Buying A Car 101

Buying your first car is a wonderfully exciting, highly-anticipated event in anyone's life. After what could be years of cruising around in family or friends' hand-me-downs, you finally get to pick out your dream car. For all its excitement, though, the process of buying a car can seem daunting for first-timers... but the team at Hulett Chevrolet Buick GMC in Camdenton, MO is here to help! We've compiled a list of tried-and-true tips and advice to help guide first time car buyers through the process.

1. Know Your Budget
Taking time to know where you stand financially is the most crucial step to the car buying process and should be done before anything else. Before you ever visit a dealership, evaluate your monthly finances to determine how much money you can devote to a car payment every month. Knowing the monthly payment you can afford will help you determine what overall price range will work for you.

2. Know Your Wants vs Your Needs
Once you visit a dealership, it's easy to get swept up in the excitement of all the possibilities that lie in front of you. There are so many vehicles simply waiting for an owner, and you love something different about each of them... How are you ever supposed to choose? Before visiting a local Lake of the Ozarks dealership, take the time to prioritize and differentiate what you really need in a vehicle versus what you want. Many people find it helpful to write out a physical list of their needs and wants in order to accurately visualize their priorities.

3. Know Your Potential Car
Never buy a vehicle without first taking it for a test drive. A car or truck may look great on paper - it may have impressive horsepower or unbeatable gas mileage - but none of that will matter if you don't like the way you feel behind the wheel! Take your potential vehicle through all the motions on your test drive; practice parking, merging onto highways, accelerating and decelerating, and turning various degrees. 

4. Know Yourself
Do you think through each new decision slowly and carefully, or do you jump to conclusions as soon as you have a few facts at your disposal? Buying your first car is a big move financially, and you need to be sure you take the time to make sure all your ducks are in order. If you have a tendency to rush through decisions, you may want to bring someone else along to hold you accountable the first time you visit a dealership.

We hope you find these tips helpful! If you're looking to buy a car at the Lake of the Ozarks, come by and see us. We have a large inventory of new and pre-owned vehicles waiting for you! 

The Team at Hulett Chevrolet Buick GMC

513 N. Business Route 5
Camdenton, MO  65020
www.ShopHulett.com
Sales: 573.317.4197
Service:  573.317.4195