Buy a Safe Car
Although you can shop around with a budget in mind, you should not be looking to buy a new or secondhand vehicle based purely on price. There is a balance to be struck between the price and the safety of the vehicle you buy. You would not be getting good value if you paid a low price and ended up inside a vehicle that crashed because of a mechanical defect or offered no protection in a crash. If you follow these steps, the vehicle you buy should keep you as safe as possible.
Steps
- Ignore the vehicle's appearance. Whether you are talking with a dealer or a private buyer, the vehicle on display will almost certainly have been polished to a high gloss and cleaned thoroughly inside. The seller may even have steam-cleaned the engine and underneath so that, no matter where you look, the vehicle looks great. Never forget that looks can be deceiving! For example, when buying secondhand, it is not uncommon that an unscrupulous seller has matched the undamaged halves from two totaled vehicles and welded them together to give the appearance of a perfect vehicle.
- Check the vehicle's safety rating. Check the safety rating of the make and model through both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Both organizations perform crash tests on all the makes and models offered for sale in America. They grade the performance and publish a list of star ratings. It is in your own interests to buy a vehicle with the highest possible rating. If you are buying a new model, check the latest rating. If you are buying secondhand, check the rating for the year of manufacture.
- The auto insurance industry tends to give lower annual premium rates for safer vehicles, so buying a car with the best possible safety rating will keep your insurance costs down as well as keep you safer.
- Take the vehicle on a test drive. Again, no matter how good the vehicle looks and what the experts have to say about safety in a crash, you may not like the way the vehicle feels when you drive it. Before you move on to negotiating the price, you should try the vehicle on a journey that matches one of your regular commuting runs or trips to the local mall. It is not enough to drive the vehicle round the block. Go for several miles. If possible, find the opportunity to drive it at speed. Ask yourself how comfortable you find the driving position. Can you reach and move the steering wheel without undue effort? Are the pedals and hand controls easily reachable? You should only consider buying a vehicle if you feel comfortable driving it.
- Negotiate the price. Figure out whether you can afford the vehicle. It can benefit you to pay a slightly higher price for a new vehicle because it will hold its value and cost you less to own. As a general rule, the higher the star rating the higher the sticker price, but vehicles with higher star ratings are allocated lower auto insurance rates, depreciate more slowly, and cost less in maintenance and repair. Consider these factors when negotiating a price with the dealer.
- Take precautions when buying secondhand. There are two major dangers to avoid. The first is that the vehicle has been stolen. You are not protected just because you walk on to a dealer's lot. Dealers can take a vehicle in part-exchange for another without checking the VIN number against the state and national registers. Unless the dealer actually shows you a copy of a report from Carfax Inc. This is not a complete protection against VIN cloning, but it reduces the risk you will buy a stolen vehicle. The second danger is that the vehicle has been totaled and then repaired. In theory, scrapyards break up totaled vehicles for spares, but there are always a few prepared to make extra profit by illegally selling a repaired vehicle. Auto insurance companies always register the vin as belonging to a totaled vehicle when they pay out to the owner. If you are buying from a private seller, always pay for a report on title. It is not a complete protection, but it shades the odds in your favor.
- Have an independent mechanic examine the vehicle. If you are buying secondhand, you should always ask an independent person with knowledge and experience to check out the mechanical condition of the vehicle before you commit to buying it. This is a necessary protection regardless whether you are buying from a dealer or a private dealer. Only when the independent expert declares the vehicle free from serious problems should you conclude the purchase.
