Preparation, research help
when buying new car
By Sarah Szczepanski
Assistant
Features Editor
Buying a car is a process most every Purdue student
will have to go through; it is also a process that many are not familiar
with.
Andy Jacquay, a junior in the School of Technology,
wants to buy a vehicle after he graduates, but he is not sure of exactly
what he needs to look for and the questions he needs to ask.
Luckily, his friend's dad owns a car dealership
and offered to take him car shopping.
Not everyone can be lucky enough to have an owner
of a car dealership personally help them purchase a car, however. Kyle
Busch, author of "Drive for the Best Price: How to Buy a Used Automobile,
Sport Utility Vehicle or Minivan and Save Money," has some tips that
are useful to anyone who is thinking of buying a new or used car.
Busch, who earned a bachelor's degree in economics,
is still driving a1986 Volkswagen Jetta with more than 272,000 miles
on it. He said he has made back the money he spent on the car many times
because of the amount of time the car has been running. It is from experiences
such as this that Busch collects information about the best way to purchase
a car.
The first step in considering the purchase of a
car is to identify the correct vehicle for the person's specific transportation
needs, said Busch. This includes doing research beforehand, such as
comparing prices and checking out the vehicle's rating.
Chris Bouza, a junior in the School of Technology,
wants to buy a car after graduation. Bouza, who drives a '91 Labaron
with more than 100,000 miles on it, wants to purchase either a Jeep
Wranger or a Jeep Cherokee.
"I want to know what kind of car I want before
I actually go out to buy one," Bouza said. "I want to have
all my research done. I started now, but I'm not going to buy it for
another year."
Waiting until he graduates next spring could benefit
Bouza in more ways than just having his research done. Sometimes around
graduation financial institutions have specials with lower credit rates
that can make the vehicle purchased less expensive.
For example, every spring Purdue Employees Federal
Credit Union lowers its overall rate in an effort to get the payment
down so that people may purchase their first vehicle, said Steve Wesson,
the vice president of lending.
After deciding what type of car a person can afford,
the next step is to decide if the purchaser wants to buy the car from
a private party, who may offer better prices, or from a dealership,
which can offer warranties.
Prices from either can be found almost anywhere,
but Bouza has found that advertisements can be misleading. Once he found
an ad on the Internet to lease a GMC Sonoma. He put his order in, but
when he went to finalize the deal, he found out that the sellers were
trying to charge him more money. "I already had my order in, but I backed
out when they told me the Internet guys just didn’t update the
ad," he said.
Regardless of who the seller may be, Busch says
it is important to thoroughly inspect the vehicle that is being considered
for purchase.
A test drive may not fulfill this because there
is no way to test, in a short drive, all of the different roads that
will be driven on if the car is purchased, said Busch.
He recommended a few drills that can be completed
in an empty parking lot such as, if the vehicle has automatic transmission,
switching the transmission selector lever to everything from park, reverse
and drive to L3 and L1.
These are just a few of the things that Busch says
are important to do. "Being prepared is half the battle right there,"
he said.
Kyle Busch’s book on purchasing a vehicle
is available for order at (800) 839-8640.
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