I Want to Buy a Car but Where do I Start?

Being that we are all different when it comes to personal preferences, areas we live in, income, driving style and of course needs, every single one of us will have to interpret a car purchasing guide according to a certain number of aspects.

An easy way of approaching the actual process would be to build up a series of questions related to the purchase and then answering them one by one. This way, you are basically filtering through the huge number of possibilities in the quest of finding the right car for you.

One of the main questions you should start with should obviously be: What is going to be the main purpose of the car? This is a good starting point, as you can rule out sports cars if the plan for the car is simply to drive your kids to school, for example. Or perhaps you intend to just drive it on long camping trips and you definitely need some extra space.

Perhaps you're planning on converting the car from street use to track use, and then there's a totally different set of characteristics you need to look for before further commiting to that decision.

While you might be fortunate enough to not care about the second question, the majority of people will most likely have to consider this one as well: What is your budget for the purchase? This can also be rephrased depending on the type of payment you'd like to go for, as a leasing option could be the one you're looking for.

Try to leave some space for increasing the budget, should you eventually stumble upon a car that really tickles your senses. Also, think whether you would like to keep the car bone stock, or maybe you'd like to save some of the initial budget for upgrading the car, either aesthetically speaking or from a functional point of view.

If you've come this far, you might want to consider the next one: Do you want a brand new car or will a used one do the job too? If going for the used option, try to establish some ground rules. What's your limit in terms of mileage and build year for it? The more miles on it and the older the car, the more you should keep an eye out for potential problems.

While you can feel free to ask yourself these questions in any other order, the next step would be to think about who is actually going to drive the car. Is it going to be yourself? Some other member of the family?

Try to consider the driving experience of said person, what other cars he or she has driven in the past, and what kind of cars tend to bring a smile on that person's face. In connection to this question you should also consider the people who are going to often ride in the car. How many of them are there? This will help you define interior space, creature comforts and safety standards as well.

Now that we've come this far, consider the type of fuel you're aiming for. Should the car be gasoline powered? Diesel powered? Or maybe you'd like to consider an eco friendly solution and choose a hybrid version, or better yet, an electric vehicle. But if you're going for an EV, do consider your charging options, as EV infrastructure isn't quite at the same level as fossil fuel options, at least not for the next 5 to 10 years, maybe.

This next one might not seem so obvious to everyone, but it can ultimately affect the buying decision. How long do you plan on keeping the car for? Maybe this will be a car you'll never plan on selling, as you might want to pass it down to someone else in the family, or actually keep it for yourself. But if you do plan on keeping it for a limited period of time, how important is the resale value for you?

Imagine getting a car with a manual transmission, and trying to sell it 10 years from now, when perhaps most people in the area you're living in would have never driven a manual transmission before. Or try to consider the fact that buying a gasoline powered vehicle with bad emission figures today could make it impossible to sell in a few years when perhaps local governments could place a ban on all non-electric powered vehicles. Yes, that's a lot to consider, but it all depends on how well calculated you want your decision to ultimately be.

You might be a very busy person, due to career or family commitments, or you might be lucky enough to have a lot of time on your hands. So you also need to consider: How much prep time do I have until I actually need to buy the car? Some people need a car the very next day, or some might start planning a year in advance. One crucial suggestion we would like to make is for you to actually go out and drive at least two or three cars that appeal to you before pulling the trigger on one.

Ideally you should book a few test-drives in advance and write down some of the key aspects that you like or dislike for every car you've driven. Do your online research. There are plenty of video reviews for most if not every single car on the market today. Try to find people similar to yourself that have interacted with those cars and see how they felt about them.

Last but not least, you should also consider your current car related experience. What kind of car do you own now, what kind of cars have you driven before? What were some of the pros and cons of those cars? Which one of these characteristics should be found in your next car? Or which one of them should become history?

Over the upcoming period we'll start investigating today's car market and write more car purchasing guides while considering various scenarios that might just fit your curent situation.