Mistakes

Not being patient and saving up a bigger down payment. Also (because of the low down payment), settling too fast for a car that didn’t have some features I wish I had now

Shopping at the dealership before getting an approval letter with the exact amount that I want to finance with my bank. The dealership will give you amazing incentives since you already pre approved and you are less likely to be impulsive.

Yess get pre approved with ur bank!! I didn’t know that was a thing😭😭

Not thinking about the car seat and the space required. Not all car seats are the same size. Most retailers will list seat compatabilitywith car models. 360° and iso fixed newborn ones take much more space 🥲

That it was leaking carbon monoxide

Not mistakes but here’s what I look out for: For a used car miles matter more than the year it was manufactured! Relative to the age they shouldn’t be too much or too little. I am in the UK where we drive shorter distances so I would not buy a used car with more than 50k miles on it. If it’s more than that the clutch, a lot of belts and other bits and bobs will be worn and will require change. However if you have an old car with very few miles that comes with another host of problems as cars get worn by not being driven as well and that’s pretty bad for the engine. It most likely wasn’t maintained properly. The clutch! It’s my expertise at this point as with my very first car I had clutch issues so now I know what to look for. Making sure it’s not worn, that it has a nice spring to it, it doesn’t stick/lag. How smoothly the gearbox switches between gears. You can recognise quickly if the previous owner knew how to drive or not. I have more but this is what the character allows me.

I bought a car that I thought was “big” but actually with car seats in it there’s very little room. Wish I’d researched which car would be the most practical considering we’ll have car seats for longer than I own the car most likely

@Danni thank you so much! This is so helpful! I recently found a car that was 10 years old but only has 22k miles which I thought was a bit odd. I know miles can be changed, and this is very frustrating! Would love to hear any more useful tips you have. X

@Karen this is awful!! I wish sellers would be upfront about problems

@Ana Moore thank you!! Going to get on my banks case this week! X

@Carmen I think I am able to buy a car in cash.. but have heard finance is better :/ so will put down around 2k in cash... I have no idea what I'm doing really!!

Didn’t save up before passing my test thinking I was going to fail, so I had to finance my car! Also didn’t think about having kids and now I have the task of fighting with the pram in the boot🥴

@Meg my pram is massive!!! The wheels esp. Which car do you drive? X