Car Buying? What's Your Budget?

When it comes to affording your next new car (used cars too if they are new to you), how closely do you look at your budget? And from what perspective do you evaluate your budgetary parameters?

Based on my years of experience, I would say that many people only have a mild idea of how much car they can afford.

When you’re in the car shopping mode do you think in terms of bottom line cash price or think only of what your monthly payments will be?

Either way, as you take a look at what you can afford, you have to take into consideration all of the extra costs involved in buying/owning a budget car. Certainly today fuel costs are a major consideration. And there is always going to be your insurance premium, maintenance costs (used cars will be higher), etc.

Once you begin your car shopping, if you only have a ballpark idea of what you can afford… and only a ballpark idea of how much you drive and what your gas expense will be, and if you haven’t nailed down what your insurance premiums will be, you are on a fast path to end paying too much for your vehicle.

You must crunch your budget numbers… and not just your new car price numbers. Start with your take home pay (not gross pay) then start deducting all of your monthly living expenses. If you’ve never worked up a budget before; now is the perfect time to get one started. A simple spreadsheet is a great way to keep track of and illuminate your numbers. If you don’t have one, just stop by my website and download the one there or send me a note and I’ll email one to you.

Everyone’s means to afford their car varies, but by most standards you shouldn’t ear mark more than 15 to 20 percent of your take home income pay for your transportation costs.

It’s important to understand, no matter what your financial means, you’ve got to know your numbers up front and first before you even begin looking for potential vehicles. Don’t even make a preliminary pass at looking at cars before you do this. If you do, you run the risk of ‘falling in love’ with a particular vehicle. As is the case with so many people; when they do this, they begin to justify affording a vehicle they either can’t afford, or have too stretch beyond their comfortable means in order to do so. Doing your budgeting first and knowing what you can afford (and what you can’t) will help take the emotion out of your buying process… in fact, it will probably save you time as well since you won’t be trying to purchase a car that is not within your budget limits. Do your car shopping intelligently and factually. It will save time, money, and quite a bit of stress.

Now once you get your budget all mapped out and ready to go are you now ready to go shopping for your next car?

Nope… Not yet.

Do you know your credit score? Your credit score is a big part of your financing expense; unless of course, you are one of the few people that actually pay cash for their vehicles. So, run your credit score. And you should do this well in advance of getting to the dealership. In fact, you should pull your credit as much as six months in advance. This way if there is outdated or incorrect data on your report, you will have time to get it expunged or corrected. Getting your credit score and your credit in order is whole new continuing topic beyond this article and you can learn more by visiting my website.

In summary, do your kitchen table homework first with your personal financials and the budgeting of them before you even begin considering any type of car. Be sure to consider all the expenses associated with owning a car; especially how many miles you’ll drive each week… fuel expense. Then you can begin narrowing your car search by looking for cars that fit your budget… and not trying to get your budget to fit the car you just picked out.



September 8, 2009
By Jeff Neilan
Jeff Neilan worked for many years in the automotive industry as a salesman, finance manager, new & used car manager. With Jeff's working knowledge of car dealerships you'll find his articles on getting your best car deal insightful and rewarding when buying your next car. Please visit http://www.acarbuyersguide.com for more of Jeff's articles.
Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/automobiles.php/49549

Remove Your Driving Test Related Anxiety

As youngsters, you might have dreamed of owning a car and driving away into the sunset. As soon as you are old enough, you will naturally take a licensing exam and pass it before you are allowed on the streets. Some people will pass the practical and written exam with flying colors in driving schools while others will have a difficult time doing so because of anxiety and fear of failing the exam and not being allowed to drive.

Being worried or anxious is actually normal since driving should be considered a serious matter. Driving tests are designed to gauge your road-worthiness. There are people who failed the test because they were really not ready to be out o the other. But what about those people who fail these driving tests? Is it because they were not road-worthy or they were just too nervous to get the answers right?

Surprisingly, many people suffer from anxiety during driving tests. The pressure to pass is just too much for them to handle. Signs and symptoms of a person suffering from driving test anxiety would include inability to start the test, feeling panicky, sweating profusely and even feeling dizzy or nauseous. If you are about to take a driving test and worries that you will have the same panic attack, you should learn how to manage it as quickly as possible.

The first thing you can do is to study well for your driving test. You can ask a family member of a friend about some driving tips to help you out. An effective way is to take a mock exam so that you can determine where your weakness lie. If you are well-prepared, you will feel less anxious since you are confident about your knowledge and skills. You should also try some relaxation techniques that would help you focus on the driving test and distract you from your anxiety. You can try doing some breathing exercises that will make you calm down. Make sure you get a good night's rest before the day of the exam and try to arrive before the appointed hour so you will feel less panicky.

To remove your driving test-related anxiety, you could always try hypnotherapy. It is an effective way of treating fears, phobias and even addiction. If your anxiety is manageable, hypnotherapy can cure it in as short as one session. For more information on the effectiveness and availability of hypnotherapy, you can look at websites over the internet that offer genuine hypnotherapy services for a reasonable cost.




September 2, 2009
By Mark Goodworthy
Pass your driving test easily and free of anxiety. http://drivingtest.y54.com/
Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/self_improvement.php/62096

Car Cleaning Tips

There are basic tips on how to clean your car. There are also important things you can work and take note of starting from the time you wash your car up to maintaining its beauty and shape.

When it comes to car cleaning, washing is one of the important things to be done. Make sure to wash your vehicle. You can utilize one in the morning and another one in the evening, to keep it away from water spots. Once they appear, it would take one week or more before you would be able to remove this dirt. You can then start washing at the top portion of your car, all the way down. Then, you can dry your vehicle immediately.

Just a cautionary piece of advice, particularly when using micro-fiber in cleaning your car, industrial sealant manufacturers admonishes it already for washing your automobiles. These micro-fibers are made up of 80 to 85% polyester, meaning it is plastic. In case you don't know, plastic scratches for over a period of time of usage. This will strip off the coating of your vehicle.

Here is step by step process you can work with:

Step 1- Washing your car

- Wash your car thoroughly to be able to remove all kinds of dirt as well as debris from your vehicle.

- Be sure you use quality mitts. First, use only high-quality and "clean wash" mitts. After this, you can use two mitts. One would be for the upper and the other for the bottom part of you car.

- Don't ever use dish soap or any washing solution due to the fact that this may strip away the wax, which protects your car. It will also dry the paint off your vehicle.

- On your last rinse, use running water. Never spray your vehicle with water using a hose. The end result will be that the water will dry off easily.

- When drying your vehicle, regularly utilize 100 percent cotton terry type of cloth towel. An alternative would be micro-fiber towels of high quality.

- Once you notice that your car is dry, check the direction of your car from both the sunlight as well as an artificial lighting. This is in order for you to check on the uneven tone of you car's paint. Plus, touch the surface of the car using your palms. This is in order for you to check of any imperfection that may be quite visible to the naked eye. The perfect touch would resemble touching a piece of glass.

- Wash the tires of your vehicle at least four times a year to avoid cracking.

Step 2 - Cleaning your vehicle

- Just in case you forget to clean the upper part of your car and it will show some imperfections, you need to note down that you will have your car cleaned thoroughly. Aside from this, it should be ready for polishing and waxing. To get rid of stubborn dirt, you can use the abrasive method less.

- Be sure to use white coat-safe materials. Regular rubbing compounds can be very damaging to your car and must be avoided at all times.

- If needed, ask for assistance from any professional that has complete materials for getting rid of paint problems.

Step 3 - Polishing your beloved car

- Although car polishing is not that important, it should be done frequently, especially with dark vehicles so as to be able to bring out its outstanding shine and beauty.

- To get that expensive looking shines, after polishing of your car, use a car wax type of coating.

- A clean polish is excellent for vehicles. This is especially convenient if you want a polish solution that can help your car avoid any building up of dirt.

- Unlike waxes, clean or pure polish is used best for new paint only. This is due to the fact that it can bring out the best from the color of your vehicle.

Step 4 - Waxing your car

- Make sure that you will also work on the dark side and cool surfaces of your car.

- In waxing you car, make sure you apply the wax very thinly. You can then spread the coating so as to get the best color.

- Take note that when you are waxing your car, you need to use dual action products or white foam.

- You should apply the wax entirely. Leave it for a couple of minutes. Then, remove it by polishing it gently in order that the gloss of your car can be maintained.

- Check out the market for quality towels or micro-fiber clothing. This is the best material to use in taking off the wax you placed on your car.

Step 5 - Maintenance of you car

- Once you notice any dangerous agents being applied on your car, you need to have this removed at once. This can also be done if there are any water spots. For animal dirt, you can use an instant detailing agent before this will result to further damaging your car.

- To keep your vehicle always looking good and in best shape, make sure you use quality products available in the market. This is especially with products used for sealing the color and protecting your car regularly.

- If you notice that the products you applied seem very hard to polish, this is a good time to apply new wax on your car.

(ArticlesBase ID #423010)



September 2, 2009
By: David H. Urmann
For more information on Car Cleaning Tips please visit our website.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/car-cleaning-tips-423010.html

Car Dealer Scams and How to Avoid Them

When you are looking to buy a car with bad or poor credit it doesn't leave buyers with lots of options. Occasionally their only choice for finding a lender for their new car purchase is through a car dealer loan.

Car dealership loan deals are not as bad as a lot of people may think. However, it is certainly true that they may hide a lot of surprises so if you are in fact planning to use a Car Loan you should be extra vigilant.

The first thing that you need to watch out for is if the interest rate happens to be fixed. By fixed I mean that it's clearly stated in your contract and that all of it is written in a way that it wouldn't allow the car dealership to change it at a later date. What lots of car dealerships tend to do is approve your car loan application, have you sign the documents, and hand you over the car. After that later on they just give you a phone call and state that in fact you do not qualify for the loan because you have poor credit (which is something you already knew to begin with) and that you must pay higher interest rates in order to keep the car. If you fall into this situation you should try to either find a loan from another lender or report the scam and fight back.

Another extremely popular scam done by car dealers is to make you look for a cosigner for your loan convincing you that this is the absolutely only way that you can get financing since you have a terrible credit history. It won't be difficult to convince you at all. First of all it sounds pretty reasonable and second of all the car dealer will cause you to believe that this will in fact repair your poor credit profile. Later on you will discover that your name isn't including in the loan documents and that the loan is in the name of the cosigner only even though you are paying it . Not only is this illegal but it also may lead to serious penalties but it's not helping your poor credit at all. If a car dealership offers such a thing you absolutely must refuse.

If you're a poor credit consumer and have difficulties in finding a good loan, it's pretty obvious that you shouldn't overstretch yourself. What this mean is to buy a reasonably priced vehicle and not to buy into all of the extras like the extended warranties for example. However, many different Bad Credit Auto Loan will end up trying to trick you by making you believe that you must buy a warranty that will increase your loan just to qualify. Since you are in a desperate situation you would end up saying Ok. However, if you for one second think about it, you can plain as day see this is simply a trick to increase your loan costs.

(ArticlesBase ID #660696)



September 1, 2009
By Car Loan
CarLoan123.net is car loan company which provides Car Finance and Used Car Loan with bad credit.People with bad credit and very poor credit are being accepted & allowed to drive away in the car of their dreams, because they applied online to get approved by competitive lenders at low interest rates. Get the best Used Car Loan at low prices with easy instant approval basis.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/loans-articles/car-dealer-scams-and-how-to-avoid-them-660696.html

Best 10 Tips for Maintaining Car Engine

Car Engine maintenance is one of the most essential car care activity that requires huge investment, an investment that pays off with enhanced fuel efficiency and longer engine life.

The most common cause of various engine problems is overheating. This is one such factor that contributes to various engine issues like overheated engine, engine surges, strange engine sounds, engine hesitation, and more fuel consumption. This key contributing factor and various problems are directly linked to the condition of engine components that control the functioning of the car engine. The problems that occur in the engine directly influences the functioning and effectiveness of the car. Therefore, it is very important to take good care of the car engine.

Here are the best 10 tips for maintaining car engine:

1. Engine oil is the most element of a car engine that plays a vital role in car performance. It should be changed periodically or after every 3,000 to 6,000 miles. Also check the oil level and refill the tank if the level is low.


2. Check the condition of the air filter. If you find any kind of dirt or crack in the air filter, immediately replace it or else it would hamper the functioning of the car engine.


3. Whenever you decide to replace engine parts, ensure that you use original components. Faulty and fake engine components may damage the engine completely if they don't fit in well or are not reliable.


4. Use clean fuel for your car. Adding a fuel stabilizer to the engine can also be helpful for preventing gas from going stale.


5. For proper functioning of the car engine you also need to check the condition of the car battery.


6. The battery case should be free from dirt and cracks. If in case you find any leakage or dust on the surface of the battery case, replace the battery immediately.


7. A car engine also comprises a timing belt that runs the engine and some even comprise a serpentine belt that runs various pumps and accessories in the car. If you find wear and tear of these belts, then you should replace them or else it would hamper the efficiency of the car engine.


8. Ensure that all the car fluids including the brake fluid, engine fluid,engine coolant, power steering fluid, and transmission fluid are topped up to the marked level. Ensuring that all fluid levels are topped off can maintain the health of your engine.


9. Inspect the condition of the spark plug and if required change them. Damaged or ineffective spark plugs hamper the performance of the car engine and also prevents costly engine repairs.


10. If in case you find any kind of strange noises from the engine, get it checked from the mechanic and make sure that the necessary repair is done.

August 27 , 2009
By Carazoo.com
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/best-10-tips-for-maintaining-car-engine-713587.html

Tips On Looking For The Best Used Car Dealer

Buying used cars is a more practical way of avoiding a public mass transportation commute. However, with the industry’s numerous car dealer options, lack of education could lead you straight into a bad car deal.

So how do you know who to trust? Which car dealer is best to transact business? Here is some useful information on searching for the best used-car dealer.

1) Reputation: This is the most vital in choosing car dealers. Making business deals with fair, honest and accommodating car dealers is easy as long as you find a reputable dealership. You should check with the local Better Business Bureau for car dealers reliability report and you could ask relatives and friends for past car dealers they dealt with that guarantee satisfaction.

2) Services: Finding the best car dealers should not be the only factor to consider. Make sure the services the car dealers provide are appropriate. These services include:

* Check and check out – Most car dealers provide express maintenance and service appointments to its customers.

* Car loans - Some extend their services by handling or providing assistance with your financial needs.

* Service rates - Each car dealership has various service discounts. Service rates may vary depending on the name, location, other benefits, and negotiations.

* Warranty – Some car dealers offer free extended car warranties when you purchase used cars or service and examine vehicles from them.

3) Price range: Most people assume that the price you pay is for the whole vehicle. This is not the case when doing business with car dealers.

Majority of dealerships include “add-ons” that may include window tinting, car accessories, CD changers, paint protector products, undercarriage coatings, car interior accessories and many more. Some dealers may try and force the customers into purchasing them usually install the add-ons.

If these additional accessories would be an advantage for you, it might be a blessing. However, if you prefer to purchase the car alone, check to see the car you wish to buy if it includes add-ons refrain from paying additional for each.

Extra fees such as dealer handling and dock fees are charged to set up a used car for sale, maintaining the car and preparing needed documents for the car sale. These extra fees could be negotiated since all of these services would only provide additional profit for the dealer.

Aside from a respectful, dignified and honest dealer, consider these factors in choosing the best car dealer. You may be purchasing a used car, but by looking for the best person to assist you, it will lead to a good investment.

August 26, 2009

By Gregory Ashton

Gregory Ashton, your resident automobile enthusiast, bringing to you over 20 years of vehicular passion, and expertise; presents for your approval his insider secrets on selecting, buying, and maintianing the car that is ideal for you. http://www.best-car-buying-tips.com

Source: http://www.bharatbhasha.com/automobiles.php/38217

Car Rental Faqs

Q. What does “car type” or similar mean?
A. Car rental companies can never guarantee a specific model or car. When renting a car, companies will give you an idea of what you can expect – you may get the car type that was advertised or you may get one similar in size or model.

Q. How old are rental cars?
A. Depends on the car rental company. Larger suppliers like Hertz and Avis carry cars on their fleet that are about 3-4 months old. Smaller companies can carry cars up to 4 years old.

Q. Can baby seats be requested?
A. Yes, the majority of car rental companies do carry baby or booster seats and can be requested before collection.

Q. What happens if my rental car breaks down?
A. Most car rental companies should include 24 hour roadside assistance in the rental rate. If you do break down, help is only a phone call away.

Q. Can I pick up a rental car in one city and drop it off in another?
A. This is known as a one way car rental. It depends on the supplier and the country – sometimes a fee will apply. Ask when booking!

Q. Can cars be driven into countries other than the country the vehicle is collected in?
A. In most cases, yes but conditions and restrictions do apply. In Europe, there are restrictions about traveling into Eastern Europe and some vehicles cannot be driven in Italy. In the USA, cars cannot be driven into Mexico. Always check at the time of booking.

Q. Are there age restrictions on drivers?
A. Yes. Maximum and minimum ages vary depending on suppliers and car type. Additional fees may also apply for younger or older drivers.

Q. Can anyone drive the rental car?
A. Additional drivers must be added to the rental contract before collection. There may be a fee for additional drivers.

Q. Can my prepaid rental be extended after the vehicle is collected?
A. Yes. In most cases, the renter pays the supplier directly for any extensions. However, this is at the local rate which is often higher than the pre-paid rate.

Q. What do I do if I return the vehicle early?
A. This is possible, however no refund of unused rental days is allowed by the car rental companies.



August 25, 2009
By Car Guru
Car Guru writes for DriveAway Holidays, DriveAway Holidays New Zealand and DriveAway Holidays Blog
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/vacation-rentals-articles/car-rental-faqs-part-2-646443.html