The Talk: Shopping for Your Dream Car
Senior Director of Consumer Marketing for AutoTrader.com, Jessica Stafford was on the show to share her tips and tricks for finding the right car for you.
Shopping for a new car be be complicated and stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. How do you get started? Jessica said to start by being open, because there’s over 300 kinds of cars and trucks, so if you only stick to the brands you’re familiar with, you might miss out on something that could be great for you.
The Talk: Set a Budget & Make a List to Find Your Dream Car
Jessica Stafford from AutoTrader shared her tips and tricks for finding your dream car. (Michael Shake / Shutterstock.com)
Another great tip Jessica gave for finding your dream car is to set a budget up front. She said, “the last thing you want to do is fall in love with your dream car and then not be able to afford it.”
She suggested making a list of all the things you really need in a car, versus the things that would be nice to have. But how do you figure out what you need versus what you want?
She said a great place to start would be your current car. She explained that if you’re always complaining about not having enough room for all your things, you may want to start with trunk space or a third row seat. She said you should prioritize your must-haves.
The Talk: Most Important Car Feature
Jessica wanted to help find the audience their dream car, so she played a game called “This Car’s For You.” The ladies of The Talk asked on their website, “what’s most important to you in a new car?” Is it all weather, audio system, seating and storage, or convenience/comfort? The most popular answer was audio systems.
Jessica said the great thing about AutoTrader.com is that you don’t have to actually know what car you’re looking for to start your search. She said you can start by searching for the features that are most important to you.
Because The Talk viewers chose audio systems, she started the search by looking at audio and entertainment features. She said by searching that way, you can discover cars you didn’t know existed or thought you couldn’t afford. She also explained that you can save the search you’ve been working on and even save the car to your account if you find your dream car.
The Talk: Auto Trader Price Monitoring
But what if your dream car is more than you budgeted for? Jessica explained that you can set up alerts to monitor the price of that vehicle and you can be notified if the price goes down.
I just bought a new car for the first time last year, and if I had to give someone advice I would suggest also paying attention to sales or deals that dealerships are running. I got a brand new car with 0% interest, which was perfect for me giving that I had to budget for a new baby. Finding and buying a new car doesn’t have to be a nightmare!
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