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Thursday, May 11, 2017

Buying A Car? What To Look For When You Take A Test Drive

Most car buyers don't do more than the most perfunctory test drive of new or used cars. But with so much new technology and features in today's cars and trucks, a thorough test drive is more important than ever.

According to a survey by Cox Automotive only 32 percent of consumers know the exact vehicle they want when they start car shopping. But 55 percent test drive only one vehicle — the one they end up purchasing. You're likely to try on more than one pair of shoes or hat, even when they have your size and you know what it is.

Ron Montoya with Edmunds.com, the car buying website, says a lot of people think, " 'Hey, this car's new. I'm driving an old car. I don't really need to drive this new car. Anything is going to be better than what I'm currently driving.' So they don't test-drive it."

But they should. The average car on the road is over 10 years old. Technology has changed significantly in the last decade, so many of the features on that new vehicle may be unfamiliar. Things such as drive assist, lane keeping, and turn assist weren't around just a few years ago.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's just to many gadgets on
the new cars. Just another
thing to repair. In order to
get less "bells/whistles" you
have to special order

Anonymous said...

I've got a 1976 Chevy Malibu 2 door with hand crank windows and am/fm radio if you are interested. No special order required.

Anonymous said...

I know more and more people, mostly 55 and older, who need a new car, but have test driven, and decided it was simply too complicated and keep spending more to keep the old car on the road.