How often have we wondered if a deal for a car was mutually beneficial to both the buyer and the seller? Sellers are human, after all, and haggling too much should not leave him bitter about his indispensable customers. Since in this country, a car is bought many times in an average user’s lifetime, it is better to equip ourselves with some checklists, which leave both the buyer and the seller happy.
Some useful tips on buying a car are:
How savvy are you when it comes to shopping? Are you the type that takes the time to study circulars, so that you can save 15 cents on a can of soup with a coupon? Do you go online and order samples, so that you don’t actually have to buy the product or print out coupons from a website? For some reason, even the most bargain hungry shopper loses all these money saving skills when it comes to buying a car. Some do manage to demand the best bargain they can get, while others let the shiny new cars in the lot blind them to potential discounts. Which kind of buyer are you?
Several criteria go into determining the kind of car buyer you are. Undoubtedly the most important is that you need to bargain from a position of strength, and that you don’t need to budge from your position.
10 Best Road Trip Vehicles
You are a road trip enthusiast. You’ve practically crisscrossed the country 10 times, cruising Route 66 along the way, and seen the expanse that is the American country side. What better way to do it than in one of the following cars, all of which have a style all their own and which will greatly enhance the experience? The following cars were selected by our panel with an eye to long distance tripping.
Nothing comes without a price tag. So, the greater the pleasure you derive from something, the greater the costs attached to it. It is not criminal to drive a sports car; enjoy the high-powered ride that sets your pulse racing. But look at the flip side. This comes with an added baggage –an exorbitant insurance. Remember that it is not the same as insuring any ordinary vehicle. For one, as a sports car enthusiast, you are aware that your thrill-filled drive is more prone to accidents, and thus would want comprehensive, all round insurance. This in itself can make sports car insurance a costly proposition, but there are factors as well, that go on to make it dearer.
There are some ways, though, by which you can minimize your costs on insurance of your new object of pride, if not eliminate it.
Automatic Transmissions:
Many car owners love their Automatic Transmissions for comfort and ease. Put it in Drive, the torque converter does all the work and you Go. New technologies in Automatic Transmissions are now allowing six-speed automatic transmissions. You will find these six-speed automatic transmissions in mainstream cars like the Mazda6 and Ford Five Hundred. The MINI Cooper S, made by BMW, is thinking of going with the six-speed automatic transmission in its car. Seven-speed automatics are also showing up in high end luxury cars.
It seems that almost as soon as a new idea gets made reality in the world of automobiles, there is another idea to push that achievement even further than before. We moved from carburetors to fuel injection, added GPS systems, and finally made sure that almost every model comes with automatic transmissions. But, has all that actually been an improvement over the old way of driving? Or has it actually caused more problems than it has fixed? To put it in direct terms, is the increased cost and hassle of new technological gizmos in automobiles worth it?
For instance, in the old days if your car keys were stolen or if you lost them, all you would need to do to get a replacement set made from your spare copy would be to head to your local locksmith, or even to a hardware store that could make copies of keys. But today’s cars are equipped with electronic locks that require electronic keys.
It would appear that car manufacturers pull out all stops to get you to buy a car. On one hand this is understandable, because there is a tremendous amount of competition out there, and a salesman’s gotta do what a salesman’s gotta do to earn a commission. On the other hand, a little upfront honesty would be nice for a change. That commercial that you saw that made it seem as if you were getting a new car for little or no money was enough to send you car shopping. Unfortunately, you probably got an unpleasant surprise when it was time to sign on the dotted line.
There are no free lunches in business, they say. So, why should you believe your car dealer when he says he has offered you huge freebies and goodies? The truth is he is a clever salesman making up for the apparent “discounts” with hidden costs. Hidden till you closed the deal, that is. No sooner would you have clinched the deal, than this tag of hidden costs spring on you like a Frankenstein monster, catching you unawares! This monster can not only be irritating, this can have the potential to alter your opinion about the dealer and about the business itself. You have no defense, nor can you take him to court, because he had mentioned it all. You’re wondering where? In his smartly couched language, so full of jargon, you’d not have understood a word of it till it hit you.
All those years back, you took a car on lease and drove it without a care in the world. You took excellent care of it as if it were a family member, buying the best gas and keeping it clean and shiny.
Now, the time has come for the lease to end and a real family member, (in flesh and blood, of course), along with you is wondering “why not make it ours?” You see the sense behind this, and decide to take the plunge in owning that reliable darling of yours that you had been most comfortable with and had only been wishing was yours. Now is the time to take some important steps in arriving at that decision, and weigh the pros and cons of owning the car that you had leased till now.
Posted in General | Also tagged car buying, car leasing |
Imagine it, you’ve just bought yourself a new car, and you are cruising around the city streets. You’re the apple of everyone’s eye who sees your new ride. It is, in essence, a perfect moment. And then, all of sudden, a rumbling, grating, CLUNK CLUNK erupts from somewhere beneath you. Then, just as fast as your day was looking up, it starts looking down. Suddenly, your new car reveals itself to be a dud, and you’re headed to the mechanics to have it fixed.
Let’s face it. Cars can have a load of problems associated with them and since they are the main way in which we get around, that is no small issue. They get us to and from work, school, appointments, and everywhere else. What would you do if you had no car but had to get all your things from point A to point B? The problems that strike cars seem to come along at the most inopportune moments, right when you are turning onto the onramp to go to that presentation, or on the way to your organic chemistry final, or your best friend’s wedding.
Given that all the roadside hassles that will result when you car breaks down will pale in comparison to the problems you will have if you do not properly have the right plans to take care of your car’s troubles, it might be a good idea for car owners to invest in a suitable warranty for their car. The main issue that comes up in the repairing of broken down cars is that of cost. It can cost you an arm and a leg to fix a broken car, especially if you don’t have any knowledge of how to do basic repairs yourself.
In this case, getting an extended warranty to cover all the incidentals that will occur to you and your vehicle is better than good sense, it is a sound investment. And, unlike a standard warranty, which ends after a set period of time, usually one that is very short, the extended warranties offer a fuller and more comprehensive package that will protect and repair your car for a long period of time.