Things to Consider When Buying a New Car

Because of the pandemic, we don't want to commute when we want to go somewhere else. We're trying to avoid crowded areas as much as we can. However, because of the war in Ukraine, the gas prices spiked like we never imagined. It's hard for us now because our finances got affected by the recent happenings. One reality is that we definitely need a car to move around. The first question that we have in our mind was, can we afford it?

These are the factors that we're considering right now:

1) Are we going to buy a brand new or a used but at least a five-year-old car?

2) Can we afford the monthly payments after adding up the expense of gas and car maintenance?

As a family, we have always been careful where we put our money into. Even though owning a car will take a toll on it, it's still necessary to have one. Before talking to salespeople, I like knowing the facts and a base computation so I know how to deal with them. Since I already have the prices of the cars I'm looking at, I found an online tool, https://www.carpaymentcalculator.net, that could help me easily compute the monthly car payments depending on the base number. It works even if I live here in Asia. What I like about it is that it has a feature that allowed me to link to a specific calculation with the results already filled in. The link appears below the calculated results when I pressed the calculation button which I was able to print too. There are also other helpful features on that site that could help me calculate my fuel budget, computation how I can save money by changing the method of payments to bi-weekly, and figuring out MPG.

For a family who needs to change a car because the kids got bigger already, but is still hesitant because of the possible budget constraints, this tool is one of the best guides we could have. We need to have facts so every transaction that we do would be smooth and quick. With all the negative things that are happening which lead to high prices of the things that we need for our everyday living, any tips on how we could save would be greatly appreciated, right?