Buying a New Car
There is nothing like the excitement of buying a brand new car. And whilst financing a new vehicle is an essential part of the shopping process, we thought we would focus on the car buying process. Hopefully, our tips will get you behind the wheel of your dream car at an amazing price.
Let’s get the finance out of the way first.
When buying a new car you have five main ways of financing the purchase. You can:
- Pay cash by buying it outright,
- Obtain a car or personal loan,
- Use dealership finance,
- Lease the vehicle, or
- Take out a chattel mortgage ( a secured car loan for business purposes).
Our advice, as industry insiders, is to shop around for your loan before you go to the dealership. Contact us at Ezilend and we can help you get your finance sorted. That way , you can go into the car dealership with finance ready to roll.
So how do you go about choosing the right car for your needs?
- Research
Step one is, of course, to do your research. These days we have so much information available to help make our purchasing decisions easier. But don’t just read the reviews, have a good look at all of the car sales websites and see what prices various dealers are putting on the cars you’re interested in. Decide what features are most important to you as you narrow down the selection.
Once you have a vehicle in mind, you can then narrow down the dealers to talk with. Through this research process, you can be confident that you have a fair idea of what you should be paying for the car you want. If you are trading-in your current vehicle, do the same research so you know if you’re being offered a fair trade-in value.
- Visit Dealerships
Step two – Visits to the dealerships. The process is very much choreographed once you arrive. It can be a psychological battle.. Using the internet prior to the visit gives the buyer a lot more power. While you can research every last detail, don’t underestimate the lure of that shiny new car, literally begging you to put your hand in your pocket and spend your cash right there! Resist the temptation. Let the car salesperson go through the process.
Being sold to in this instance is not a negative experience in the slightest. This is where your research and bargaining tools come together with the incentives from the dealer. There may be various offers and incentives put your way. Ideally, take the time to visit a few dealerships for the brand of car you’re interested in to make sure you’re getting the best deal. Expect to spend an hour or so in each dealership while looking at. all your options.
Car dealerships rely on your initial excitement and a well-honed strategy of starting with a high price and then being able to lower the price – often linked into a ‘promotion’, which usually ends the day after you go in. You may often get a ‘this price is only valid today’. This is very rarely true. Take the power back if you can. If you can forward plan your purchase, it’s a great idea to buy either at the end of the month/quarter or (best of all) at the end of the financial year. This is when dealer stock must get moved on and you can generally negotiate a better deal.
What about all the extras?
Once you have identified the dealer you would like to go with – who is offering the best price, and the car is definitely the one you want – you are ready to do the deal. Just know that before you sign anything you will be shuffled off to see the “Extras” person. The “Extras” person will talk to you about all of the essential ‘add-ons’ you will need to take with your new car. For many dealerships the margin on the car is minimal, so they’re interested in extra income from add-ons. You will also be told about the ongoing service schedule required to make sure your warranty remains valid. A new car warranty is not in fact invalidated if you take your car elsewhere to be serviced. However, it can complicate matters should you make a claim.
There are generally three categories of New Car Add-ons…
- Paint protection
- Upholstery protection, and
- Tinted windows
…and sometimes there is even a service to fix those occasional dints and scratches that it’s generally not worth claiming on insurance. Are these extras worth the money? There’s no clear answer to this. But, here are the pros and cons…
Pros
- If there are ever any problems related to the add-on provided by the dealership you just take the car back in.
- The additional options are taken care of before you pick up the car – no need to take it back later to have the work done.
- If you are financing the vehicle, it’s easy to add the extra cost into the entire car loan.
- You can be reasonably confident that the work will be done to a sufficiently high standard. The car brand will not want to be associated with any problems relating to the add-on down the line.
Cons
- The add-on may not be necessary – it is a new car after all.
- Getting add-ons done at the point of sale at the dealership can be more expensive than getting the same job done by an external company.
To an extent, the dealership relies on the fact that you probably don’t know about the latest paint protection technologies, or how much it would cost to get the same treatment elsewhere. So this is where a bit of research can save you money in the long-run.
Once you have negotiated your way through the buying process, don’t forget the other things you need to organise before you pick up the car. Remember things like insurance, and don’t forget to take your toll tag out of your old vehicle and inform the toll company of your change of vehicle. Then you can relax, and enjoy your new wheels!
