How To Not Get Screwed When Buying A Car | The 3-Minute Guide

Erin from Broke Millennial preps you to buy a new car.

Determine your car’s trade-in value:

Know your rights:

Research models you like:

DMV VIN check:

Auto Check:

CarFax:

Dearler Markups:

The Financial Diet site:

[alexandra]

One other thing to check before buying is the cost of the insurance. I worked for a car insurance company for a few years and you wouldn’t believe how many people called AFTER buying a new used car and were SHOCKED by how expensive the insurance was. You can always call your insurance company to get a quote on how much the insurance is going to be BEFORE you purchase.

[theStarker]

Something important that people don't think of: Consider the maintenance of the vehicle you're buying over the years. You may be able to afford the payments on a BMW or Volkswagon but if something goes wrong having the car go into the shop can be way more than something older or domestic to your region.

[WhoIsHena]

I haven’t seen a First Time Renters Guide. That would have been so helpful for me.

[Oraldragons]

My mom fell for a dealer’s tricks because she didn’t read through the contract thoroughly. They added on an extra $3000 worth of stuff and charged her a higher rate than they agreed to! Read through everything!

[valramos]

Average consumer tip: haggle on the base price, not the monthly payments. Think of it as trying to shave of a couple of monthly payments worth off of the base price.

ie. trying to get $1000 off of the base price is almost equivalent to maybe saving 3 or 4 months worth of monthly payments.

Additional tip: avoid the add-on warranties.

[dylongarrett]

The pre-approval is A+ advice. The rate on a loan from a credit union is MUCH better than any rate you will ever get from a dealership - any dealership

[cheyennehawes]

I'm getting ready to buy my first new (to me) car and this is super helpful! Thank you 🙌

[kkaaccyy]

This came at the BEST time!!! I'm on the hunt for a car & it's so frustrating

[kwebst]

I hate buying cars, I always feel ripped off and half the time I have been. Thank you for this.

[madeline]

I wish I would have known about pre-approval before I walked into a dealership. But unfortunately, my parents don't know much and just convinced me that "you graduated college, you deserve a new car."

[NoraTKD]

I am not going to buy a car anytime soon but I clicked on the video just to listen to your advice :)

[madeline]

OMG I love the Matilda shot at the beginning! :D

[valueking]

I will definitely come back to this when I'm ready to buy a car great tips.

[priyabuddhavarapu]

Hey you guys! I love your videos — just had a question/comment. I'm a university student studying climate science, and I've noticed that a lot of the women writing for TFD are in the business. Do you have any content that is specifically curated for women in STEM? I think some of your career and college advice, while solid, works a lot better for things related to degrees and career paths that are a lot less structured. I would love to read some stuff from women of more diverse professional backgrounds — not just STEM, but even hospitality, the arts, education, IT work, public policy, the works! And if you have any content matching that description already, could someone point me in that direction!

Again love your work, and I get a lot out of it — just some feedback, because I think you guys produce super high quality content for young professional women that is filling a /much/ needed niche in an oversaturated market! Thanks again!

[elizabethmendoza]

It's like you guys can read my mind I needed this video thank you so much I appreciate it!!!

[KageKuroiNeko]

Thank you!! I'm shopping around for a car and only had in mind to look up the rates of the car I want to try to keep me from being cheated into a higher price. Also!!! The car history is important!!!! It's my first question when people have tried recommending a used car. If the person trying to sell it to you gets angry or acts strangely because of that, it's not a good sign. It means something is up with the car that they don't want you to know. It's too dangerous to not ask the car's history and could cost you financially or worse in the long run. My older brother (who I have a volatile relationship with and am no longer talking to--which is for the best) tried to get me to buy his friend's used car and got all angry and yelled at me for asking, which in turn made me not even consider buying because it was so sketchy.

[bigghoss]

I always pay cash for my vehicles, it is absolutely a realistic strategy. For the last 5 years I've been driving a truck that I only paid $1700 for and the AC and cruise control worked. Just this season the AC crapped out and a bunch of other stuff is starting to go, turns out that pretty much everything on it is original, even the R12 freon in the AC system. I'll probably end up putting more into repairs than the truck is worth but that's spread out over 5 years and I'm still less than $4000 into it including purchase price. It would be even more economical if I felt like doing the work myself but I can just pull an OT shift and pay a mechanic to do it.

[unintendedfairytale]

This video couldn’t have come at a better time!!!

[mmayka]

Thank you for the valuable information. Could you also do a segment on buying a home?

[unleashingpotential-psycho]

I like to buy a car through Costco since they have a program where you don't have to haggle, you automatically get a certain amount off. That is how I bought my car.