5 Things to Consider When Buying a Car for a Young Driver

The process of buying a car for a first-time driver is not the same as the car buying process for a regular driver with years of experience. You need to buy a vehicle that will be safe first and foremost, and you also have to think about the safety of the other people on the road as well. Buying the right car will also help new drivers start their driving journey on the right foot, and slowly get some experience until they can move on to more advanced models. Let’s take a look at a few things you should consider when buying a car for a young driver.

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Look at Safety Ratings

The very first thing you should do when looking at vehicles for a new driver is to look at the safety ratings. This is something all drivers should do, in fact, but it’s shocking to see how many people have never checked safety ratings as they say a lot about a vehicle.

Safety ratings are about more than performance on crash tests. They also show how good a vehicle is at avoiding accidents. This means that a car with a higher safety rating will usually be easier to drive, more agile, and have better safety features. It will also have a better braking system.

So, you should never overlook this and only stick with vehicles that have a stellar safety rating. To make things easy for you, you should look for a list of the highest-rated vehicles in that category and narrow your choice down based on type, costs, and other metrics.

Choose a Cost-Efficient Vehicle

While you may be the one buying the car, there’s a strong chance that your son or daughter will be the one that will handle the fuel and maintenance costs. So, you have to be careful there and pick a car that won’t cost too much in fuel or maintenance.

Finding out which vehicles are the most fuel-efficient is pretty simple. All you have to do is run a search for the most fuel-efficient vehicles and find a list. Knowing how much a car will cost to run over its lifespan is a bit more difficult, however.

The best move here would be to build a list of suitable vehicles and speak with a few mechanics in your area. They’ll be able to tell you which cars are known for having recurring issues and which ones cost the most to repair. They may also be able to recommend some vehicles that would be perfect for a first driver.

It would also be a good idea to consider electric vehicles. These are less likely to break down and cost a lot less to run. Your child will be happy that they only have to spend a few pounds per week to run them, and these vehicles tend to be very safe as well, so look at the options on the EV side too.

Privilege Newer Models

You might be tempted to buy a slightly older vehicle for savings or because you see them as a good option for practice, but you have to be careful here. An old vehicle will not have all the latest features and will not be as safe as recent models. Not only that, but it will usually be fuel-efficient and more prone to breakdowns which will invalidate any savings you are hoping to make.

If you decide to buy a used vehicle, you have to make sure that you take it on a proper test drive from Dayton Toyota dealers before you buy it.

Go for a Proper Test Drive

If you decide to buy a used vehicle, you have to make sure that you take it on a proper test drive before you buy it. And by that, we mean that you have to drive it both in the city and at high speed. If you don’t drive it on a motorway during your test, you will not know how well the vehicle performs and you might be in for a nasty and even dangerous surprise once you do. So, be very careful there, and make sure that the person you’re buying the car for is the one doing the driving to ensure that they are comfortable with the way it drives.

Shop Around for Insurance and Financing

Insurance will usually be more expensive for a new driver, so you’ll need to choose their first insurer wisely. Some insurers will be more favourable to new drivers, and you might be surprised at how wide the gap can be between different insurance providers.

This is why you should spend time comparing multiple providers before you pick your insurance. A good move here would be to use a comparison site. These will allow you to compare quotes very fast and get your policy right from their site in some cases.

Another area where you should do some shopping around is the financing. Many sites will allow you to compare car finance as well and find the best car finance deals available. This will allow you to avoid getting a bad deal from a dealer and get something that won’t be too much of a drag on your budget.

These are all things that you need to watch out for when looking for a vehicle for a new driver. Make sure to focus on safety first and foremost and try to get them involved in the buying process as soon as possible too.