The Ultimate Car Buying Guide

We get it, buying a car can be intimidating. That’s why we do everything in our power to be as up front and transparent as possible, and why we try to give you every little piece of information you’re looking for. The ultimate guide to buying a car is just one more way we’re putting our money where our mouth is and giving you everything you need to know about how to buy a car before you even step through our doors.

STEP ONE: Figure out how much car you can afford

The first step in buying a new or used car should be to figure out how much you can afford. Figure out how much you can afford per month, if you’re planning to take out a loan or lease, or figure out what the maximum you can spend is if you’re planning to do a one-pay lease, or buying your vehicle outright.

There are tons of payment calculators out there. You can use ours by clicking here. Spending some time adjusting the values within a payment calculator allows you play with down payment amounts, trade in value, and many other options.

Don’t forget to think about additional costs like sales tax, documentation fees, and much more. An old rule of thumb is to add 10% to cover this.

At step one of your car buying process, it’s important to decide whether you are planning to buy or lease. Some considerations in buying and leasing include:

• How many miles do you drive? If the answer is a lot, consider buying or financing a vehicle.
• How often do you want to upgrade your vehicle? If the answer is often, consider leasing your next new car, truck, or SUV.

STEP TWO: Let’s talk about finance

Once you’ve figured out how much your payment can be per month, it’s time to start thinking about your finance options. The way that most consumers prefer to do it, especially if you plan to lease, is to come into our dealership and meet with a member of our team. If this is the first time you’ve ever bought a car, it might be best to get the financing out of the way before you start looking at cars so that you don’t fall in love with something that banks won’t approve for you.

At our dealership, though it’s much easier to do it in person, we can even complete much of the financing process online by sending you our no-impact credit pre-approval, or even our full credit application.

Another way to do this is to have a conversation with your finance institution ahead of time where they’ll approve you and give you an amount to stay within. The reason that many people prefer to do this in store is because financing through a dealership can often yield the best possible rate because our team can shop 20 or 30 lenders for you.

STEP TWO AND A HALF: Got a trade in?

Once you’ve figured out how much you can afford, and you’ve got your financing secured, take this as an opportunity to figure out what your current ride is worth. This process can be started online or in store with one of our professional appraisers.

Why is it important to know approximately how much the vehicle you have is worth? It’s what we call the equity factor! It could be icing on the cake, or can subtract from the amount of vehicle you’re able to purchase.

Let’s look at the Equity Factor. Let’s say, for example, that a bank approved you for $25,000 and your trade in is worth $5,000. That means that you have a total of $30,000 to work with. That also works the other way – if you have a loan on your vehicle and the vehicle is worth less than you owe – it goes the other direction. Let’s once again assume the bank approved you for $25,000 for your vehicle, but you owe $6,000 on a vehicle worth $5,000 – that means you actually have $24,000 to work with.

When you bring your vehicle in for an inspection, it’ll be appraised by one of our professional buyers. They’ll give you an exact value on how much your vehicle is worth and let us calculate the equity factor.

STEP THREE: It’s time to fall in love!

You will undoubtedly have an idea of what you’re looking for in a car. We always recommend that our customers identify what features they want their car to have – and organize them by what you have to have, what you want to have, and what you don’t want. Are leather seats important to you? A power moonroof? Third-row? Identifying your must-haves and don’t-wants saves you time at the dealership.

Another reason why knowing exactly what you want is helpful is because any reputable website is going to let you filter by these options! For example, on our website, you can filter by options like color, fuel type, included safety features, etc. We have more than 100 possible ways to filter vehicles on our website so you can find exactly what fits your wish list. If you’re buying a used vehicle, we also give you detailed filtering options and a vehicle history report.

At #1 Cochran, our dedicated Guest Relations Department will go over all of your must-haves and set an appointment for you so that your product specialist knows exactly what you want and has options ready for you.

In order to test drive a vehicle, you’ll need to have a valid driver’s license. A member of our team will put a license plate on the vehicle, and you’ll be off. During the test drive, they’ll be there to answer any questions you may have and to give you directions on how to navigate the test drive route. The goal during this step is to give you the opportunity to get to know the vehicle.

STEP FOUR: Get comfortable with your ride

So you’ve found THE car, now you want to know more about it. If you fell in love with a used car, you’ll want to request a detailed vehicle history report so you can see any previous accidents, recalls, and available service records.

You may also choose to have the vehicle looked over by a trusted mechanic. This may or may not be feasible, depending on the distance of your mechanic from the dealership of the car, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. If it’s not feasible or if you don’t feel the need, you’ll still want to make sure you ask about the dealership’s reconditioning process. For example, at our dealership we have an entire reconditioning department, led by our used car managers and a reconditioning manager, whose entire job is to bring our used vehicles up to our standards.

We know that buying a car is the 2nd biggest investment that most people will ever make and we want you to be comfortable. That’s why once you’ve found the car you love from our dealership, we give you everything you need. We’ll provide a live market analysis of how we arrived at the price of your used vehicle, we’ll give you a vehicle history report, and be available to answer all of your questions and concerns.

STEP FIVE: The Finance Process (time to make it official!)

Let’s recap. You’ve figured out how much vehicle you can afford, if you should lease or purchase, you’ve figured out your finance options, you’ve worked with a product specialist to get a value for your trade in, and you’ve found the perfect car after you got comfortable with it. So now what? Good news! You’re nearly at the end of your buying journey.

It’s time to sign some paperwork. Anticipate that you will sign a fair amount of paperwork during this step. Your Finance Manager will explain it to you step by step to make sure you know exactly what you’re signing. The type of paperwork will depend on whether you’re buying or leasing, and whether you secured your own financing ahead of time.

During the finance paperwork, you’ll also be given the chance to buy extended warranties, and other coverages.

These are warranties that will go beyond the warranty that comes with your new ride. Examples of some of the common warranties you’ll be able to purchase include:

Gap Coverage

Repair Protection

Tire and Wheel Protection

STEP SIX: Drive home happy

Your product specialist will check in with you in the coming weeks to make sure every question has been answered and that you’re enjoying your new ride. Congratulations, and welcome to the #1 Cochran family! You may be asked to write an online review about your experience. Our team would be grateful for your honest feedback, as we are always looking for ways to improve our products and services.

We hope that this was helpful, and we look forward to earning your business.

Ready to get started? Shop New Inventory or Shop Used Inventory.