Back when I was a young adult, I used to live down in Florida, West Palm Beach to be exact. After living there for about 3 months, I went on the hunt for my very first new car purchase. A neighbor of mine had told me about Volvo West Palm Beach, and that is one of the places I had checked out.
As a first-time car buyer, I really had to learn the ropes on what to look for when shopping around for my very first car. Here is what I learned.
1. If you are new to an area, you should ask people that you know where they bought their cars. Ask them about their experience, good and bad. Make a list of those personal recommendations.
2. Ask people what brand of car that they own and if they are happy with it’s performance. Make a list of car brands that others recommended to you.
3. Get on the internet and do some browsing online of car dealerships that interest you and ones that carry the types of vehicles that you are specifically looking for. You can use this browsing session to cross off things from your list or to add new things to your list.
4. Get on the phone and call the dealerships you are interested in. New and Used cars come and go quickly. Make sure they have the make and model that you are interested in, in-stock. Ask for prices, financing information, etc.
5. The fun part can now begin! Go around to the dealerships that are on your list and take a few vehicles out for test drives! You really want to put some time and effort into your test drives and test out at least 4 different vehicles.
6. After your test drives have been completed, make a list of the things you liked and disliked about each vehicle you checked out. Make sure you write down the total price and financing information too! Take a few days to really think about your list!
7. Once you have made your decision, go back into the dealership and see if you can haggle with them. Yes, haggle with them! If you can get them to knock off a few hundred dollars or even a thousand dollars off the car that you want, well, that is a good day for sure!
8. When you have made your final decision, make sure you read over the entire agreement from top to bottom, including all of that miserable fine print! You don’t want any “surprises” later on down the road.
Now that you have made your new or used car purchase, it is time to hit the road and enjoy driving your new car!
Note: This is a blog conversation that is brought to you by our friends at Foreign Affairs Auto, however, all the points and views are my own.
I have been able to haggle down the price on new cars, but I am lucky not to have had trouble with the fine print – since I haven’t always read it all
Great advice. The miserable fine print is the hard part!