Once you've decided the general type of car you'd prefer, narrow your search by looking at the running costs for cars of that type from the different car-makers.
Factors like dealers' prices, insurance & servicing costs, fuel economy and depreciation vary a great deal between even similar cars. Getting the detail on these costs will help you make a better choice and could save you hundreds of pounds every single year.
Top of your list here has to be not paying over the odds for the car you want. So pick up a car price guide like Parkers or the What Car Price Guide from your newsagent.
Prices for even almost identical cars vary by a surprising amount from dealer to dealer, so it's vital you get a realistic value to judge advertised prices by. Dealers won't accept the prices in these guides as completely accurate, but you'll be in pretty much the right area.
All but a few extras are worth a fraction of their original cost on a used car. But do expect to pay a bit more for air conditioning, an auto gearbox or leather seats. Metallic paint and alloys will make an ordinary car look a bit special and a sunroof is always a plus. Some cars from small BMWs upwards will be more difficult to sell on if they don't have at least some of these extras.
Power steering, electric windows, central locking and at least one airbag should be pretty much standard kit on most nearly-new used cars these days, so don't let a dealer use these as an excuse for inflated prices.
Next see how much the insurance would cost. Quotes are based on a wide
variety of factors including crash safety, security against break-ins, anti-theft
devices, expense to repair, not to mention the features of the car itself like
age and engine size. So this cost could vary significantly from car
to car and be a major deciding factor in which type of car you finally go for.
Use the range of links to well-known insurance providers that we've put together below to get a selection of quotes:
Admiral
/ Barclays
/ Budget
/ Diamond
/ Direct
Line /
Elephant.co.uk
/
Endsleigh / eSure
/ Green
Insurance Co
Halifax
/ Ibuyeco
/ Kwik
Fit / Marks
& Spencer /
More
Th>n / Natwest
/ Norwich
Union /
Post Office / Privilege
/ RAC
/ Sheila's
Wheels / Swinton
/ Tesco
/ Yes
For more tips on saving cash on your car insurance, read our KwikGuide on how to cut your insurance costs.
Finally, consider other running costs like fuel & servicing costs and - most likely your biggest cost of all - depreciation. Click to read more about how to save.
