By: Gov Auctions | 14 December 2012

Getting the Money Together for Your First Car

It can take a big effort getting together enough money for your first car, but if you are focused, committed and savvy you can be in that great ride before you know it. The following are some tips for getting the money together to pay for your first car.

Prioritise your car budget

If you want to be in your first car sooner rather than later, you will need to make some sacrifices, so start by cutting back on your luxury expenses and diverting that money into your car budget instead. It is amazing how much money you can save in a short period of time by seriously limiting your spending, so whether you eat out a little less or even give up the grog for a few months, put that money towards your car budget instead.

Work more

The more money you make, the sooner you will be able to get that first car, so consider picking up a few extra shifts at work or even a second job. It can be pretty exhausting working extra hours, but even if you can only do so for a few weeks or a month, the boost it will provide your car budget will be huge. Rather than complain that you don’t have your own wheels yet, step up your effort and work harder to get to your goal.

Get a loan

If you need to get that first car sooner rather than later, a great way to go about it is to get yourself a loan. The best-case scenario is if you have friends or family who can loan you the money; otherwise, you can often get short-term loans or lines of credit from your local bank or lending institution. However, only borrow what you can afford to pay back, because a loan is most definitely not free money, and unless you can keep up your repayments your car will likely end up simply being repossessed.

Find the best deals

If you can find the best deals you can often save yourself a huge amount of money, and you can be in that long awaited first car a whole lot sooner if the price is a little more affordable. Some of the best places to find great deals on cars are at vehicle auctions, with government car auctions among your best bets. If you are willing to do your own research, you can also find some extremely good value vehicles for sale online.

Share a car

If you have a close friend or friends who are also looking to get vehicles, rather than all slowly save up for your own cars, why not chip in and share one? This will obviously only work if you and your fellow car owners are close friends that are good at sharing, and it is also crucial that you live somewhat close to each other. However, if you think you can pull off sharing a car, you will have those wheels a whole lot quicker this way.