Buying your first car is an exciting experience. It doesn't matter whether you have just received your licence or have had it for a while, the opportunity to have a car to call your own is a young person's dream. That excitement can soon change to become rather overwhelming and confusing when suddenly confronted with the reality of organising the loan and budgeting for the repayments. It helps to have some tools on hand including a car finance calculator, budget and perhaps a financial advisor to help the process go smoothly and prevent a bad credit rating being applied to your history.

Don't Let Emotions Dictate Choice

When you begin to seriously look for your car, don't be emotional about the experience. It is essential that you keep your choices based on facts to ensure that you don't over commit yourself by choosing a car you really can't afford. It's likely you will choose to buy a second hand car at this stage and there are plenty of outlets that will enable you to purchase a car at a very good price, but you will need to shop around and be patient whilst waiting for that exceptional deal.

If you know a mechanic or someone who is experienced in buying and selling cars, take advantage of talking to them about what is a good deal. Remember, your dream car may be expensive to run and expensive to find spare parts for, so it is important to have your budget ready to help you to not only choose a good loan to enable you to purchase the vehicle, but also to maintain it after purchase.

Working Out What You Can Afford

Creating a budget is made easier by using the finance calculator. Visit a number of financial institutions web sites and see what rates they offer on differing amounts that you feel you may need to pay for the car you want. This will then enable you to work out how much you can repay per month and to add extra to pay for repairs and part replacements as they are required.

When you visit car sales lots or auctions to purchase your vehicle, if you are offered an option to purchase with finance, you can compare the prices you have already found at home with what is offered to you and make an informed choice between loans and cars based on what you know you can afford. A financial planner may also be able to assist you with this stage of the purchase.

A car finance calculator, support from experienced friends and relatives and patience will help you achieve your goal of owning a vehicle and help you maintain your good credit history.
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