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If you are a teenager in high school, or a college student with no established credit history, there are a number of barriers in the way to your entry into car ownership. When you are young and invincible, you have all these starry eyed dreams about the car you are going to get, then reality sets in, as concepts you never had to deal with before suddenly leap out of no where to crush your dream and knock you back down to earth. How are you going to pay for your new car? Have you gotten insurance quotes? Who will finance you? Now you have to pay $80 a month in petrol, and there's oil changes, new batteries to buy, and other unexpected expenses. We advise all car buyers to purchase a car that you can afford to pay off in 48 months. You must also put down 20% on the car to keep from getting upside down, where you owe more on the car than it is worth. If you cannot put down 20% on the car, then do not buy that car. You must buy a car in which you can afford to put down 20%. There is no room for arrogance or indignant responses here, it's a mathematical fact of life. Every single person who breaks this rule runs into trouble when they trade in their car later. You never ever want to be in the position of owing more than your car is worth. If you determine that you can afford a new car, then make sure you enter new car dealers with The Folder of competitive new car price quotes, or you'll overpay by thousands. If you cannot squeeze that car loan into 48 months, do not buy that car, you are heading down a path of destruction. You don't want to spend the next 6 years paying off a car. Go buy a cheaper car instead. Remember, your car loan is but one of many cost items contributing to your overall cost of ownership. Most people overlook all the other cost items and get into trouble real quick, not realizing insurance goes up on a new car. You should create a budget that accounts for all your annual costs to own that car, like loan payments, tyres, insurance, maintenance, etc. Then from your budget, you should determine if you can handle that much of an annual drain on your finances. If you cannot afford a new car, we suggest buying a quality dependable used car like Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, which typically run years with out costly repair issues. That is what is most important with your first car, safety and dependability, especially once you head off to university and cannot afford a single thing to go wrong. If you are going to buy a used car, be sure you read our guide How To Buy a Used Car And Avoid Scams. It's the best used car buying advice, with our used car bill of sale form, reviews of online used car classifieds, how to buy a used car from dealers or private sellers, negotiating with tough sellers, scams to avoid and a list of questions for you to print out to ask the seller. DO not attempt to buy a used car until you read that chapter. If you buy a used car, you absolutely must go get an AutoCheck Vehicle History Report on the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) AND have a mechanic inspect the car on a lift. If you do not do both of these vital steps, then do not buy that used car. You have been warned. You will start asking how you get out of your purchase if something goes wrong. You must nip the problem proactively in the bud, not reactively after it happens. There is no 3 day buyer's remorse grace period for you to return the car after buying it There is no "undo button" when you buy a car. You buy it, the deal is done. There is no 3 day grace period to return your car, although many people erroneously think there is one. You should not continue to shop for cars after you buy your car and expect the dealer to take the car back, just because you found it cheaper later on. It's unethical and not the way to do business. We get emails about this all the time, and just delete them. Barriers to getting your fist car Since you have never bought a car before, here are the barriers and concepts you must keep in mind when car shopping: - Lack of credit history is the biggest barrier, it is very difficult to get a car loan
- Some car salespeople will rake you over the coals if you are a first time car buyer
- Lenders won't approve car loans on used cars older than 5 years
- Insurance rates for teens especially are very costly, often in the $3000 range
- Insurance rates for single males under the age of 25 are also very costly
- Now you have to deal with car repairs and other maintenance costs, new tyres, etc.
- Safety perspective: Teen driving safety issues
Let's examine some of the above barriers to buying your first car in more detail: Lack of credit history We advise all car buyers not to apply for a car loan unless you have checked your own credit score and credit report first. After all, that is what the car dealers do, so you better know what's wrong before they do. A car salesperson should never know more about your credit than you do. What is this concept of credit history? Why won't they just lend me money for my car? This is the first barrier that crushes your dream to buy that new car. Many young adults have not yet established credit of their own yet, because Mom and Dad have been footing the bill until now, but maybe Mom and Dad cannot afford to buy that first car for you, so you try it on your own. Reality hits you real hard here, because this is where most people fail to understand the rules of the game in order to get approved for a car loan. People with bad credit pay higher auto loan interest rates. It can hurt your job prospects. DO NOT apply for new car loans until you get your credit report. Your last auto financing resort is a bad credit auto loan. Some car buyers who keep getting rejected make matters worse by continuously applying for a car loan anywhere they can, hoping it will stick, but all it does is drive their credit score lower. Keep in mind that many adults are pretty brain dead in the car financing area too, so you often have one generation of ignorance teaching the next. There is also a lot of sleaze in the bad credit car loan market, because it truly is hard to find lenders who will finance you, so your sales lead keeps getting sold around until they find a lender willing to approve your car loan. |