If you don’t speak automobile, it can be a little intimidating when you want to buy your first car. After all, the first one you had was probably from your parents, right? Besides, knowing a lot about the mechanics and how a vehicle works doesn’t necessarily help you get a good deal. There are plenty of other things involved. So here is a quickie guide for those first time shoppers.
Research Boss
Don’t EVER walk into a dealership without knowing what you want. If you can’t figure it out yourself, swallow your pride and ask for some help. Even if your search word is ‘pretty cars,’ then that’s a good place to start. Read up not just on the specifications of different models, but also on the pricing, the current market, the exchange rate (because most vehicles are not manufactured on home soil but imported) and whether or not it’s possible to get quick finance loans in Australia, just in case you need it.
Cash Flow
Secondly, you need to have the money ready or have some way to raise the money. If you don’t have enough cash in hand or in your bank account to pay for a car in one go, then you need to consider getting a quick and easy online personal loan so that you don’t hold up the process. Remember, dealers will promise you all kinds of breaks in the negotiation process but when it comes to the actual transaction, they can be as hard as nails. Getting caught in a cash-flow problem mid-transaction can tie up your financial life in all kinds of messy ways so do the research and have the money ready before you start talking about payment.
Check Up
This is where a good knowledge of mechanics or good connections with a mechanic will come in handy. There are so many ways which crooked dealers can trick you. They can replace the parts of a vehicle with old ones; they can turn the meter backwards; they can upsell to an unsuspecting customer. More often than not, they upsell a product that isn’t quite up to standard and the customer has no idea because he/she isn’t an expert. Note to self: always ask for the vehicle to be inspected by your personal mechanic. Pay that person well so that he/she will do a good job. This way, you won’t be fooled into paying for rubies and buying rocks.So the next time you need to go shopping for a car, make sure you hit the books, double check your bank account and take your local mechanic with you. Save you some trouble and a ton of money to boot.