Buying your first car can be a really stressful experience for some. Different people giving different opinions, confusing technical terms and jargon and with so many different places to consider buying it can be tempting to just jump in and buy something without first taking the time to do some proper research.

Well this needn?t be the case and this quick guide has been written with two sections, one for new car buyers and one for buyers looking for a second hand car and has been designed to help you avoid the pitfalls that can happen when picking your next car.

Which Car?

The first thing that you obviously need to do is decide what kind of car you want. At this point it?s important to remain realistic and keep to what you can afford. Things like fuel economy, insurance, servicing costs and road tax are all things that need to be taken into account. Modern supermini?s like the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo and Vauxhall Corsa are much larger than previous older models and offer the sort of space older luxury cars would offer without the high fuel and servicing costs. You may also want to consider a diesel car as most supermini?s are available with a diesel variant and as well as obviously being more fuel efficient, saving money on fuel they will also be more desirable when it comes time to sell.

Where Should I Buy?

Most buyers will shop immediately at the local franchised dealer for their next car as it is usually the safest and easiest way but if you have nothing to part exchange then you may find that alternative ?independent? dealers can save you a lot of money off the screen price although you may have to do a bit of shopping around and traveling if you have an exact model, specification and colour you are looking for.

Another alternative that has become very popular in recent years is to visit a car supermarket. Car supermarkets know which cars are popular and most will bring them in from Europe direct from manufacturers or source them here in the UK. Although this route probably wont be as cheap as going to an independent dealer there will most certainly be savings over a franchised dealer and a lot of the work in finding your exact requirements can be done by them, saving you a lot of hassle and legwork.

Car Insurance

Now if you are young and you have only just passed your driving test the insurance companies are going to see you as a very high risk and the price for your first years insurance is never going to be cheap. A lot of first time drivers think that by adding themselves to their parent insurance policy is going to make things cheaper but nowadays insurance companies are wise to this and simply increase the parents premium so there really is little to gain especially if you were to have an accident as they run risk of losing their no claims bonus. Starting fresh with your own insurance policy also benefits you in the long term as you will be able to grow your own no claims bonus which will save you money if in a few years? time you decide to purchase something a little larger or sportier.

There are some things you can do to help keep your insurance cost to the minimum however. You should work out roughly how many miles you think you will be doing each year as obviously the less time you will be using the car the less risk it is to the insurance company. It is also extremely important to shop around and use your quotes against other companies to beat them down in price, another good option is to use a comparison website like ?gocompare? or ?moneysupermarket? as these will help you compare different offers in one website without having to visit site after site and complete form after form.

There is also a post driving instruction course called ?Pass Plus? which is backed by the Driving Standards Agency that is designed to help new driving cope with driving in different more hazardous conditions. There is no exam to take and as long as the instruction is happy that you have understood the course this can save you up to 25% off your insurance premium with many big names such as Direct Line and Aviva.

Part Exchange

If you do have a car your parent might be looking to part exchange to help you out you should always shop around for a price to sell it for cash as this puts you in a better position to negotiate on your new car. Websites such as webuyanycar.com will make you a cash offer to purchase your car immediately for cash allowing you to approach the dealer with no part exchange and hopefully receive a better deal. You can also benefit from using our comparison website www.dealerbid.co.uk which will offer your car to hundreds of car buying companies and motor dealers in the UK allowing you to compare offers and find the strongest buyer.

Some Helpful Tips

Whenever visiting a dealer always try to keep focused that you are in charge of what you are going to buy and don?t let any sales people sell to you.

Don?t pay over the odds for a car just because it?s got some extra specification. Sure things like SatNav, parking sensors and leather are nice but you will only get a fraction of the extra money you are paying for them back when you come to sell the car.

Try to take the car for a long test drive. Make sure you are comfortable not only driving it but parking it also. Make sure you understand all the controls and that you would be happy driving the car for some time as many people don?t do this and later realise it?s not the car for them and have to sell it on and can lose a lot of money. And remember just because the dealer has been nice enough to let you take the car for a test drive doesn?t mean you have to buy it.

When looking at colours think carefully. Sure you might think that a bright lime green car looks great or maybe even bright pink but think about when you need to sell it on. These colours are in very low demand and you could end up struggling to move it on or even worse be forced to accept a really low offer in part exchange. Colours like metallic blue, silver and grey are always popular, but if looking at blue make sure its metallic and not what people in the trade call ?Doom Blue? solid blue.