Deciding to purchase your first car is a big step in life and there are often many questions that people have when thinking about what car to buy and where from. There are lots of guides to buying cars and your first car in particular available online and for various retailers and car industry experts such as the AA. But ultimately what car you get will be defined by your budget and your travelling requirements.
If you commute a significant distance to work, then you won’t want to be getting a second-hand car that has lots of miles on the clock already and equally a lease car with only 10,000 available year might not be enough. So, you will need to research your options a in bit more depth. When working our what your budget is – regardless of whether you intend on buying the car outright or through a monthly payment scheme you should factor in a number of other financial factors including:
- Insurance – it is a legal requirement that you have adequate insurance on your vehicle at all times
- Road Tax – the road tax you will pay each year will depend on the make, size and emissions of your car
- MOT – it is another legal requirement that you have an MOT each year for your car once it is 3 years old. You should always get this done at a reputable company like Gloucester MOT company 123carandcommercial.com
- Fuel – there is not point in maxing out your budget for your car and not factoring in the amount of diesel or petrol that you are going to need each week.
Other financial implications that you may want to consider is having an annual service completed on your car. This is not a legal requirement but is good advice as it will hopefully help flag up any issues with your car before they become big problems.
Once you have a realistic budget you should make sure that you do your research and shop around a bit for your perfect car. Dealers are a c=good place to go to get some ideas of prices and also to test drive some options. If your budget is very low then you may want to consider a second-hand dealer or look for private sales but you should always get a private sale car checked over by a mechanic before you purchase it to make sure that you don’t end up spending more money on repairs in the long run.