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Buying A New Hot Rod

By: Sam | January 16, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

So long Charlie, hello, Big Al. That’s right, I finally took the plunge and parted ways with my old car, Charlie. And even though parting is such sweet sorrow, I couldn’t be happier with my new ride.

Before I could buy Al, I had to first figure out what to do with Charlie. I weighed the pros and cons of trading in vs. selling, which included looking up Charlie’s value (priceless, of course) in the Kelley Blue Book. And after reading Nancy’s post, I also considered purple car going the donation route. For me, selling Charlie was the best option, because it added some extra money to my down payment.

Since I had been shopping around for a couple of months, I had a pretty good idea of what make and model I wanted. And after a quick assessment of how energy efficient this new car would be, my next step was to figure out if I could really afford it. To do so, I used Consumer Reports’ online calculator, which enabled me to play with different figures, including my loan term and interest rate.

Speaking of, a key step to my car buying process was researching my financing options and finding the best loan. After comparing rates and terms from multiple finance sources like my bank, credit union, and potential car dealers, I decided to go with a loan from my credit union. I did a quick check of my credit report through annualcreditreport.com, just to make sure all my info was correct, and then applied for the loan online. It really was easy as pie!

With my financing in place, I was now ready for the fun part: wheelin’ and dealin’. Armed with advice from the pub “How to Get a Great Deal on a New Car” and my Dealer Visit worksheet I was ready for business. I checked a couple of car buying sites to see what the going sale price was in my area and then I stared negotiating for the price I wanted and could afford. And before I knew it, I was cruisin’ around town in Big Al.

All in all, the entire process wasn’t as bad as I imagined. Feel free to add any tips or stories you have for our readers who’re thinking about buying a car as well.