Before Paying For Your Dream Car, Be Well Informed

A car is one of life’s many luxuries that are expected to ease life’s stress. The buying process can be exciting especially if it is your first time or a car you have anticipated to own for such a long time. But if done with no prior knowledge, you might make a mistake that could be irreversible and consequently loose a large chunk of your hard-earned money.

As expected of any product buyer, a prior knowledge goes a long way to help in making the final decision; whether to buy or not to buy such product and more importantly prepares you for any challenge or difficulty you might experience in future when using such product.

In recent times one trusted source of information is the internet. It is advisable you find out detailed information about the new car you are shopping either from the producer’s website, online car blogs and websites. This will help broaden your knowledge on your intending new property, no matter how small the information might seem.

If satisfied with the information gotten from any reliable source, you can proceed to do some “window shopping.” It is advisable you visit a minimum of three showrooms where you can find your choice brand. This is to enable you have a feel of your dream car compared to what you must have seen in pictures.

Visiting the showroom also affords you the opportunity to examine what you intend buying thoroughly rather than just placing an order online or through a phone call and be delivered of something entirely different.

If you wish to buy a car and the car is not in the dealer’s stock, say it has to be transported from across town, interstate or even overseas, experts advise that you should note the vehicle’s identification number and write an amendment to the contract saying that the deal is only valid if the car is delivered by an agreed date.

After successfully paying for your car the next pitfalls you should avoid is the delivery fee. This is not the cost of getting the car to the dealer, as some dealers like to say. It is actually a cost designed to cover the incidentals of getting the car prepared for delivery to the customer that is getting it cleaned, having a mechanic give it a once-over and completing the registration process.

The truth is most car brands do not really these services so if you must pay any delivery fee ensure it is not a huge one.

Also watch out for “after-market accessory specialist”, whose job it is to sell you such items as rust proofing, paint and trim protection, headlight protectors and floor mats.

Some of these items are worthwhile, some are not. In most cases, they’re more expensive than what you could get if you shop around after you buy the car.

Also, most manufacturers provide good factory-fitted paint and trim protection and window tinting. These items are generally not required unless you plan on driving on sand dunes and through salt water every day.

ODINAKA MBONU writes for BusinessDay Newspaper, Nigeria