Common car-buying mistakes and how to avoid them

There’s a motoring cliché that claims buying a car is the second-most expensive purchase, next to owning a house. A car also plays an integral, pivotal role in our lives as we spend so much time inside of it, especially considering the recent wave of traffic jams that have even spilled out of the Metro. Hence, finding the right car that matches your needs can be a truly nerve-wracking experience, especially for people who don’t understand the technical aspects of the modern automobile or first-time car buyers who saved for a long time to be able to afford their first car.

For those unsure of what to buy with the myriad of choices now in the market—and the fifth Philippine International Motor Show set to unfold at the World Trade Center in a week’s time to offer even more options—we offer these pointers on some common customer mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. The popular choice. Many people buy cars based on the recommendation of their peers, family, friends, colleagues and the media. A particular car might be the hot ticket, the best of the best, but unless you yourself are happy with it, it might as well be the worst car. What to do? Test drive the car that everyone is recommending, and test drive its direct competitors so you have a reference for what is at least comfortable for you, and easy for you to drive and to handle in and around town, in traffic or on the highway. It’s easy to be an armchair critic/expert when it’s not your own money that’s at stake.

2. Too fast, too furious. I see this as a common mistake especially for the well-moneyed: They buy themselves or their kids a fast, flashy, high-performance car, but lack the experience, the discipline and the skills to use them safely. Today’s modern performance cars have computing power comparable to the lunar mission a generation ago, but you can only fool physics so much. Tempt fate and you’ll find that things get pear-shaped all too quickly, endangering your life as well as the lives of other motorists and pedestrians. What to do? Join high-performance driving courses such as Tuason Racing School’s Supercar Driving Classes to understand the basics of high-performance driving, gain valuable seat-time on a high-powered car and, crucially, learn how to discipline your driving with the right technique and gain confidence to expertly control your car.

3. Big car, small driver. Though not so common nowadays, I’ve seen drivers barely over 5 feet tall driving a lumbering SUV because they want to feel safe and secure, and have a commanding view of the road. The problem is, once inside tight city streets, they tend to bump or crash into, or scrape parked cars, the sidewalk and pedestrians. What to do? Sit inside the vehicle you’re eyeing, and make sure you can see the edges and extremities of the car from inside the cabin and minimize blind spots. If there are angles from inside the car that you can’t see out of, or spots where you can’t see the road ahead or even just a few meters from where you are sitting, you’d have to have telepathic abilities or impressive spatial skills to be driving that big, lumbering SUV.

4. Purchase price versus maintenance cost versus overall running cost. Let’s define some parameters: Purchase price is the cost of acquiring the vehicle (including registration fees, insurance, finance charges, etc.); maintenance cost is essentially the preventive-maintenance schedule cost (which includes consumable parts like oil/fluids, filters, brake parts and other wear-and-tear items); and overall running cost, usually pegged at a per-kilometer basis, factors in depreciation over a realistic time frame of three to five years. Most people buy cars based simply on purchase price, often forgetting the maintenance cost and the overall running cost over time. It’s a fact: Some car companies have more expensive parts and service rates compared with others, and many people miss out on this. While car companies are getting very creative selling cars with cheap, easy-to-own financing/leasing packages, the maintenance cost can be a real deal-breaker as cost varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Factor in the depreciation included in the overall running cost per kilometer over a period of time, and you end up regretting you even bought the car. What to do? Before buying a car, research on how much the typical periodic maintenance service costs, consult with others on securing parts and services from alternate, independent specialty repair shops, and check the second-hand market for an indication of how much value the car you plan to buy will retain after three  to five years.

5. Shop around for other necessities. When buying a car on loan, you have to consider the interest rates the financing companies will give you. Typically, in-house financing offered by dealerships is the highest you will find, but the flip-side is fast approval. Look elsewhere, however, and you can find much better deals on the interest rates. Tip? The small- to medium-sized banks typically offer significantly better interest rates than the larger banks because they are more aggressive. Another factor is insurance: Try to see which insurance companies offer the best deals, can break up the payments over a six-month period and can throw in other freebies such as “Acts of God” (AOG) coverage and the like, as most financing companies now demand AOG on top of the typical accident/theft insurance coverage. AOG normally adds a further 20 percent to your existing insurance premium sans AOG.

6. Poor aftersales service. Once in a while, I get a few e-mails about bad service from the established dealership chains. Poor aftersales can make the ownership experience really bad despite owning a very good, well-made and technically proficient car. I always tell people to take their cars to dealerships that have a very high customer satisfaction rating. You should also check which dealerships have the best mechanics as car companies often sponsor mechanics Olympics to find out which dealerships in their network have the best, most technically proficient mechanics.

7. RTFM. That is a common phrase in America and Europe, which stands for Read The F*&#%$g Manual. In buying a car and ensuring you get the most out of it throughout its service life, you should read and understand the various manuals included with  the car for proper vehicle operation and care, the parts and services available for free or under warranty, and the preventive maintenance schedule. Failure to fully understand the intricacies of car ownership, particularly warranty-related claims surrounding car ownership, can be a very stressful experience. Read, understand and go about accordingly.

8. Bench racing. For lack of a better term, people like to compare a car’s features with those of its competitors without actually driving them. Car A has xxx HP/torque versus Car B. Or Car C has more gears than Car D, blah blah blah, blah, blah, blah. While features are important, particularly safety features, getting behind the wheel of the car, test-driving it, and seeing how comfortable, confident and controllable the car is  for you is still more important and will tell you more important factors, traits and characteristics about a car. As they say, numbers don’t lie, but they also never tell the complete, decisive and conclusive truth, often shedding some idea of a car’s performance in extremes, something we all very rarely ever get to find out and experience anyway.

All told, the best tip I can give is that regardless of what you read, what other people tell you and what you think is the best option, don’t ever buy any car until you have test-driven it as much as you want over a variety of roads and traffic conditions, and you’ve asked everything you can possibly ask on maintenance, running cost and depreciation to the sales executive handling your account and to owners of similar cars.

One of the worst things in life is to wake up with the realization that you’re stuck with a very expensive purchase you never wanted in the first place.