My recent decision to buy a car was not really voluntary. I was in a minor accident where my almost 20 year old Honda Accord was promptly written off. With such an old car, even a small bend and a broken headlight are already too expensive to fix, so the insurance decided I’d better give me $1500, which was actually a good deal. But he left me without a car.
So buying a car was in order. This was certainly a compromise given that I haven’t been keeping track of cars for about 8 years since I bought the Honda Accord. I like driving and I like good cars, I even like fixing cars to a degree, but I’m not a real enthusiast. I don’t read articles about cars; I don’t buy car magazines or go to car shows. I also don’t usually start a conversation about the latest models and features. Similar to a presidential candidate who is seriously “in the know” only during the campaign: once elected, interests and priorities change a bit.
Regardless, I knew I had to do extensive research to be happy with what I’m about to buy. So I did that, and the amount of new information I collected was even greater than I expected. You know, today’s cars are completely different things than they were 15 years or more ago. Features that didn’t even exist before became my main goal and motivation.
I spent several days online, reading everything I could find. And the good thing is that all car manufacturers have very comprehensive websites where you can find all the information you need, including prices. In fact, it turned out that the prices I got from these websites perfectly matched what I got at dealerships, and that’s with all the additions like taxes, CA fee, delivery fee, Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) fee ) and else.
I also read other sources, mainly looking for other people’s experiences. There are a lot of good resources on the internet, just do a search and you’ll find whatever you’re looking for, there’s a lot out there. Some of them that I found useful are:
Tips for buying a car: http://www.carbuyingtips.com An excellent website with a world of information on all aspects of the car buying process. It will also save you some headaches.
edmunds: http://www.edmunds.com A kind of “traditional” automatic portal. It also covers all aspects of the topic, from pricing to security. And I’ve heard dealers refer to this site.
MSN Cars: http://autos.msn.com Another general car portal. I used it a lot when I was comparing specific features of different models – it has a handy little comparison tool.
automotive.com: http://www.automotor.com Automotive: http://www.automobilemag.com These two are also general portals, and I used them mainly to find specs on older models, including my ’89 Accord, to compare with newer models.
After a few days I came to a set of features that I would like to have:
New car
Or almost a new car. I used to have time to maintain and work on a car myself, but now with family and two young children, I don’t even have time to think about the car, let alone work. And even having a good mechanic is not enough. With an old car, there is no mechanic that can guarantee anything, you just have to accept that you will have unexpected problems. Before, I could take on that responsibility, but now, with a family and no time, I can’t. So he needed not only a car without problems, but also a car without worries.
Do
I have driven domestic, Japanese and German cars before, and I thought I would go with the Japanese again. I thought that would give me a better chance of getting a car with no problems at a good price. I questioned this decision during the investigation, but in the end I stood my ground.
Security
With the recent car accident he wanted safety above all else. Even in a small accident like the one I had, you can experience very strongly how completely unprotected we all are on the road. You absolutely don’t need much to die or get injured. And no one really has to make any mistakes, let alone a big mistake. A small, almost insignificant thing happens, and you’re in the middle of a burst of events that ends with a crash.
The guy in front of me stopped dead in his tracks and I was a split second late to react and kicked him a bit. Not much: His car suffered almost no damage, except for some scratches and dirt on the bumper. But then I started thinking “what if…” thoughts. It was quite steep downhill, and if it was raining…! If there was a motorcycle in front of me instead of a mini van… If I was going faster and for some reason decided to avoid it by switching to another lane (full of cars)… If all those things happened together… Even now, When I think about those things, my stomach hurts.
And then while researching crash test scores, I saw official crash test videos on the internet. Boy, I would recommend everyone to watch at least one or two of those videos – you will get a much more realistic picture of driving a car. There are two organizations that conduct crash tests and you will find safety information for many models on their websites:
National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA): http://www.safercar.gov
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS): http://www.iihs.org
The information on these websites is very educational and comprehensive. Contains test descriptions, results of many models and video clips. You can also find a lot of general information accumulated over the years of research in this area. For example, what is the impact in frontal, side or rear crashes, how the impact differs for front and rear passengers, how to protect your children, the implications of the increasing number of large vehicles (SUVs in particular) on the road ( you better buy a bigger car yourself), etc.
Videos of the tests can also be found (even more so) by doing a web search. Many of them are posted on YouTube.
So I thought I wanted airbags, not just the front ones, but also the side ones and particularly the curtain ones that protect the rear seat passengers. Side and curtain airbags are not mandatory and are not part of the standard equipment. Some of the models do not even have them as an option.
ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) was also a must. I hate sudden stops, and if it’s raining or snowing, ABS can help a lot.
Other safety features like active stability control, traction control, active head restraints, because bodywork designed to absorb impact were also highly desirable.
In the end, AWD (All Wheel Drive) was also something to consider.
Space
This one was tricky. It had controversial requirements. Most of the time we need a small city car: commuting to work, taking small children to school, shopping, etc. We only sometimes take a longer vacation trip when we need a bigger trunk. We only have occasional visits from parents, family or friends when we need at least enough space in the back for two car seats and one or more adults. It’s just that sometimes I’ll need to bring a smaller piece of furniture or something. So should I buy a minivan if 95% of the time it will be practically empty? Or should I buy a small car and not even be able to go on a picnic? This question is actually even now, after I bought the car, still unresolved. Time will show how well I did at this.
convenience
I didn’t need or want things like a moonroof, leather seats, body-color and heated mirrors, spoilers and the like. Even power this or that wasn’t important to me, though I’ve learned that these days even some basic models heavily include power options. So I thought, I’ll take it if I have to, what can I do?
fuel economy
Very important. Gasoline prices are rising and the oil wars continue. I don’t need to say more. And over the years that you own a car, it adds up. In fact, it’s a great idea to calculate the total cost of the car over several years (including gas, insurance, and other maintenance costs) and use that figure when making your decision. So he wanted the best possible fuel economy, another controversial requirement.
In fact, I was hoping to find a good diesel car, but in Canada there aren’t many of those, as we have pretty high emissions standards, so some of the good diesel cars don’t qualify. And that is very bad. I rented a small VW Polo a few months ago in Europe and drove 900 km on 1.5 tanks! By specifications it spends 4L/100km!! That is a money saver. And it actually gives such a nice feeling of: you drive and drive and drive, and independence, then you drive some more, and the tank is still full. So sweet!!
With all these requirements I went to the dealerships for a good weekend. I thought I’d just go to an auto mall and look around. Later I realized that this wasn’t really the best way to approach things. After a whole day of looking at cars and testing them, you get pretty tired and at the end of the day they all look the same. And after doing that for two whole days, I got sick of cars and didn’t want to buy any! But on the other hand, I collected a lot of information and got first impressions on how to drive them. Then I let that sit for a while, and in the meantime explored options to buy a used car, buy one in the southern US, or from a dealer far out of town where I might get a better price. Then, of course, he also needed to find the best way to pay for the car. Boy, does this all take time. It is a full time project. But in the end I had my options laid out and I made a decision.