Life is getting expensive, everything seems to have gone up in price, especially fuel. But for most of us having a car is a necessity, for commuting or living your life. So if your car needs upgrading, or you just want something newer it can be tough to choose a new car.

Work out exactly what you need

Figure out what you need in your vehicle first. For example if you have a family you may need a car with more than 5 seats, or you may need something with a much bigger boot space. If your job requires you to carry materials or items with you then you’ll need to consider that in size.

But there’s so much choice now so think about how much you plan to drive to look into the vehicles efficiency. Think about whether you can go hybrid or electric, and what the impact of cost will be for you. For us we have solar panels fitted so getting an electric or hybrid vehicle would make sense as we could charge it without having to pay for electricity charges from the grid.

Look at your budget

When you’re looking at getting a new vehicle you need to think about what you can afford so you know how much you can spend. If you’re getting credit for a vehicle you should use a calculator like https://www.carpaymentcalculator.net. This way you can factor in everything from any trade-ins to your deposit and work out how much monthly payments would be. This way you can see how much you can afford to spend each month on a new vehicle.

You can also calculate your fuel costs so you can add that to your budget. And once you find a vehicle make sure to take into account road tax, insurance, MOTs and any maintenance it may need.

We’ll be looking to get a new car in a few years time and looking at how much we can afford per month will be very important to us.

New car vs a used car

Buying a new car is a very special experience, but something that you don’t always need. While having a brand new car has plenty of positives it will lose its value quite quickly so it may be a better option to go for a used car.

Look around at reputable dealers and see what’s out there that matches what you want, and fits within your budget. Make sure to get all of the information about a vehicle before committing (service history/ whether it’s been in an accident before etc), and always do a test drive before you choose it.

Have you bought a new car recently?