Buying A New Car? Use These Tips to Avoid Common Car Buying Mistakes
Ready to buy a new car? Around 2 million vehicles are sold in the UK each year, and as of the end of 2024, nearly 34 million cars were registered on the road.
It goes without saying that a significant number of cars, both brand new and used, are in rotation. But for many families, choosing the right car isn’t as simple as heading into Primark to buy a new pair of pyjamas.
Of course, buying a family car requires a lot of thought, care, and attention, and it’s an expensive and considerable decision.
But how do you choose the right car for you, not simply a car you like because it looks good and you’ve always wanted to own one?
Set Your Budget
Whether you’re buying a car outright or putting the purchase on a credit card, using a personal loan or taking out a finance deal, it’s crucial to set a realistic budget. This budget should cover all the costs of car ownership, ensuring you’re financially secure and prepared for any eventuality.
- Upfront cost
- Interest rates, if applicable
- Tax
- Insurance
- Fuel or charging costs
- Additional extras, ie charger for home EV charging
- Servicing
- Breakdown cover
- Depreciation
- Maintenance and repairs
While all these costs might not be applicable to your purchase, you do need to consider the entire cost of car ownership before setting your budget to ensure you can include not only the upfront cost or monthly repayments for the car but also the ongoing costs.
Needs
Your wants obviously need to be a consideration when buying a new car, but your needs should take precedence. What you need in a car can enable you to make the right decision and avoid making poor car choices.
For example, if you need to get two toddlers in and out of car seats, a 3-door vehicle likely isn’t going to be the best bet. If you need to carry work equipment with you, a smaller car won’t accommodate larger loads, and if you’re travelling extensive distances for work each day, then a fuel guzzler is a really poor choice.
Make a list of what you need for the car. Will you need additional seats for a growing family? Is a car with sliding doors preferable for ease? Do you need a more economical vehicle, or even an all-electric emission car, to meet ULEZ requirements and avoid charges when driving in London?
Safety and Reliability
This is important for any car, but especially for people driving long distances. You need reliability and should do your homework to find the most reliable cars in your price range. This will help you understand what is on offer and what you can afford.
For example, the Toyota Yaris is often regarded as one of the most reliable used cars, as is the Toyota Corolla, Honda Jazz, Ford Kuga, and Hyundai IONIQ Electric.
For brand new cars, Toyota, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, and Kia often hit the top of the safety charts for new cars.
While this isn’t a blanket rule, and you can experience problems with any cars, both new and used, outside of ratings and safety requirements, knowing what cars offer increased reliability and safety is a good place to start.
Fuel
Understanding the different types of fuel for cars on the road is crucial. This knowledge will empower you to make an informed decision and find the most economical choice for your needs.
Fuel prices for petrol and diesel motors constantly fluctuate, and the cost of filling a petrol tank can vary over the course of a week, never mind a year.
However, if you are considering electric vehicles, you need to look at charging accessibility.
If you have a driveway where you can install a charging point, this will be massively beneficial and more convenient for you. But if you don’t have any external charging options for your car at home, you need to be aware of the cost of using these points and how they will impact your life.
Hybrid cars have a dual power source: a fuel engine with an electric motor and battery. Most hybrid cars use regenerative braking, which captures energy lost during braking to recharge the battery to enhance efficiency. Whether or not this works for you depends on how you feel and, of course, the cost of the type of car you’re considering.
Buying Options
How you want to buy your car can impact your buying experience and costs, too. For example, if you’re buying a used car, you have more buying options than a brand new vehicle, which you need to source exclusively via a dealership.
You need to consider your options when purchasing a used car. You can go with a private sale, which can be cheaper in some cases but leaves you with fewer protections if something goes wrong.
You can buy from a dealership if you prefer a nearly new or newer model for your used car, or want to get a discount on a new but registered car when new registrations are due to be released.
Alternatively, finding reputable used car dealerships can help you find better deals and more options at various price points.
Depreciation
Everyone knows that cars depreciate as soon as they leave the forecourt, and most lose the majority of their value within the first three years.
While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, some cars do depreciate faster than others. This is a general rule to bear in mind when buying new or nearly new cars. If you are concerned about depreciation, then it might be better to buy a car over three years old, as it’s likely going to have gone through the depreciation process already and will hold its value more steadily than new cars.
However, factors such as driving style, care and upkeep, miles driven, and the manufacturer’s model will dictate the amount and speed of depreciation the vehicle will experience.
Taking these points into consideration will help make your next car search easier and help you find the right car for you.
