You have found yourself at the downtown main intersection for the last time with a car that decided it didn’t want to go forward on green. It’s time that you bite the bullet and either trade in your beater or give it as a first car to that nephew you like. You need to buy a new car, or at least a used one that is in much better condition. Given the condition of the present vehicle, it’s probably a very low bar to qualify for "something better" status.

It’s time to look for a deal, as well; the repairs that you’ve put into the heap that has only been chugging along anyway are all wearing out to keep with the degradation of the body withering with age. It might mean a financial hit for a few months, maybe a few years, but having a vehicle has become an important facet of your independence and you want to keep it that way.

You will easily make a short list without having to look around; the financial downturn of the economy over the last few years has been such that people are letting go of their vehicles in order to make other kinds of payments. You can look in your local newspapers and free classifieds to find a lot of deals, and makes that you’d be interested in. Be careful, though, if you’re inexperienced in car shopping. When making your list of vehicles to research, add your own so that you can find out true blue book value of new car invoice prices. This will be the key to negotiating, and maybe even getting a good deal for your old car. It may be beyond repair at this point, but sometimes some makes are made the same way decade after decade, and the parts could be worth more than the whole. Do your research on the internet and also look around to see if you can find an expert who’s willing to advise you on your selection. Don’t be too impatient, even if someone says that it’s a deal that can’t wait. Of course if you pick up for the price of pocket cash, you’ll probably wind up paying for it in repairs later.

Think of the financial processes involved if you decide to go with a dealer for a used or new vehicle. Make sure that your funding will be constant until the end of the contract, or commit yourself to paying off the loan quicker than the end date. You’ll save a lot of money on interest if you’re able to do that; the lowest interest comes from paying off the loan within days, but then you wouldn’t have needed the loan if you were able to do that. So in the meantime, you’ll have to look at financing, and balance out if you want to deal with the same company that’s offering you a vehicle, or if you want to get independent financing, possibly with the bank you’ve always dealt with. There are good reasons for either choice.

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