Many established car manufacturers are now offering consumers the option to ‘build your car’ online, providing a growing number of consumers with an opportunity to personalise their hunt for their dream car without having to step foot in a dealership until further down the road. These online ‘build-a-car workshops’ can look relatively simplistic, but they definitely should be used with other references and resources in your process of buying a new car. Here’s the real way you should go about designing your ideal vehicle.
Step 1: Identify your ideal vehicle
The preliminary step in this process is by far the lengthiest step, but also the most important. Before you even think about what colour car you might like, you absolutely need to have a strong idea of what kind of car you’d like to be driving. Choosing the perfect car for you is all about doing some independent research on cars that may be available to you, and taking some time to compare models to one another comparing qualities like features, integrated technology, ANCAP safety ratings, storage capacity, and fuel efficiency, to name a few. You might find that the list of features worth considering is quite exhaustive by nature, and so it’s also worth prioritising features that you might like your future car to come equipped with, just so you’ll be guaranteed to be able to use those features once you’re able to decide on any particular model. Similar to construction where they have takeoff services, do some research on pricing options so you’re not smacked with any surprise fees.
Step 2: Find your dealer
After finding your ideal vehicle, it’s finally time to physically source that vehicle. If you’re looking to buy a brand new car, this is most likely going to be an easier step for you than most. All you really need to do is consult your chosen manufacturer’s website and find your local dealership. Once you’ve been able to find your dealer, you’ll want to organise a test drive, to ensure that you’re able to get behind the wheel and take the model out for a spin before you go making any big purchases. Test drives are incredibly important as they’ll allow you to get a good feel for the car and how it handles, as well as gain a working understanding of the car’s more intricate functionality or in other words the layout of all the interior controls, including the stereo system, navigation system, cruise control, parking sensors, as well as any specialised features like convertible tops.
Step 3: Final customisations
Once you’ve taken your car out for a test drive, and you’ve been able to settle on a singular model, it’s time for the real customisation to finally begin. Although ‘build-a-car’ workshops allow for you to pick things like transmission and paint jobs virtually, it’s still worthwhile having this discussion in your local dealership, especially if you’re looking to buy brand new. Aside from being able to offer you competitive deals on additional accessories amongst other things, communicating (and negotiating) with a reputable dealer will also ensure that you’ll be buying from a trusted source, which also means that you’ll be walking out with a consumer warranty that’s still intact.
If you’ve been able to follow these three quick and easy steps, alongside doing thorough independent research, you’ll be able to build your own car and drive away in it in next to no time at all.