5 Easy Car Buying Tips for College Grads

 

I remember when I purchased my first vehicle after college, my car of choice was the Chrysler PT Cruiser and I was filled with so many emotions excited that I was about to trade in my old Toyota Corolla for some stylish wheels but nervous because I had no clue of how this process was going to work. Luckily I’m going to share some simple car buying tips with the assistance from Autotrader to make this process easy for you.

 

There are 5 major components that goes into selecting the right vehicle.

1) Finding the Right Car: Do as much research as possible. Use the consumer reports provided by websites and/or magazines to determine just how much the cars you’re considering are worth. Low-maintenance, dependable cars like the Mazda 3 and the Honda Civic make good first cars. With regular maintenance, both can last as many as 300,000 miles. Autotrader has compiled a great list of the nine models that recent grads should consider. 

2) Test Drive: This is something I wish I did. It's super important to get behind the wheel to see how the car drive, test the stereo system and other features you want to make sure this will be something you are comfortable driving daily.

3) Check your Credit: Your greatest asset when buying a car is your credit score. Your credit score has a big impact on the deal you can get, as well as the programs and promotions for which you qualify. It not only determines how good your interest rate will be, it also affects your monthly payments over the life of the loan.

4) Maintenance: You can't forget about oil changes, new wiper fluid, tires, etc. Don't forget about taxes, registration fees and insurance. Make sure you plan for these expenses as well.

5) Buy or lease?: The advantage to leasing is that payments will be lower in general, but buying a car may involve taking out a loan from a bank or financing through the dealership itself, but having a sizable down payment will always help offset interest accrued over time. Save up about 20% of the car’s price, at least.

“This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency on behalf of Autotrader; however, all
thoughts and opinions are my own.”

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