things I wanted and even a few luxuries we hadn’t considered before! It didn’t take us long after getting the keys, to get a little mud on the tires! Doing our research before buying a car saved us time, hassle and headache!

And now we have the perfect vehicle for a trip into the city to go to the DFW Auto Show! The DFW Auto Show is one of the largest new car and truck shows in the nation – and local car enthusiasts, families and potential buyers alike flock to see the latest and greatest car styles, models, trends and technology. (Its March 22-26, 2017) I’m excited to see all the latest and greatest car styles, models, trends and technology. Its been far too long since I’ve been to an Auto Show! I used to go to the Detroit one with friends annually, but since moving to Texas, I haven’t made it. So glad to be changing that this year! If you’re in DFW and headed to the Auto Show, we might just bump into each other! 🙂

 

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.