How to: Buy a Car

Meet Penelope the Cruise... or as I called her; Penelope.

Penelope and I go waaaay back. When I was 16, this was my first car. We made it through high school, college and into my twenties together. A tragic side swiping a mile from my house and a faulty oil change from Honda (which completely ruined her engine) really caused me to think about finding a replacement. After she got a complimentary used engine from Honda, I decided it was finally time for us to part ways.

My parents have always driven Honda. Our family car, the Piece, had 417,000 miles before the timing belt broke and bent the head on the engine. It was always an underlying goal for me to break that record with Penelope. That bad oil change stopped the odometer at 309,770 and the new engine reset to 180,000 miles. 

The good news is, I had been keeping my eye on the Nissan Murano for a few years so I knew EXACTLY what I wanted when the time came to make the replacement. I began looking for the right year, color, and interior package but much to my dismay, they were very difficult to come by. After a couple of months, and a handful of disappointing test drives, I stumbled upon this little gem...

I learned quite a bit during my first car buying purchase and thought that it would be helpful to share.

• If there's a list price online, it's likely not the same on the lot. Document the price with a screenshot and ask that they honor that price. If they don't, walk away from the deal.
• Don't buy a car at night! You need to have good lighting to assess the imperfections of the vehicle and bring those into your negotiations. For example, if there was a big scratch in the paint, you may want to have them fix it before you buy it. Bringing it in a week later when you notice it won't provide any accountability on their end.
• Decipher the mileage you'd like in a car. If you get a 3-5 year loan, you want to be sure that based on your driving habits, you won't owe more on the car than it's worth before it's paid off. If you drive 100 miles per day, you may want to buy a car that you can afford over three years, so that you don't owe more on it before the loan is due. 
• Imagine you're in a car wreck and at the time, you owe $5,000 on the car. Based on mileage, the insurance company will only give you $3,000. That means you have to come up with the difference of $2,000 to repay your loan on the car before you can buy something else.
• Read reviews of the car online! Search things like... "2013 Nissan Murano problems," or "2013 Nissan Murano issues." Know what other owners are saying are the pros and cons of the vehicle.
• Show me the CarFax! But seriously... you need to know if the vehicle has been in any kind of fender bender. From my experience, if you read anything about the car frame being bent - move on!
• Know what you want to spend. Set a number and stick to it! It's easy to get starry eyed in the car lot and forget what your budget is. It's better to be honest with yourself up front about what you can afford than to make the first car payment and realize you can't make ends meet.
• Get pre-approved for a loan BEFORE you look. If you get into a bid war with someone else, or want to make the seller act fast, have that pre-approved check handy to seal the deal. I recommend keeping this check secret until you're really ready to solidify a number and buy the car. Don't tell the seller what your top approval dollar is or they won't be as inclined to come off the list price.
• How do you get pre-approved? Call your bank and tell them you'd like to get pre-approved for a car loan. They'll run your credit score, check your finances, etc. Then a check is mailed to your house within a few days and you can keep it handy until you're ready to make a purchase. You cannot exceed the dollar amount of the check without another pre-approval from your bank. 
• Find out if your vehicle will be under any warranties and if there are any recalls. Ask for the recall record too incase parts have not been replaced that should have been.
• Haggle, Haggle, Haggle. Come prepared with comparable pricing on similar vehicles and specs. The more educated you are, the more leverage you have. I like to print a couple of copies of comparable cars, look up the value on AutoTrader, Kelley Blue Book, and more. 

Before & After

Happy car buying! 

Thanks for stopping by the Humble Hammock!

Cara