Setting a Budget

You need to know your budget. Obtaining a good price from the car dealer is crucial should you not want to be stung. Here are some tips as to how you could get your money to work for you:

  • Set yourself a budget and, no matter what, stick to it. Do not pay attention to what a dealer or a finance company tells you in terms of what you can afford.
  • Calculate the amount of money you have to spend after paying for other bills like, the mortgage or rent, Council tax, utility bills, socialising and any other outgoings.
  • Other than car finance payments, you ought to consider other car running costs, like, fuel costs, insurance premiums as well as servicing. These alone are going to set you back several hundred pounds a year.
  • Do you really need a new car? The biggest cost in buying a car is depreciation, with the highest drop being in the first year. Even if you were to buy a year old model, you are going to save a lot of money and have two years of warranty protection remaining.
  • There are online valuations to obtain the optimum price for your old car as you trade in, in order to establish that you are not going to pay over the going rate for the car you are interested in.