Are you thinking about buying a car for your child to help them get out on the road by themselves? If so, then you need to ensure that you make the right choice. This is often easier if you know the mistakes that you have to avoid. So, let’s explore a few of the issues here.
Trusting A Seller Without Question
First, you need to make sure that you are not making the mistake of trusting exactly what a buyer tells you. They won’t always be honest with what they are saying and it’s possible that they might give you some false information. For instance, it’s quite common for sellers to fake a lengthy mileage and make it look a lot smaller. That’s why you should always contrast the information provided with the info you can find online if you complete some quick research. For instance, anything significantly less than 10K miles per year should be approached with healthy skepticism.
Forgetting To Take It For A Spin
If there is a problem with a vehicle, then a seller will look at a range of different options when convincing you not to drive it at all. Instead, they will hope that you commit to a purchase before you take it out on the road. Once you do this, it’s difficult to get the money you spent back. The seller will correctly argue that it’s not their fault you didn’t take it for a spin before committing to the transaction.
Overpaying On The Vehicle
It’s easy to overpay on a vehicle for your child, particularly if you are heading to a dealer. The classic statement will be that the car was already on sale when you arrived at the dealership and this is of course nonsense. A dealer will always expect a haggle, even if the car doesn’t have any issues that you have noticed. So, with that in mind, how do you haggle? Well, the trick is to make sure that you start at the right point before working your way slowly up. The aim will be to get them to sell at the floor price.
Failing To Think About Insurance
Next, you need to make sure that you are thinking about insurance. This should be a key concern when you are thinking about the cost of the vehicle. You need to make sure that you’re not spending a massive amount on insurance. There are a few ways to do this. For instance, you might want to think about comparing the insurance for a few different cars before settling on the one that fits your budget. That way you can make sure that you are getting the best deal on car insurance.
Not Checking The MPG
It’s absolutely vital that you do think about the MPG of the car as well. The MPG is going to contribute to the cost more than you might realize. A car with a low MPG could be difficult to fit into the typical budget of a teen. Particularly, if they are going to be responsible for covering the cost of fuel. Don’t forget, fuel prices are rising right now too, adding another wrench in the works. If you want to deal with this, then you should aim to buy a car with at least 50MPG. That way, you can make sure that the car isn’t stopping at a gas station every few miles.
Forgetting About Maintenance Costs
It’s also important to check out the maintenance costs of the vehicle. Some types of vehicles are notorious for being expensive to maintain. For instance, your child might love the idea of driving a smaller Audi, and perhaps you can afford the initial cost. But it could be the service charges that are going to kill you. Particularly, when Audi makes it difficult to get your car serviced anywhere other than an Audi-approved garage. Again, this drives up the prices that you’ll have to pay to ensure that you can keep your car road-worthy in the long term.
Going Too Powerful
Don’t forget to think about the power of the vehicle. A car that is too powerful will be more difficult to control for a new driver. It’s important to note that a third of new drivers crash within their first year on the road. You need to make sure that you avoid your child adding to this statistic. One of the ways to ensure that you’re not getting too much power is by checking the size of the engine. If you get a smaller engine on the vehicle, then you will usually find it’s far easier to control.
Style And No Substance
It’s important that you don’t focus too much on the style of the car. You could be led in this direction by a teen who is anxious to drive a car that looks cool. You need to make sure that you are working to dodge this mistake completely. Make sure that you check out car review websites that will give you the rundown on all the practical features that you should look into. This includes driver assistance tech that should come as standard on modern cars.
Not Enough Space
Finally, you might be tempted to buy a smaller vehicle and this does make a lot of sense. However, the problem with doing this is that you won’t be giving your child a car that they can grow into. So, you need to think about whether this is a purchase for the long term or if you are only thinking about a car that they’ll keep for a couple of years before deciding to trade up.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key mistakes that you need to avoid when you are buying your child their first car. If you avoid these issues, then you will be able to make sure that you don’t end up in a situation where you make the wrong choice. This could ultimately end up with you losing a lot of money on what should be a fun and straightforward purchase.
