Test Driving: The Feel Of The Wheel
Car salespeople like to say, The feel of the wheel will seal the deal. Theres a lot of truth in this, and yet you might be hesitant to test drive your choices. Its a hassle schlepping to a car lot and fending off eager sales staff.
Heres an easy way to get the job done: Set aside a morning, preferably on a weekday, when car lots are empty, and call a dealerships internet department. Tell the internet manager you want to schedule a test drive, but you wont be buying on the spot because youre still comparing different models. Drive your three target cars back-to-back so all your impressions are fresh in your mind.
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Safe Driving Is Great Driving: How To Choose The Best Online Defensive Driving Course
According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, anywhere from 20 to 50 million people sustain injuries in car accidents that take place all across the globe every single year. An additional 1 million people are killed in car crashes.
Would you like to reduce your chances of being involved in a car accident at any point in the near future? Then you should consider taking an online defensive driving course. A defensive driving course will equip you with the skills that youll need to stay safe while youre out on the road.
You dont want to take just any old defensive driving course online, though. Instead, you want to try to take the best defensive driving course. Itll help you to make the most of your experience.
Here is a guide on how to choose a defensive driving course. It should help you track down a great online defensive driving course in no time at all.
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How Many Passengers Do You Normally Need To Carry
If its just you, youre golden. But, if you regularly drive around with family or friends, its good to think about how much room or additional features you may need .
I often drive around with my husband and sometimes our dogs as well, so I wanted a car that was roomy in the front, but was okay with a backseat that wasnt as spacious.
Find Out The Market Value
This should be the first step in your used-car-buying process. You should have at least a ballpark idea of the value of any car you are seriously considering.
Kelly Blue Book and have online tools that will enable you to get the value of just about any car. You will first have to get as many details about the car as possible. This will include make, model, year, mileage, options, and overall condition. The more information you can furnish, the closer you will come to the cars actual value.
That value should be your starting point in any negotiation. It can also indicate how anxious the seller is to sell the car. For example, if the sale price is too high, the sellers probably not motivated. But if its accurately pricedor price below-market valueyou may be onto a good deal.
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I Need A Car What Should I Be Looking For
You cannot simply search in Google for “the best car for me”, because this is a very personal question, and you cannot count on some algorithm to make it for you. How to choose a car depends largely on your specific needs, so consider your lifestyle, your budget, where you live, and exactly what you will be using the vehicle for. If you value practicality and safety, consider an SUV or crossover. If you need something super cheap, maybe a compact sedan or hatchback would be best. But, if you just want to have some fun, then a coupe or sports car will be right up your alley.
How To Choose A Car: Tips And Advice
Knowing the type of vehicle you want to own is just the beginning. Which brand makes the best SUVs or coupes? What trim level of the chosen model offers the best value? Should I lease or buy? There is still work to be done when choosing the right car, and these tips might help lighten the load.
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Get The Car Checked Out By A Mechanic
Think of it as similar to a home inspection performed on a house youre about to buy. You should have the car thoroughly inspected by mechanic.
This is sometimes referred to as a pre-purchase inspection, and it can cost $100 or more. But its money well spent, if it enables you to avoid buying a car with serious problems.
Whatever you do, do not rely on the sellers representations, or recommendations by his or her mechanic.
How Do I Choose The Right Car For Me Detailed Guide And Expert Advice
How do I choose the right car?
Its a big question on the minds of everyone who goes shopping for a new vehicle. With so many makes and models available today not to mention the variety of trim levels and abundance of extra features, suites and options the market can seem overwhelming. Maybe thats why more than two thirds of car buyers report regretting their purchase afterwards!
Dont be a statistic: learn how to find a vehicle that will serve you well in your daily life, and that youll enjoy driving. Heres an expert step-by-step guide to choosing a car, plus some tips to keep you on track.
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What Type Of Driving Will You Be Doing: Highway Surface Streets Off
Knowing the type of driving youll be doing is a big factor when searching for a vehicle.
Will you be taking the highway to work each day? Hauling materials in off-road situations? Just running quick errands on the weekends?
For me, I knew I would be doing a combination of local and highway driving when I started my car search – which was the key element for me choosing to focus on hybrids.
Making Sense Of Tire Types
Tires come in a variety of types, each designed for a specific vehicle and use. Heres a summary of the main categories youll find at the tire shop.
All-season: Most cars and SUVs come with all-season tires. All-season tires are good, general-purpose tires that can be used year-round. All-weather tires, a subset of all-season tires, perform a little better in the snow but without the accelerated wear and diminished braking distances of some winter/snow tires. Theyre also able to provide true year-round traction without the hassle of switching tires every winter and spring, as you must with winter/snow tires. Youll find six performance all-season car tires and two all-season SUV tires in our ratings that are also all-weather tires.
All-terrain: These are designed for SUVs and trucks that go off-road, such as the Jeep Wrangler. Youll know them by their signature aggressive tread and squared-off sidewalls. Some have a mountain-and-snowflake symbol denoting winter traction. These can grip snow well, but past test results have shown that they dont get quite the same grip on ice as winter/snow tires.
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What Are The Running Costs
Its tempting to stretch yourself as far as you can when setting a budget for a new car, and monthly repayments can be tantalisingly low even for upmarket models. Be sure to bear in mind, however, that running costs are easily dismissed at the buying stage, and excessive fuel consumption or insurance premiums could leave you resenting your car.
With brand new cars, the first years VED payment is included in the cars price, and then youll pay a flat rate from the second year onwards. The current rates are £155 a year for a petrol or diesel car and £145 a year for mild-hybrids, hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Electric and hydrogen cars cost nothing in tax. Cars registered before April 2017 were subject to a different tax structure, which took CO2 emissions and engine size into account – so you may pay much less or much more, depending on the car.
As of 2017, an additional surcharge for every car costing more than £40,000 was introduced. The surcharge is currently £325, which needs to be paid every year for five years. After the five year period ends, annual road tax returns to the flat rates mentioned above. Zero-emission cars are exempt from this extra surcharge, so even the most expensive EVs are free to tax.
If youre a company-car driver, CO2 emissions will also affect how much Benefit-in-Kind tax you pay, so be sure to take this into consideration too.
Founded By Car Guys Who Get Shopping
When it was time for co-founder Andres Valbuena and his wife to buy a new car, the answer was easy for him: He worked for Volkswagen at the time so of course, they would head down to the local dealer and pick up a new car. But his wife quickly put the brakes on that. She had another car in mind. She wanted a Land Rover.
At first, this was a non-starter. Andres, like so many other buyers, saw the Land Rover brand as much pricier than they planned on spending. But with some research and looking at the different types of SUVs on the market, they found that the Land Rover Discovery not only met the lifestyle demands of his family, but could be purchased for $11 a month more than the VW he had in mind.
And a lightbulb went on: Andres realized that a lifestyle-based car shopping process could help lots of consumers find the right car for them. There is no right or wrong answer, Andres explained about Car-Eds approach. Its giving your alternatives, to the options that pop up in your car search, or to what you might have thought you wanted before you started your research.
Last year a buyer in New Jersey went to Car-Ed to start his new car search. A long time Cadillac driver, he had only considered buying a new XT5 to replace his old SRX mid-sized SUV. But he decided to explore his options and through the quiz found that the VW Tiguan was a better fit, not just in terms of the car and its features, but also, with a dealer that was more convenient to his home.
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How To Choose Car Mats
Mats are an absolutely necessary accessory for a car. Without them, the floor would get dirty, and the underside of the car would start to suffer from corrosion. Below, we will give you a complete answer to the question: What are the best mats for a car?. We will list the selection criteria that you should definitely take into account before making a purchase.
Car mats material
At the moment, the two most popular materials for making car mats are textile and rubber. They differ from each other, and their properties influence many characteristics of the final product.
Textile car mats
Textile is a synthetic material that is made from soft and flexible fibers. In the case of car mats, textile necessarily has a standard rubber base.
Textile mats, which we will talk about below, are divided into two types: ordinary and 3D. While the former is self-explanatory, the latter consists of volumetric products without cut-outs, consisting of three layers:
- The top pile
- The middle layer, which performs the function of waterproofing, thermal insulation, as well as being responsible for giving the mat volume
- The bottom antiskid layer.
Textile mats are made using the innovative technology of computer modeling. They are gaining more and more popularity among progressive drivers, who actively follow the new technologies from the sphere of car accessories.
Textile car mats have numerous advantages. In particular, they are:
Rubber car mats
Leather car mats
So, leather car mats:
Review Your Research And Make A Decision
After your test drives, leave the dealership. If youre still undecided, go back to the car finder and pull in a new candidate. But if your decision is obvious, you can move on to the deal-making phase.
Whether youre aware of it or not, your emotions and intuition will play a part in your choice. Theres nothing wrong with that have a good time. But dont let your feelings run away with you. Cover the practical bases first, and then open the door to the fun factor. Then youll have a car that you enjoy and that serves your needs.
About the author:Philip Reed is an automotive expert who writes a syndicated column forNerdWallet that has been carried by USA Today, Yahoo Finance and others. He is the author of 10 books.Read more
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No Deposit Car Finance
Most car finance deals require some sort of deposit to be made as security upfront. But paying this sometimes substantial sum isn’t always possible for everyone.A no deposit car finance deal can prevent you from having to make this initial payment. This can make securing a used car more accessible without limiting you when it comes to the types of car that are available.
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The I Newsletter Cut Through The Noise
That stress doesnt stop once youve passed your test either – a driving licence isnt much use without a car to drive, so next comes the task of finding a suitable vehicle.
With thousands of models from scores of manufacturers to choose from it can be tricky to pin down the right car, so weve come up with some simple tips to help you find the right first car.
What To Look For When Choosing A New Suv
Only once you’ve determined your budget and the needs of your lifestyle can you start asking, “What is the best SUV for me?” In fact, something you need to consider is whether you want a new or used SUV. Luckily, most of the popular SUV models boast higher-than-average dependability ratings. This means that even after a few years of use, they still perform brilliantly. Beyond this, there are certain key factors you need to consider when you decide what SUV to buy.
There are so many different types of sport utility vehicles out there that it can be easy to get overwhelmed. However, if you keep these factors in mind, you may find that figuring out exactly how to choose an SUV that is perfect for you and your family is easier than you thought.
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This Quiz Helps Find Your Car Match Including Cars You Might Have Overlooked
Car-Ed starts with a quick 11-question lifestyle quiz that helps identify the key features you need in your next car. Just take this quiz and Car-Ed narrows down the 400+ brand model names and boils them down to 14. Car-Eds results also give you a broader selection of 40 cars and trucks to choose from if the initial 14 arent exactly what you had in mind. From there, the site points you to the sites of the manufacturers youre interested in so you can really start your shopping.
Car-Ed narrows down potential car purchase decisions
Should You Get An Inspection
An inspection is always best if youre serious about buying the car. It can save you thousands and give you great peace of mind. Just ask the owner to let you take the car for a few hours to be looked at by your mechanic. If the owner shies away from this idea thats a bad sign.
Inspections vary in price depending on the mechanic but some are as low as $100. The mechanic simply tests everything and looks at everything. They can do everything from checking common issues with that type of car, all the way to checking the health of the engine via a compression check.
A professional inspection may be overkill if your gearhead friend is confident in his/her skills, but I do recommend you take the car on a long test drive. Check everything. See how much you would enjoy driving the car. Taking 30 minutes for a test drive sounds like a lot, but considering youll likely have the car for years its not long at all.
One top tip if youre buying a convertible is to take it through a car wash. Check for leaks in the roof.
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