It often seems like everything is getting more and more expensive, including cars. However, if you are in the market for a new car, the good news is that if you know where to look you can still find some fairly good deals.
Buying a used car is always a financially wiser option compared to buying brand new – not only are used cars bound to be a lot cheaper, but there’s also more data on them, and a wider selection of options available. If you want to keep your costs down as much as possible when purchasing your new car, including not only the purchase price but the cost of running your car in the future, here are some things to keep in mind.
Engine Size
If you don’t need a high-powered car, there really isn’t much reason to get one. A smaller engine will often be cheaper. Choosing a 1.0, 1.2, or a 1.3 litre engine means that you can get more for your money – something that most of us want with the price of fuel also steadily on the rise. Compared to a larger engine such as a 2.0 litre, a smaller engine is going to burn a lot less fuel. Check out small engine cars available from Elmbank Motor Company car sales in Ayrshire.
Petrol vs Diesel
Not only are petrol cars more widely available and sometimes cheaper to buy, but they will usually be cheaper to run compared to diesel cars, depending on how you drive them. Diesel engines are often more economical than petrol, but this is usually only the case for drivers who do a lot of long commutes. So, if you’re planning to use your car for mainly driving short journeys around your town and not doing hours on the motorway daily, go for petrol.
Manual vs Automatic
Unless you have an automatic-only driving license, a manual car is a cheaper option compared to automatic. Not only are automatic cars more expensive to get repaired if something goes wrong with them, but they often also come at a higher price tag. But, with that being said, automatic cars can be somewhat more fuel efficient compared to manual cars since they automatically put you in the best gear.
CO2 Emissions
It’s becoming increasingly important to check the CO2 emissions on any car that you are planning to buy since this will impact the vehicle tax that you pay on it. The more polluting your vehicle is, the more tax you are going to pay – and the last thing that you want is to be hit with a huge bill from the DVLA after buying your car.
Car Size
If you don’t need a big car, there’s not much point in getting one – not only does carrying all that extra weight around use up your petrol, but smaller cars are also cheaper to insure. Before you buy, you can easily check the insurance group for the car you’re planning on buying or use some comparison sites to get quotes and get an idea of how much you will pay.
If you want to save money on buying and running your next car, these are just some considerations to make before you buy.
