Motoring corner : “Tips on Buying a Car”

Buying a vehicle is not just walking into a dealer’s place and walking out with a vehicle of your choice. Buying a car is a process can that can be fast and enjoyable. But more importantly, you should get the satisfaction of knowing you got the right car at an excellent price. Price may not be the only factor; there are other key advantages to being in the know as you prepare for such an adventure. You’ll be able to interpret the complicated pricing system used by dealerships, the True Market Value of a car will be revealed, you will find available incentives and rebates to reduce the price of the car, a non-negotiating system will be presented to eliminate conflict, etc. In other words, the we just cover what you need to know and in the order you will encounter it. This quick guide can help you save some money. It will also give you a great feeling of empowerment, putting you in charge of the deal-making process. But first things first: You need to decide what vehicle you want to buy e.g. a saloon, off roader, min bus, truck, e.tc. the tips will help you to locate the specific car you want, and at a price that is fair to both you and the dealer. By now, you should have done plenty of research to determine which the best car to suit your needs is. And, you should have a good idea of what to pay for the car you want. Now you need to narrow the research even more. You will soon be finding the exact car you want to buy, may be with the options you have chosen and then you will be determining a target price to pay. If you have done your homework, this will be a fairly easy process with no unexpected surprises. Buying a car is a big investment, but it can be exciting and rewarding, especially if you feel like you got the right car at a fair price. An incentive is anything that gives you an added reason to buy a particular car. Often, however, it comes in the form of a cash rebate or low-interest financing. A car might be selling for Rwf 10,000,000 but the manufacturer is offering Rwf2, 000,000 in customer cash for a final price of Rwf8,000,000 or , a Rwf15,000,000 car financed for five years at 10 percent would have a monthly payment of about RWF278,000. But with zero-percent financing, the payment is roughly RWF215,000. That leaves you with a huge saving of Rwf61,000 per month as compared to a bank financed loan! You should now have a specific idea of the car you want to buy. This means you know the year, make, model, trim level, options and colour. The more flexible you can be about these specifics, the wider the range of the cars you’ll find available for sale. Being flexible will give you additional bargaining power. For example, a shopper might be very firm about the make, model and trim level, but could accept a variety of options and colours. If you’re a shopper who definitely wants hard-to-find options and a specific colour, it will be more difficult to make a great deal. Why? You have no leverage as a negotiator. You have to pay the dealer’s price or try to locate another identical vehicle. Obviously, if you do find the exact car you’re looking for, there’s no need to volunteer this information to the seller. motoringcorner@live.co.uk

Lifestyle

Motoring corner : “Tips on Buying a Car”