Need a new car?

Here is one of my money saving tips to think about when buying a used car. First, don’t wait until your vehicle is almost dead before you start looking. That way you won’t be in a desperate situation, and salespeople love distressed and frantic customers to take advantage of. Most people make inferior decisions because of time pressure. Also, a car/van/truck is at best temporary. All vehicles will break down at some point and you need to accept this and plan for it, which means save some money for new tires, repairs, and general maintenance. When you a ready to buy a new used vehicle, you will save thousands of dollars if you avoid brands that have great resell. This means forgoing the Toyotas and Hondas, which carry much higher resell value, and looking at somewhat generic, but functional brands like Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Dodge. I recently bought a 2004 Chevy Venture that seats eight and was in great condition for about half the price of a comparably equipped Honda Odyssey. The resell on the Chevy dropped like rock and it was over half off of its original retail. Now I liked the way the Honda drove and its styling better than the Chevy, but I like to save money more. I know that Consumer Reports regularly skewers most of the domestic automakers, but how much more are you willing to pay for a better trim package and marginally better quality standards? Do the research into your next potential purchase (you don’t want a lemon) by using Edmunds.com, CarFax, and others and be disciplined about how much you are willing to spend. Look at all the options between brands and compare carefully. If you don’t like the deal on the car you really like never be afraid to walk away. Finally, don’t forget to test drive some of the fun stuff while your at it! You can save tons of money by using this strategy and in the process, get more car then if you paid full price.