Learn how to research your next vehicle here!

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How To Research And Find The Vehicle You Want

https://youtu.be/AEaZqXLMPcM

#smartdrivetest #carbuyingguide #carbuyingtips

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Introduction

- Don't settle.

You can get the vehicle that you want, even if you're on a budget.

Today we're going to give you tips and strategies, how to research, and find and locate the vehicle that you want to buy and drive.

Stick around.

We'll be right back with that information.

Welcome back.

Buying a vehicle.

It's your second biggest purchase in your life, and spend some time finding the vehicle that you want because there are heaps of vehicles on the market.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Beige ON Beige Vehicles

Don't settle for something that, you know, just because it was available and in your price range.

Friends don't let friends drive beige on beige vehicles, okay?

I can't say it any clearer than that.

Remember, vehicles are like clothes.

 

They need to fit you.

If it doesn't fit you, it's not going to be comfortable.

So the first thing you need to do is you need to kind of narrow down to about three vehicles that you want to purchase.

Pick Out 3 Vehicles That Are Similar

So, for example, if you're looking at the Honda Civic:

1) the Civic;

2) the Toyota Corolla;

3‚ and the Volkswagen Golf.

They're all about the same midsize, small cars that you can purchase, you know, on a budget sort of thing.

Make a List of the Features You Want in a Vehicle

So narrow it down to that, and then figure out what features you want.

•Is safety rating important to you?

• Is engine size and speed important to you?

Because then you might want to be looking at a turbocharger.

• Do you want a manual transmission?

• Do you want an automatic transmission?

• What color do you want the car?

• What color do you want the interior?

• Do you want leather seats and all kinds of creature comforts, or can you do with a base model?

• Do you need navigation and a fancy stereo system?

So write down on a piece of paper, first and foremost, what you're looking for before you head over to the computer, and that way, when you go to the computer, you already have in mind what you're looking at, what you can research.

And we'll go over to the computer.

We'll show you how to do the research here, but first make that list of, you know, narrow it down to three types of cars that you want.

Safety Features, Fuel Economy, Maintenance History are Some of the Features

Reliability, maintenance, fuel mileage, all of these different factors that play into your decision to buy a car.

But as I said, unless you get some cheap vehicle, you know, that's a super excellent deal that you can't pass up.

Spend the time, do the research and get the vehicle that you want.

Let's head over to the computer.

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The website that I like to use to do research when I'm looking for a new vehicle is autotrader.com.

It also works in Canada, autotrader.ca.

And you simply go in here and say, for example that we were going to be looking for a Honda Civic.

So we would type it.

We would just go in here to H, Honda, and then the model is the Civic.

So we're looking for a Civic and we put in our postal code here 5-2-2-0-4, which is Iowa, Cedar rapids, Iowa.

And then you just hit search and you will come up with a list of the vehicles that you want.

Now there's a whole bunch of filters here on the side.

How Far Do You Want to Drive to Pick Up New Car

So search radius is 50 miles and you can change that any distance, 500 miles.

And if you're outside of an urban area, a large urban center, you're probably going to have to travel farther to find a vehicle.

For me personally, I live in the interior of British Columbia, Canada and I would be willing to travel four hours to Vancouver.

I'm going to have many more options in terms of the vehicle that I'm looking for.

So you can put in here, new, you can check that box, used, 122 manufactured certified, so you can get some certified vehicles.

So as a first driver, you're probably going to be looking for a secondhand vehicle, and then we can come down here and we can put in the minimum price.

So say for example, that we're $5,000 to $10,000.

And that goes here as well, hit return.

And you can see it's added the filter here and we can just go down through here.

We can see that there's two with manual transmission.

 

You’re Educating Yourself About the Vehicle You WANT

So if that's something you were considering you wanted an automatic transmission, or you wanted a manual transmission, what color you wanted, whether it has a sunroof, front wheel drive, four cylinder, gray.

Now you have to figure out, as we said previously, you know, don't settle.

• What do you want?

• What color do you want?

• What features do you want?

• What can you afford?

When you're on the internet, and you're looking, you're educating yourself.

You're not necessarily looking for a vehicle.

You're not necessarily going to find the vehicle that you're looking for here.

You're simply educating yourself.

You already made the decision.

I want a white Honda civic or a white Toyota Corolla with an automatic transmission, with a four cylinder engine with less than 60,000 miles on it.

And my price range is kind of $8,000 to $10,000.

You've already made that decision in your head because we are not going to settle.

So we're going to see living in Cedar rapids, Iowa whether we can have that or not.

So they've got a hot car here for less than $10,000.

It's got a hundred thousand miles on it 26 miles to the gallon, city, 34 miles to the gallon, highway, two wheel drive, four cylinder.

And whether it's an automatic or not, okay, there's no image available on this one.

It's $8,000, 2012, 130,000.

So between five and 10 thousand dollars, are you going to be able to get the car that you want?

And if you're looking for less than 60,000 miles it's not likely, okay, this one's got 90 thousand, 120, 90, 140 here.

And we go down through the list here.

This one's got 140, 107.

So if you're looking for something less than 60,000 miles on it, it's unlikely that you're going to find it in that price range.

Oh, wait a minute.

Okay, so 2008.

So this one's a little bit older, $8,000 and it's got 66,000.

So this potentially could be the vehicle that you're looking for.

Coupe is 2 Door; Sedan is 4 Door

Except it's a coupe, which means it's a two door, coupe is two door, and a sedan is four door.

So if you want a coupe and I mean, this may work well if you're a new driver and it's your first vehicle then great.

So you can figure out that yes, for less than $10,000 maybe a little bit older but I can get a vehicle that has less than, you know around the 60,000 mile mark on it here.

And then you want to see whether it has crashes.

It has a 1.8 cylinder, two wheel, five speed automatic transmission.

We can see down at the bottom here, the Carfax.

Or you can get a Carfax.

It has one owner and it has no accidents, so damage report.

So this very much might be a vehicle that you would be willing to travel from Cedar Rapids to Downtown Chicago.

You may want to call the dealership, see if you need to put a down payment on it for them to hold it for you.

You might want to ask them to do a video for you so where they can walk around, show you under the hood.

Those types of things, send you any information that they can send you for this.

So this is something else that you might consider is driving to Chicago to pick up the vehicle that you want because this looks like a pretty good car for $8,000.

It's a 2008 as well.

All the safety features, ABS brakes, dual front airbags.

Buying a Rebuild Might Get You a Less Expensive Option

If this is a concern for you as well safety features and those types of things, because this is something else you want to determine as you know, are you willing to put up with a rebuild but know that, that happens as well.

The car has been in a crash, the front fenders been dinged or whatnot, and the insurance company's written it off.

And then an autobody shop is, has bought the vehicle and then they've rebuilt and fixed it up.

And that's another possibility.

So now you've determined that for less than $10,000 you can get your vehicle with the specifications that you wanted, and the specific color.

And then of course you can click on the pictures here.

And if it's a dealer there's going to be a lot of pictures, probably somewhere between 15 and 20 pictures.

If it's a private seller, not so much, in terms of what you're looking for.

And then, you know, you can play around with the price a little bit.

Determining if You Can Get a Better Vehicle

You can change your parameters here and then you can see $12,000.

We can put that in and that will change a little bit, and you can see whether you can get a slightly better vehicle at the 60,000 mile mark for what you're looking for.

And as well, you know, don't be completely stuck on a Honda civic or a Toyota Corolla.

You might also consider a Volkswagen golf.

These are all similar vehicles, subcompacts.

And you know, if you just look for a different vehicle.

Other Similar Brands of Vehicles

So for example, if we go back here and change, to a Volkswagen golf, 50 miles, the same in here, used.

So there's only 12 of them here so we can see how much they are.

So 63,000, 15,000 and it looks like the Volkswagen Golf is going to be considerably more expensive.

So this may not be an option but it could be something that you could consider and look at, but you're probably going to get a Civic or a Corolla at the price that you're looking for.

And the amount of miles that you want on the age, you know, warranty is going to be another consideration, as well as safety features.

Vehicles Recommended for Safety Rating

If that's a consideration, then have a look at this website and I'll put the link down in the description for you.

And you have a look at that and it'll tell you what the safety features are.

And you can check that out as well.

If that's a consideration when you're buying a vehicle.

So take your time, get the vehicle that you want.

Don't settle.

Financing a Vehicle is Going to Increase Your Insurance

And for new drivers who are purchasing a vehicle, know that if you take a vehicle out with financing your insurance is going to be a lot more expensive because you have to have collision on it to cover the financing in the event that something goes wrong or you write the vehicle off, or you have a crash.

Whereas if you can afford to buy the vehicle outright your insurance is going to be a lot less.

Because as soon as you have to put collision on a vehicle it's twice as much money for your insurance per year than it is than if you can buy the vehicle outright.

And then own it and then you don't have to put collision on it you just put a property damage and public liability on it for insurance coverage for the purposes of driving your car.

So good luck in your search and remember, pick the best answer, not necessarily the right answer.

Have a great day.

Bye now.