5 Tips For Buying Your First Car
When you are planning to buy a car, it’s important for you to consider the financial working of it so that it doesn’t give you any burden in the long run. Here is how you can do your working towards your first car.
Cost of ownership
The purchase of your car is not only dependent on the cost of the car. The real deal starts from there onwards. You first plan the car loan EMI by checking simply checking Car loan online. Then you need to think about the maintenance expenses, annual insurance premium, and fuel charges.
This can take away all the surplus income that you must have thought as a down payment to purchase the car. So think about your cost of ownership and set a realistic budget.
Pro tip: You can do your calculations in advance by checking into a good car loan EMI calculator.
High resale value
When buying a car, do make sure that your prospective car has a high resale value. You will upgrade your car after a few years and would plan to sell the old one. You need to be sure about the resale value at that time. There is no calculation as such to figure out the resale value, However, you may want to check the cost of various models of the car brands that are currently on resale.
You can also guess the same by looking at the car sales figures or if that car has easily available spare parts.
Low on maintenance
Now that you have got a good discount on your car, but will it be as amazing as when it comes to maintenance? If this car is your first car then, it’s likely that you would brush it through your learning curve and as a result would get some of its own share of dents and bruises.
And when you have got some dents, you would take it to the repair shop where the most important thing is the after sales support and the cost of aftersales parts. So, keep in mind the aftersales service of a brand before you pick a car. The easy way to do this is by trusting on the popular brands which will have readily available spare parts and easily accessible service centers across.
Used car options
Another good option for your first car can be a good used car. Now that the used car market becoming more organized. There are now a few popular and reliable companies that are setting new standards in the pre-own market. What this could mean is that you can now buy a Sedan or even an entry-level SUV at the price of a hatchback. On top of that, these platforms provide you with a certified used car.
Petrol versus diesel
People used to but Diesel cars primarily to save costs in the long run. In spite of the expensive upfront cost the diesel car is has a lower fuel cost and higher mileage. Which meant, that you could pay off the initial higher cost within 2-3 years.
Now that the diesel to petrol price gap has reduced to about Rs 7-11/litre. Which means that that premium recovery time has increased from 2-3 years to now 5-6 years. Here is a small rule of thumb that you may follow. If you have to drive less than 50 km a day, the low maintenance petrol variant might be the better choice.
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