Budget for Buying a Car

What is My Budget?

It is rare these days that an individual buy a car for cash unless it is one sold by a private party for a couple of thousand. Car financing tends to be the most common method used to obtain the funds to buy a car. However, you still need to take a look at your budget to ensure you can afford the monthly payment. Fortunately, most people are very much aware of what their car budget is. If you don’t, then take these items into consideration before applying for car financing:

• Set a budget and do not deviate from it in any way
• Figure up how much cash you actually have after paying all of your current bills
• Take into consideration maintenance costs and the average cost to fuel a car
• Determine whether you need a brand new car or can settle with a used one
• Find a payment calculator on the internet and try to figure in the car finance interest rates that are most common. Right now the average car loan interest rates are 7.09% on a used car loan for a term of 36 months and 6.46% on a new car loan for a term of 60 months

By using such a calculator, you have the ability to see what your car financing monthly cost would be on the cars you are interested in, including the car finance interest rates on those cars. Just keep in mind that the interest rates do fluctuate, but the above percentages will still help you get close to what car financing would cost you.

Basically, you want to do your homework first before jumping into a car purchase. When you have a perfectly functional car and enough money in your pocket, you’ll be glad you did.