Owning your first car is exciting and will give you the freedom to travel wherever you like. Some people need a car to drive to work, or take children to school, whereas others might just like a car as a luxury. Either way, here are our top tips to help you on your way to owning your first car…
Know your credit score
If you don’t know your credit score this is a good place to start. There are ways you can find your credit score online through free software and some credit card banks also offer this service, as it will be important to know if you are taking out car finance. Those with a high credit rating will likely be able to get a better interest rate than those that don’t have a good credit rating. You should work out a car buying budget so you can plan exactly how much you’d like to spend.. It’s important to check your credit report as well as your credit score, this will enable you to see what areas you need to improve in your financial history, if any.
Options if you have a bad credit score
You can use car finance to help you buy your first car and if you have a bad credit score this might be difficult. However, some companies are lenient with credit scores and still offer bad credit car finance to those who would like to get their first car. You might not have such a wide range of options available if your credit isn’t so good, but you will still be able to get wheels. Many car loan dealerships will let you walk in, choose your car, take it for a test drive, fill out some paperwork and take it home that same day or week.
The benefits of using car finance
There are many benefits of using car finance and it can be a useful option if you don’t have enough money to buy a car outright. You will actually be able to get a better spec or higher value car if you use finance as well, as you will be paying it back gradually. For those who need a car immediately, finance can help you with this and you won’t have to take the time to save. If you do have savings, you can keep your cash and spend it on other things you need if you end up going for car finance.
Think about your budget and financing
When it comes to buying your first car, you will need to work out monthly budgets and make sure you have exactly the right amount of money if you’re buying outright. Saving might take a while, depending on the car you would like. This is why it’s a good idea to keep all your options open. Remember, you will also need to budget for insurance, road tax and running costs too.
Test drive the car before buying it
It would be a schoolboy error to avoid taking the car you want for a test drive. This is one of the most important things you can do before buying a car outright or on finance. You might notice something about the car you don’t like when you are driving it or maybe you will get a feeling the car is definitely for you. The only way you will find out if you like the car is if you try it out!
Now you have some top tips on owning your first car, we hope you will be able to use finance to buy the car of your dreams or save up to buy a car outright. Either way, good luck your life is about to become a lot easier with a car to get you from A to B.