Choosing which vehicle to purchase can be one of the most stressful, and most important, buying decisions of your life.  Will this vehicle get me to work?  Can I count on it to transport my children?  Will it start for me on a cold winter morning?  If something goes wrong, will the manufacturer provide me with the necessary support?  These are all valid questions that us at Auto Dealer would like to help you find the answers to, guiding your way to the purchase of a vehicle that you will be satisfied with for years to come.

Basic questions to ask yourself

Before we really begin, there are a few questions that everyone searching for a vehicle needs to know the answer to.

  1. What can you afford?
  2. What will this vehicle mainly be used for?
  3. How many passengers do you need to accommodate?

These questions will not only help narrow your focus, but will work towards eliminating one major problem in vehicle purchases, buyer’s remorse.  Many consumers tend get overrun by wants rather than needs, and although they may initially be happy with their purchase, begin to experience cognitive dissonance (aka buyers remorse) once the reality sets in that the vehicle they have purchased may be impractical.  Edmunds has a great article with 10 steps to purchasing a new vehicle, as does Kelly Blue Book for the purchase of a used vehicle.

Once you have an idea of what you need

After you have a more narrow focus due to your needs, you can begin to focus on your wants.  Although you need to be practical in your decision making, you also have to make sure you actually like the vehicle.  You can use vehicle specifications to help personalize your purchase, making it a vehicle that satisfies your wants as well as your needs.  These vehicle specs may include things such as:

  1. Comfort and convenience
  2. Entertainment systems
  3. Gas mileage
  4. Safety and security
  5. Style (color, body type, etc)
  6. Wheels and tires

Vehicle selection

So you have narrowed down your options, taking into accounts both your wants and your needs.  What do you do now?  Look around!  After addressing their wants and needs most people still have a variety of options left.  At this stage, creating lists will no longer do.  We suggest that you get out and see some vehicles first hand, take a few for a test drive, and don’t rush it.  This is a purchase that will affect your daily life, so you want to make sure it feels right.  To find vehicle in your area we suggest the use of sites such as CarSoup and Auto Trader.  Going to your local car lots and talking with salesman, explaining what you’re looking for, can be very helpful.

Conclusions

If you follow the advice in this article, the search process should be much more enjoyable, as will the end result.  Please feel free to comment with personal experience with the process as well as any suggestions or questions for us and other readers.  Thank you for reading and good luck.