If you are looking to buy a car, you should be pleased with the range of options open to you. Having as many options as possible is a positive thing but of course, it does mean that you need to think through all of these options.
You may decide to buy a car from:
- A dealer
- From a private seller
- From an online trader
- From a car auction
These are all common options for finding a car and you’ll find that there are many ways you can get in touch with private sellers. The emergence of the internet has created countless platforms to bring people together. Whatever you are looking to buy or sell, there will be an interested party and when it comes to buying and selling cars, there is no shortage of places to look to find the deal that is ideal for you.
If you are looking to buy a car, there are some questions you should ask yourself before you get too involved with the process.
Some of the questions you should ask yourself before buying a car include:
- Do I want to buy a new car or a used car?
- Do I have the money to buy a car outright?
- What sort of car do I need?
- What the overall costs of buying, owning and operating a car will be?
- Am I likely to receive affordable finance when it comes to buying a car?
These are all important questions and they may provide answers that you had forgotten about or overlooked. It is vital that motorists think about the true cost of owning and running a car. It is not a case of buying a car and that is the money aspect taken care of. In fact, many motorists find that this is just the beginning of the process of spending money on their car.
There are a lot of costs involved with running a vehicle
You need to think about fuel costs, the cost of a MOT, car insurance and the cost of having your car looked after. Many motorists think that avoiding a regular servicing is a good way of saving money but in the long run, a regular servicing saves money as this minimises the likelihood of major problems occurring at your vehicle.
These are all major questions that you have to ask yourself and it may be that the answer to one question leads you into another question. If you are unable to afford the cost of buying a car outright, you need to think about finance. There are many different places where you can obtain finance for buying a new car but are they all going to be available to you?
What is your credit rating like?
If you have a bad credit rating, you’ll find that banks are unlikely to provide you with the finance that you need to obtain the car that you want. This can be a blow but you need to realise that banks aren’t the only places to obtain finance for buying a car. There are some specialist car finance lenders but if you have been knocked back from a bank, you’ll find that these lenders will only offer you a loan with a high rate of APR. This means you will have to pay a lot of money in interest, and this could see an affordable car moving beyond your reach.
At this point, you may feel that you are just not meant to have access to a car but there may be another option. Have you considered a guarantor loan? If you have someone who is willing to act as a guarantor for you, you’ll find that a guarantor loan can provide you with an affordable way to obtain finance. The presence of the guarantor provides the lending company with the confidence they need to provide you with the loan at an affordable rate of APR.
This may be the solution that allows you to get behind the wheel of the car that is perfect for you. Guarantor loans have helped countless people in the United Kingdom obtain the finance that they need, so if you have struggled to obtain finance, this is an option that you should look to. If owning a car is essential, increase your chances of being able to afford the car that you need.
Andrew Reilly is a freelance writer with a focus on news stories and consumer interest articles. He has been writing professionally for 9 years but has been writing for as long as he can care to remember. When Andrew isn’t sat behind a laptop or researching a story, he will be found watching a gig or a game of football.