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Do your research

You should be going into your dealership visit knowing three key things.


How much you would like to pay per month
How you’ll pay. Cash, bank loan etc..
What type of car you actually want.

💰 How much can you pay?


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Calculate my monthly payment
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Monthly Payment Calculator
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Take home pay each month
What you can pay
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🏦 How will you pay it?

There are a few ways you can get the capital to purchase a car.
You’ll need to weigh the options and choose the right option for you and your situation.

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📃 Leasing

Leasing can be a fickle beast, however it can be the right option for some
people so take a look at how to make the option work for you.

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💸 Buying

🚗 What kind of car do you want?

Need and want are different things here, but they should work together into getting you the right vehicle.
Edmunds.com
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put together this list of questions to ask yourself when trying to decide. So before you head to a dealership, have your non-negotiables in mind, and know what features you’d be willing to spend a little more on.
The equivalent to “do you want fries with that” when buying a car is “do you want sirus xm radio”. So know that when we’re talking the extras, you are being upsold on your bottom line. Or they are, as my mother would put it.. shining a turd. So think about the features you want before your arrive.
How many passengers do you need to carry?
What type of driving do you do? Is it primarily highway, surface streets, off-road?
Do you have a long commute and, because of that, is
fuel economy
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important to you?
Do you need
all-wheel drive
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?
What are your must-have features? Think backup camera, leather seats, Apple CarPlay, etc.
What safety features are important to you? Do you want blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning and automatic emergency braking, for example?
What cargo capacity do you need?
Will you be using children's car seats?
Will you be doing any towing?
How much garage or parking space do you have?

👩‍🏫 Once you know what you’re looking for do a little research before you head out.

It never hurts to know what a dealership has on their lot. This allows you to have prices and questions already lined up and you look like a knowledgeable customer, who can’t be messed with.
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Kelly Blue Book
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is a great tool to look up what the actual price on a vehicle should be.
Once you have a specific car you’re looking at look up the
CarFax History Report
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.
Terms to know:
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Down payment
This is the cash-on-hand you’ll be paying toward the purchase price of the car. Larger down payments can help you avoid longer and more costly payoff schedules. And with more cash down, you'll save on interest payments over the life of the loan.
APR
The annual percentage rate for the loan usually contains lender fees and interest you’ll pay for borrowing the money from the bank or lender.
Term of the loan
It’s best to aim for an aggressive payoff schedule to keep up with depreciation. Try to pay off new cars in 60 months and do your best to aim around 36 months for used cars.
Taxes and dealer fees
Dealer fees and transferring costs are expenses the dealer incurs for marketing the car and transporting the vehicle from auction or other locations. These costs vary by dealership and may be negotiable. Taxes, state and local registration fees are not going to be negotiable. Together, these costs can add up to about 10 percent of the total cost of your car.
Down payment
Column 2
This is the cash-on-hand you’ll be paying toward the purchase price of the car. Larger down payments can help you avoid longer and more costly payoff schedules. And with more cash down, you'll save on interest payments over the life of the loan.
Column 3
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