Buying Your First Car

This one goes out to all of the youngins-just kidding, but I do know there's a lot of twenty something's that are looking into buying their first car that may not know where to start. Luckily for you, I've gotten two cars so far and I've learned a lot of things along the way. So follow along, those experienced and new to learn some helpful tips and tricks to keep in mind the next time you go to visit the dealership!

First thing's first is the car. Now some may say the funding is first and although it is very important that's not true-in this case. The car is the most important place to start because with that information you need to then do your research. Try asking yourself some simple but important questions such as:

- Do I want an SUV or Sedan?

- Do I like riding far?

- Do I want something modern, with Apple CarPlay, rearview camera, heated seats etc.?

- Are features at the top of my list? (such as sunroofs, dual climate a/c and everything)

From this you could get a scope of what you want and then began your search to find out what price range things like this is going to cost you. Now when I say research, I mean RESEARCH. Don't just go on Carmax.com and take whatever price they give you because one thing for sure, two things for certain these lenders are not going to write a check when THEY know that the price is more than what the car is worth.

I'm going to use my situation as an example, notice I said an EXAMPLE.

I have really bad car anxiety, I don't like riding in Sedans because they are really low and it makes me feel unsafe. So naturally when looking for a car I already knew that there was no other options for me than a SUV. That checks one question off the list. Going on, I live for features. I like my car to be like a safe space- second to my home so I knew that every feature I wanted was important to me. I thought about all year, every season. When winter comes I know that I like to be warm, so I put heated seats on my list. I knew that me and my passengers would not have the same preferences when it came to certain heat levels so from there I put dual climate control on my list.

Next, I knew that I wanted a certain asthetic of my car that wasn't neccesarily essential to have, but it was like a luxury to me so I put it on my list. Things that had fulfilled this asthetic was features such as a moon roof, power liftgate, remote start with a proximity sensor and a all black exterior. Including the roof of my car.

Now some things are kind of rare in a car, or more expensive but thats where a little DIY comes in. Like when I turned the roof of my car black to match the rest of the interior, but I'll save that tutorial for another day.

Moral of the paragraph is list some features that may be important to you when it comes to enjoying your car and some that you would like to have. It was important for me to have a backup camera (city living) and I would have liked to have Apple CarPlay but it was fine that my car had bluetooth connectivity.

You're going to just start with a basic google search "SUV's (or sedans) for sale under $10,000 (or your budget) near me."

From there you'll just scroll thorugh the results and naturally you will start to migrate towards the make, model and year that you want. For me, it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee any year above 2012. Next, you're going to google the Kelly Blue Book Value of the cars you are finding. How are you finding them? From your search your going to get an estimate on the value of the car you're interested in. Now I don't know how Kelly know all the stuff that she do about the value of cars but trust me, everyone including lenders are going to research the Blue Book value.

After getting the estimated Blue Book Value that's when you go back to your searches but filter it to the make, model and year you've decided on. Once you see a vehicle that you like and has everything you want-that's when you start checking out the price. One thing to note is that the price of the car doesn't have to match exactly what the Blue Book is saying BUT don't go out here thinking lenders are going to approve you for a 2011 Toyota that cost $18,000 when the Blue Book Value is $9,560. LMAOOOOOO

Anywho, once you get about 2 or 3 cars lined up that you have no problem traveling to that's when the time comes to call the lendors! Now, some people suggest going to a traditional bank, or just going to the car dealership to fill out an application and find lendors there. Let me tell you something, the biggest shock that came with this car buying process was a thing called an intrest rate. CHILEEEE I was over here calculating these payments like I was Albert Einstein hunny.

And come to find out this little girl named intrest came in and wiped everything I thought out. Let me clarify for you. So as most would think, you find a car let's say for $16,000. Naturally you would take $16,000 divided by however numbers of months let's say 60 which would equals $266.66/month. Easy right? Wrong chi, and that's where your intrest rate comes in. An intrest rate by definition is :

"The interest rate is the amount a lender charges a borrower and is a percentage of the principal—the amount loaned." Now depending on your interest rate, it could take that $266.66 month and make it $300/month or hell even $450. And this is a prime example on why I suggest going to a credit union to get funding. When I bought my first car I was new to the credit game, car game-all the games and I went to my local Credit Union to get funding. I was approved for the amount I requested and they granted me a 4% interest rate. This is also really good because like I said, I was new to the game I had no experienced credit (not saying that you have to) so I had no diverse credit profile.

In the end your intrest rate will go up or down depending on various factors such as the year of the car. Some credit unions and basically every lender add a percentage on if the car is over 10 years old, or say it's vintage like an old school 1998 Ford Mustang. This is also a good point because if you could afford, it's not reccomended to get a car older than ten years- the affect of this could be a higher intrest rate, the value of the car could be really low so it may be hard to find funding and the manufacture's warranty typically expires after 10 years meaning whether you go to a dealership or a machanic shop, it'll be harder for some models to find parts or more expensive since the manufacture essentially wouldn't "make" them anymore.

Other variables for intrest rates includes how may years you choose to pay the car off. You might see 60 months everywhere and that's 5 years. Although it is a good amount of time and could make your payments lower, my biggest advice would to be try to shorten that amount of time. Only if you could afford it of course. Maybe it's just me but just the thought of having to pay my car note year round for the next 4 years makes my stomach hurt, thus this is an prime example on why you should love the car you're paying for. It makes the years bearable.

Lastly your credit score plays a huge part in the lending and intrest rate process. Based off your credit score, you could have a 3% , 1.99% or even 21% (trust me, I've seen it before) intrest rate. And the lower the better, you don't want to be making payments but not seeing your principal (original loan amount) moving because intrest is eating your money. That's the ultimate heart break.

So, unless these chocolate croissants has gotten to my brain, I think that's all I have for you today. Of course if you have any questions feel free to DM me on Instagram (@_.k.c). Make sure to fill out a form below to stay up to date with my Blog Post and Podcast Episodes until then.

See you next Saturday.

Your Girl,

KC