When you have a family, all things in your life change, including your needs for a vehicle. So whether you’re needing to fit more kids into your car or you’re about to have a teen that will start driving soon, too, there are a lot of things you need to weigh when getting a new vehicle for your family.
To help you in figuring all of this out, here are three things to consider when buying a new family vehicle.
Find A Time That Works For The Whole Family
Since your new family car is one that’s going to be used by the entire family, be it as passengers or potentially as future drivers, Matt Jones, a contributor to Edmunds.com, recommends that you bring the whole family along with you when doing your car shopping.
While this can be inconvenient and might be hard to match up everyone’s schedules for a few hours while you shop and test drive, having everyone come along will ensure that you get a car that suits everyone’s needs. You’ll be able to fit everyone in and see how a full car feels. Also, you’ll be able to see how all potential drivers feel being behind the wheel, since you won’t want to get a car that your teen drivers don’t feel confident driving.
Prioritize Safety
Although buying a family car can get expensive, what you don’t want to sacrifice on for the sake of saving money is the safety of the vehicle.
According to Jack R. Nerad, a contributor to Parenting.com, it’s a good idea to check out cars and their safety ratings before you actually go out shopping. This way, you can know which cars are going to be safest for your family and you won’t get persuaded to purchase a less safe vehicle simply because it looks great or comes at a cheaper price. When the life and health of your family is at stake, you don’t want to compromise on safety.
Two Vehicles Versus Bigger Vehicles
Depending on the size of your family, you may want to think about getting two vehicles rather than going with a larger vehicle that will fit everyone.
Duane Sayaloune, a contributor to Car And Driver, shares that while many families will opt for larger, more expensive vehicles that fit their whole family at the same time, if you don’t have the money to spend on these larger vehicles or you have multiple drivers that can make owning more vehicles make sense, you might want to consider just getting two smaller, less expensive vehicles. Especially if everyone won’t be going to the same place very often, this could prove to be more cost effective, too.
If you’re in the market for new transportation for your family, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you find the right solution.