Planning to Buy a New Car? Follow this Checklist!

In life, we experience many thrilling experience, one of them, is driving home, a brand new car. This one, Is really special occasion of your life, as you have worked hard and saved the money, so that you can fulfill your dream of owning a new car. While driving your new car, you usually have so many emotions, which are usually joyous and happy. This is really good, wait, you must take a few precautions, before you take delivery of your new vehicle. For your convenience, we have listed some of the very important points, which you must consider and it would definitely help you with pre-delivery of inspection of your new vehicle.

Check list for buying a new car

Invest some time in Research

When you are planning to buy a new car, then you must invest some time in research and find out answers to some of these questions, these answers you have found, would help you make well informed decisions, hence you will not regret later. Some of the questions you must ask yourself is, First one, what would be the most common use of the car? The second would be, whether you require boot space or not? , the third would be Do you need 7 seater or 5 seater for your family? And the last one is there any specific model of the car you like very much?

Before registration, inspect the vehicle

You must not wait till the time; the vehicle you have purchased has been registered in your name. If that happens, it means, limited liability to the dealer and issues. If anything has to be rectified, then only those which comes under the warranty would be dealer's responsibility, for the rest, you need not pay. One must always ensure to check both month and year of production of the vehicle, you are considering to buy. You can ask the dealer, Form 22 certificate; this would help get details about the engine/chasis number and road worthiness certificate issued as part of Form 22, which would provide details of Month/year of manufacture. You must also check as to whether the odometer cable is not disconnected, if it is, then there is a possibility that the vehicle might have been used as a demo car.

Exterior inspection of the vehicle: Have a good look of car exteriors

You might feel that it is not a pleasant sight to have a look at the regular movement of the inventory at dealer stockyards and especially when weather changes might result in issues such as rusting and paint/body damage. Firstly, you must have a physical inspection of the vehicle carefully and also you must enquire about any visible damage. If any, you must get a written confirmation from the dealer, you must also ensure that it is fixed before the vehicle is delivered. You must also start the engine in order to check for unusual or rattling noises.

Interior inspection of the vehicle: Check the car interiors

One must check the interior of the vehicle, if there is any damage to the upholstery. As mentioned earlier, the stockyards are a messy place. Hence, one should thoroughly inspect the quality of the dashboard seats as well as floor carpet. You must also look for any visible signs of damage because of water seepage. All the three, electronics, glove box and seat belts must function as expected. The air conditioned must function normally and it should not emit any unexpected odor.

Check Extra Features

Each year, potential car buyers spend a lot of money for extra car features for their new vehicles. They do not mind to spend a bit extra to have these features in their cars. The additional features, which can range from an optional AC system to assisted drive technology. Some of the top extra car features, which customers would like be installed in their new vehicle are cruise control, blind spot detection, Wheel drive, automatic transmission, movie players and screens, sunroof, navigation system, leather seats and more.

Test Drive: This will help make better decision

This is definitely significant step; test drive helps evaluate the performance of the car. Sometimes, you might be wanting to buy a new vehicle, but finding it very difficult to make a decision as to which one. Do not panic, you can book a test drive for one of the models you wish to test drive. Due to recent corona pandemic, there has been some changes in the rules, you need to book for test drive. For example, Tata motors has stated that, only one person would be allowed to drive the vehicle along with the dealer staff, the dealer staff would be seated in the rear seat, to avoid physical contact. Following the test drive, the vehicle used for test drive would be fully sanitized, which includes replacement of protective cover shielding the interiors of the vehicle that come in contact while driving.

Finance: Check your budget

One of the important considerations is finance; you must check your budget and ensure you should not get ripped off, while you choose to buy a new car. A car is second most expensive purchase after a house purchase in any one life. Check whether you have surplus income, which you can allocate for payment towards the car, after meeting other essential; payments. It is always better to make higher down payment, so that you can make the rest of the payments without much trouble. If you do not have any credit or you have credit score which needs to be improvement, you must be wary of dealership salespeople, who might try to talk you for the longer financial term. You would end up paying significantly more interest over the period of time, which can negatively impact your future finances.

Choose the right car insurance

While choosing the right car insurance, you must always try to compare the plans in terms of sum insured, exclusion and inclusions of the policy, type of add-ons offered, claim process as well as deductible etc. Try to choose a plan, which is cost effective for the premium you pay. You can also choose, additional coverage options, which you can purchase by paying the additional premiums.

Paper work: This one is not an optional step but, must one, inspecting documents

Once you are fully convinced, the vehicle which you are planning to buy is free of niggles. Then next, you must have your focus on the documentation process. You must also ensure the VIN is the same as one appearing on the bill of sale, finance, lease of agreement and registration certificate. You must also ensure to check details of insurance and file receipts of all payments done towards the registration as well as accessories.

Time of delivery of vehicle

You must also ensure that the owner manual as well as the service booklet has been stamped by the dealer having correct details. It is important, that high security number plates is mandatorily fixed before the delivery of a new car in the most cities. Hence, one must keep in mind that the color of the vehicle is unlikely to get changed at a later date. During the time of delivery of the vehicle, it would be delivered to you along with registration copy, tax receipts and pollution certification along with it copy of vehicle insurance. The hard copy of the vehicle registration certificate must be sent directly to your registered address within two months.