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Buying a used car is like paying to own someone
else's problem!" Well, you couldn't prove it by me. I never owned a car until a year
ago and my "new" car was bought and paid for in about six months. When I began
the search for a car, I never gave new cars a second thought. You can do just what I did:
get a good car deal, forget the huge monthly car payments and save yourself tons of money!
The answer to the used car blues is what I have found to be the answer to most other
challenges in life: have a purpose, be persistent, do your homework and be patient!
My daughter and I had survived our "no car, can't travel" woes by using public
transportation and taxi for eight years. I knew of all the costs associated with owning a
car: monthly car payments, maintenance, gas and insurance (I'm still in shock about the
Virginia property tax, where you pay just to own a car each year!). I had always been
skeptical of owning a car when my budget could not comfortably accommodate it. I was
determined not to be the victim of the Repo-man!
Yet when I got a new job that was pretty well paying and my daughter was to attend a
school out of our neighborhood, the situation dictated that we needed a car. I still
didn't want to part with upwards of $200.00 a month car payment that would be needed to
own a modest motorcar. Likewise, I was determined not to forego some of the
"luxuries" we had gotten used to with my salary increase, like eating out on
weekends and shopping! However, as a single mother with one child, I definitely needed a
dependable automobile for accomplishing day-to-day tasks: taking her to school, shopping
and emergencies. Armed with this information, I set out to bag myself that most elusive of
species: the dependable used car!
I prevailed and you can too! However, the secret to doing it is no secret at all and here
I'll share with you the methods to the "magic", or just what happens when you
put your heart, soul and mind to it:
1) Write Down What You Want and Why! This may seem pretty simple and it
is! Yet it is the most important step. As with anything, have a purpose for what you want
to achieve and a plan for achieving it, buying a used car is no different. I had decided
that I wanted to be able to get my daughter to and from school without her having to catch
the bus on cold mornings (I take the bus to work -- traffic, UUGH!). I also was T-I-R-E-D
of waiting for taxi's that seldom showed up on time after I spent hours shopping. If your
motive is just to show off your new little red corvette to your friends, you'll have to
pay more for it (in more ways than one). Which brings me to ...
2) Decide What You Want to Spend! Write this down too! I didn't want to
spend over $1,500.00. This is exactly what I got. Do you want to pay cash or make
payments? Private sellers are easier to work with than institutions. The person I bought
my car from allowed me to make monthly payments, with a modest down payment. You also may
want a bargain, but be reasonable. You really do get what you pay for. Expecting to get a
great car for $600.00 probably does happen, but even I haven't seen it.
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