There are lots of cars out there, but only some are equipped to be family cars. You need to have enough space for your family – along with room for shopping, suitcases when you go on holiday, etc. You also need a safe car that protects your kids, as well as one that suits your daily needs. Right away, you eradicate a few options at your disposal – you’re unlikely to use a sports car as your family car!
Now, it’s a case of finding the ideal car and making the buying process as easy as possible. Here are a few tips that are worth thinking about:
1. Check the car’s safety rating
As mentioned above, safety is a key factor when buying your family car. The easiest way to know if a car is safe is by looking at its safety rating. All cars come with this, and it’s given to them after a series of safety tests. If you wanted, you could actually watch the crash tests on YouTube as they demonstrate how safe a car would be in extreme scenarios. It’s not essential, but it is pretty interesting!
Anyway, the main point is that you need to look at the car’s safety rating to be sure that you’re actually buying a safe car. Make sure you get the car’s model and year, as you need to find the exact one you’re looking at. When you have a couple of cars that seem to fit your requirements, this is a great way of determining which one to choose.
2. Put your negotiating hat on
Never bid the full-price for a used car. It’s a terrible business move as you’ve just yielded all power to the seller. They don’t even have to worry about anything – they just accept the bid and sell their car. No seller expects to sell their vehicle for the asking price – they’re always open to other offers. If you’re a mompreneur, it’s time to get your negotiating hat on to force the seller’s hand and get yourself a good deal.
There’ll be a video below that provides a few tips on negotiating a used car’s price. This comes in handy if you’re at a dealership, but you can also apply some of the tips to online car-buying. Nevertheless, the main tip is to start with a low-ball offer to test the waters. See how the buyer reacts, and it lets you know what sort of deal you can do. The best-case scenario is that they accept it or counter with an offer slightly above your low-ball. The worst-case scenario is that they flat out reject it, in which case you can try again with a slightly higher offer. Regardless, you need to negotiate if you want to buy the car for a decent price and avoid getting ripped off.
3. Pay to ship the car to you
One of the reasons you should negotiate is so you can accommodate the extra price of paying to ship the car to you. Is this 100% essential? No, in some scenarios you might be able to pick up the car yourself. However, this is only in cases where you go to a local dealership or buy from someone close to where you live. There’s nothing wrong with either of those ideas, but you do limit your options.
You might find incredible deals for the perfect family car being sold by someone many miles away. In which case, you can use sites like https://carsrelo.com/ to pay to have the car shipped to you. It’s incredibly convenient for both you and the seller, meaning neither of you really have to do anything. The shipping company collects the car, sends it to you, and you can start driving your family around. Thus, you have more sellers to look at because you can basically buy from anyone in the country.
4. Always check the service history
Make sure you request a copy of the service history before buying a family car. This is crucial from both a safety and a value-for-money standpoint. People might sell a car without disclosing that the brakes are extremely dodgy. You won’t know a thing until they start malfunctioning while you’re driving with the kids in the back, putting everyone at risk. Likewise, you can buy a car with lots of hidden issues that cost a fortune to fix.
This is avoided by getting the service history to check the health status of the car. If you see that it’s been in for dozens of trips to the garage every single year, it’s a pretty clear sign that this car is on the ropes and shouldn’t be trusted to transport your family anywhere.
Ideally, these tips will help you find the perfect family car for a decent price, and with little stress. If you have any tips of your own that you’d like to share, we’d all be more than happy to see them in the comments below!
BY TECHIE MAMMA