Buying a car for the first time is quite a stressful process if you have no idea where to begin. If you are someone who has recently passed your driving test, regardless of age, you need a car for a specific reason, whether it is ferrying the family back and forth safely or purely a way to get some fast food at 2 in the morning. If you are like me and have nobody to ask advice, then the terms are pretty confusing, and when someone tells you about MPG, you don’t have the guts to say “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” So, here is a basic guide on getting your first car.

The Beginning: What Do You Need The Car For?

Defining your main purpose will help whittle down the type of car you need. There is no point in getting a Mini Cooper that is only good for small, intercity journeys if you plan on covering millions of miles by driving along coasts and highways. So, by identifying what you need the car for can give you the pointers, and it can help broaden your search. You could buy a pre-owned car that has 100,000 miles or KM on the clock if you don’t plan on using it that much. But if you are going for one pre-owned, making sure that you keep it well maintained, check the oil and the tire pressure regularly, as the older cars will need a lot more care and attention.

The Middle: The Insurance

As someone who has just passed your driving test, your insurance is more than experienced drivers because you are more of a risk. Statistics show that drivers that have passed their test are more likely to have an accident within the first year. So knowing what makes your insurance costs go down is a way around this. The following factors make the insurance cheaper.

• Having a smaller engine.
• The value of the car is lower.
• The car is undesirable i.e. ugly!
• A car that has not been modified.

As well as these factors, your age, location, job, and purpose of the car will be other details insurance companies take into account when totaling up your insurance costs.

The End: Paying For Your Car

Paying for the car depends on your financial situation. There are companies like lendingtree that can offer you loans for paying your car installments, but if you are buying pre-owned, there are many car dealerships that offer payment plans.

If you are looking for a car that is pre-owned, make sure you ask as many questions about the car as you can think of, and take it for a test drive. You will only regret it if you find the car doesn’t accommodate your long legs comfortably, or if the gears feel sticky. Try it out.

Buying a car for the first time is a rite of passage, and we all have to do it. It can seem like a lot of information, but when you drive off for the first time in your own car, all the hassle will be worth it.