How to save money for your first car
There’s nothing that states independence more than getting your first car! Everyone at every age can relate, not matter the age. This is a big decision that can bring for a ton of challenges because you are now taking care of something that has to last for a duration of time. Along with the car itself, you will have to consider a few other things that comes with the purchasing of a car. Rest assured; I will give you all of the details that you need so you can learn how to save money for your first car.
Stop Unnecessary Speeding
Unnecessary spending is easier said than done. this is probably the hardest part when it comes to learning how to save money for your first car, although it is probably the simplest part. the equation is easy. if you’re spending money you are not saving money, and this means that you may have to begin sacrificing one thing in order to get another.
it is crucial 2 create and set goals in life. if you don’t do this, you are persuaded by things that is a distraction from attaining your goal. if you know what type of car you want and how much it is, you will do what it takes in order to save the right amount of money to purchase it. once you realize that $5 Starbucks of coffee that you get every morning adds up to over $100 every month, you may think twice about making that purchase next time.
I like to get energy drinks. the average price of an energy drink is between $2.50 in $3. sometimes I can buy two during the day. that’s an easy 6 bucks a day. if I eat out the mill may cost me anywhere between 7 to $11. if you add this up in one day, I could easily spend $25 during the day. many of us say that we cannot save money, but we make purchases like these every single day. $25 over the course of five days is $100. do this for four weeks and that is $400. at the end of the month you’re looking around like…
“where did all my money go?”
be conscious about your spending. if you like to go out and enjoy yourself at night on the weekends or do you like to eat good food, ask yourself if it is something that you really need to do. maybe have a drink or two at home. go by the bottle from the store instead of going to the club and spending a ton of money on a few shots for yourself and your friends. don’t order out pizza the next time that you’re hungry. instead pick a day to do some meal prepping for the week and cook your own food. you will be amazed at how much food you can cook yourself at the same price of a meal that you ordered out at a high-end restaurant.
if you follow this concept you will be able to find things that you can cut off temporarily until you buy your first car. who knows, you may even create a new habit and become an expert at saving money after doing this for a few months.
Know How Much Insurance Is
I used to thinking that you could buy a car off the parking lot and drive away without a care in the world. After all, its your car because you paid for it, right?
NOPE! Not so fast my friend.
If I drive it off the car lot and someone hits my car the next month, someone has to have the money to pay for the damage. Whether that be you, or the person that hit you (if they are at fault). This is where car insurance kicks in. In order to drive a vehicle on the road in the US, you must have car insurance.
Unfortunately, this is not a factor that most first time car buyers take into consideration. Car insurance is a monumental concept because it is a monthly expense that most people do not think of when it comes to budgeting for their car.
Car insurance is not the same for every person that has a car. The price of insurance is depicted on your driving record, where you live, and the company that you purchase insurance from. Some companies give you a discount on car insurance if you hold other types of insurances and services with that same company. If you live in the country with a population of 400, the price may be different than those living in NYC where small accidents happen all of the time, and so car owners place these weird little fake bumpers on the back of their cars. It all depends.
The price of your quotes can range anywhere from $50 to as much as $150. I remember when I took on my wife’s insurance under my company, I paid $100 for her and myself, as opposed to her paying $100 by herself! I had a longer driving record with more experience, and she obtained her license in NYC. She was more at risk so she was charged more.
My advice is to pick 3 cmopanies and call them to get a quote. It doesn’t take much time at all.
Make Extra Money
If you don’t know already, making extra money is kinda my thing. I’m an affiliate marketing coach and I teach people how to make money online. I also have a small business consulting company and I show people how to use what they have, in order to generate extra income. My mind is always thinking of new inventive ways to put money in my pockets.
Generating extra money makes the task of saving money for your first car look tiny. Instead of mapping out a plan that can take a year or two, it is possible that you can make this a 3-6 month period of savings. If you’re able to produce $2,000 a month on top of what you already make, that comes up to an extra $6,000 in only 3 months! Is this even possible? You darn skippy it is…
I have built two photobooths. I can charge up to $500/hr of my time to give my services to a customer. At $500, I only need to work 4 hours to make that $2,000. I researched, and looked outside of the box of a job abd fugyred out how I could produce a large amount of income in a short amount of time. I’m simply asking you to do the same thing. I hgibr you many figgerent ideas in my article…………………… and you can get more ideas there.
Negotitate Interest Rate On Credit Cards
Most people are not able to save money because they have too many expenses such as gas bills, light bills, rent or mortgage, etc. Another portion of individuals (myself included), have a ton of credit card debt and this keeps them from saving as much as they could. If you have a few credit cards and your minimum monthly payments are keeping you from saving any money, then this section is for you.
I have a few credit cards bills that are as much as $500 per month. This is because I had 0% credit cards and I neglected to pay them off and now the interest rate is at 24%+ because the promotion is over. When something like this happens, you can have super high monthly payments. When you have payments this high, every single dollar you make goes towards debt. So how do you combat this?
There is a little known secret that no one talks about and credit cards companies will tell you that it doesn’t exist. You, in fact have the power if you have a lot of debt. If you don’t pay your credit card payments, the company is on the line with their investors, so they will try to make deals with you to recoup their money. Did you know that?
Even though they say they cannot lower interest rates, the in fact CAN! So the I need you to pick up the phone and start making some calls. I know this is very intimidating. You may already be a few months past due and you have been avoiding the calls of the bill collectors. I’ve been there. But it is time to take back your power.
Gather all of your credit cards, find the phone number to customer service, which is most likely on the back of your credit cards, and call those bad-boys up. You want to speak to a customer representative and your interest rates. The person who jumps on the phone call will most likely not have the power to do so, and so you ask for a manager who can.
It may take a few tries, but once you get someone, let them know you’re in a financial hardship, and you will finish paying your bills, but you need your interest rate and your payments lowered. Chances are that they have certain program that fit your needs. These programs assure that they can continue to get paid, but it will lighten the burden on you.
Muster up the strength to make the call because by the time you get off, you will feel much better. Once you have rearranged your interest rates and lowered your monthly payment, you now could put this extra money towards saving for your first car, and improving your quality of life.
Open A Savings Account (if you don’t have one)
When it comes to anything financial, it is best practice to try your best to keep things separate, and clean. It keeps you from touching the money in order to use it for anything else, and you can see your goal of getting closer to attain the thing you want to accomplish.
When it comes to saving money for your first car, I personally believe it is best to have a separate account, preferably a savings account, and set that money aside, specifically for purchasing a car. If you have saved $7,000 for a car and you have a checking account that has $2,000, you will then have a total of $9,000. Now imagine pay a few big bills and buying a few gifts for someone, and you have now spent $3,000 in a month. At this point, you have a total of $6,000.
The $7,000 has quickly turned into $6,000. You have officially eaten into the pot of money that set aside for you car, and now you have to save another $1,000 to get to your original amount. If you would have put the money aside, you would not have ever had this problem. To prevent anything like this from happening, I recommend going to your local bank, and opening a new saving account of some sort. There are many types that you can open, but that is another subject.
Know What Car You Want
Do some research and know what you really want. You cannot hit a bulls-eye without a target. In the same way, you are not able to know how much to save and how, unless you know what car you want. Know what cars are fuel efficient and what is not, and see if you’re willing to pay premium gas process or not. All of these little details matter.
Something that you can do, starting today, is going to test drive your ideal cars to see if you actually like it or not. To give you an example, my wife wanted a Hundai Senata. It was her favorite car at the time. It looked sexy in the sun, and to be honest, my wife looked sexy driving it. We went to test drive it while I sat in the backseat while my wife and the salesman sat in the front.
As we drove, I realized that I felt every singe bump in the road as we drove on the highway. My wife felt the samething while she was driving. It probably felt worse. I can tell she wasn’t happy with the drive of the car at all. After dreaming of this car for a whole year, I could literally see the disappointment on her face.
After doing a test drive, we both concluded that the car sucked and it wasn’t worth getting. We then proceeded to drive 3 other cars, we figured out what we liked (rather what she really liked), and then we went ahead a purchased it.
Just imagine how bad we would feel if we would’ve purchased the Hundai Sonata, sight on seen. We would hate the car every single time we would have turned on the ignition. That is not a good sign.
Start Small
I know, I get it. You’re sick of everyone telling you that you can’t afford an expensive high-end car, and that this will not be your only car that you will purchase. you want to find that next Audi or Mercedes, pay forward in cash, and drive it off the car lot while wearing your black gloves in Gucci shades. I can picture you driving now. all flossed up, looking fresh, only to later stop at the gas pump and notice that you have to use premium gas lol. you may care or you may not care about that, but I do advise you to be realistic about your car purchase.
for most individuals who are looking to purchase their first car, they are not looking for a expensive high end car. you may not know the first thing about maintaining a car. all you know is that you want something reliable to get you from point A to point B and nice enough to drive around for people to not laugh at you. my first car honked its horn at people while I waited at the stoplight and people stared at me wondering if I was honking at them. that’s another story….
I want you to have something nice and reliable as you should. you don’t have to get something beat up that may possibly leave you stranded on the side of the road, but at the same time you do not need a car that will cost an extreme amount of money. we are not here to get something and take pictures in front of it to post it on Instagram.
there are a lot of great cars that are both used and new that do not cost a ton of money. they are nice looking, they are reliable, and you may even be able to sell it back to a car dealership to move up to something that you really want in the near future. since we are talking about saving money for your first car, we want to purchase something with the future in mind.
start small, as in, think about something that you need as opposed to something that you absolutely want. after you drive around something that you need for a few years and you learn how to take care of the maintenance can you get a better idea of costs and upkeep, you will be glad that she went this direction because you will already be an expert and know what you really want afterward. I believe in being responsible with all things given to us. if you learn how to steward what you have, I believe that you will be blessed with things that you want because you’ve proven that you can handle it. do not despise the small beginnings. it will all be worth it.
Go At The End Of The Month
if you go to a car dealership to purchase a car, try to go when it’s closer to the end of the month. this is the time where salesman are more flexible and willing to make a deal with better negotiations. they are much more willing to lower the price of a car and give you a better deal to pay a monthly price because they have quotas and goals to reach.
there may be cars on a lot that has set for a long time and nobody has purchased and they want to try and sell them as fast as possible. the car may not be perfect for anybody else but it may be perfect for you. the end of the month is the perfect time to find these type of deals. getting a great deal at the end of the month may not always be the case, but in mini scenarios, you have a higher chances of finding a great deal at the end of the month as opposed to the beginning or the middle of the month.
do some shopping around at different dealerships, do test drives of different cars, and show a little interest but do not commit. when the end of the month comes, go back to the dealership so you want to do another test drive, and then see if you can strike a deal with your expected budget. you may play a little bit of tug tug of war with the salesman but it’s worth the gain if you find the car that you want at the price that you want.
how do I know this tip? I’ve done it a few times in my life and it’s worked like a charm.
Conclusion
In taking the best steps to learning how to save money for your first car, it may difficult or even intimidating to think about the stops to getting to your ultimate goal. You may be in the position of trying to save money when you’re broke, or you may be one of the fortunate who have a decent job and can save money. Either way, each cone of us have our own paths to getting the same thing. My job is to make it easier for you to get there with the least amount of mistakes, and in the shortest time possible. Good luck!