NGPF Activity Bank

Buying a Car

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RESEARCH: Find Your Next Car�

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In this activity you will:

• Identify what your car needs and preferences are
• Conduct research to find a few cars that meet your needs
• Choose a car and compare how much it would cost you to get it new or used, and finance or lease it

www.ngpf.org Last updated: 11/17/22

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Part I: Needs Assessment

The first step in finding a car is to identify what your needs are.

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PART I

1. Answer the questions on the first page of this interactive from Driverbase.com by sliding the bars to meet your preferences.

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2. At the bottom of the page, you will see a web that visually depicts how important different factors are to you in a car. Take a screenshot of the web and include it on the following slide.

PART I

PART I

My Driving Preferences

PART II

Part II: Explore Your Car Options

Now that you’ve identified your needs and preferences, it’s time to start researching! You’ll use Kelley Blue Book’s Car Finder Tool to narrow your search and find 3 car make and models that meet your needs.

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3. Open Kelley Blue Book’s Car Finder Tool.
4. Using the filters on the left-hand side, choose the options that align with your needs. Follow the directions for the specific filters below when conducting your search:
• PRICE RANGE - Max should be no more than $35k
• CONDITION - SKIP
• MODEL YEARS - Choose the latest year for Min & Max
• VEHICLE SIZE - SKIP

PART II

PART II

• Once you’ve filtered your options, copy/paste the url at the top of your browser so that you can refer back to your search results if necessary.

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• Choose 3 cars that you would be interested in getting from your search results and add them to the next slide. Be sure to include the make and model of each option.

[Make and Model]

[Make and Model]

[Make and Model]

Link to the See Details page for this car

Link to the See Details page for this car

Link to the See Details page for this car

PART II

My Top 3 Cars

PART III

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Part III: Choose a Car

Now that you’ve narrowed down your car options, let’s pick a car!

In this section, you’ll be choosing one car and looking up the price for a new, used, and leased version of that car.

PART III

Narrow your 3 options down to one specific car. To do this, compare the features of your top 3 and determine which one best meets the categories you identified in your needs assessment in Part I. You may also want to read reviews that can be found on Kelley Blue Book.

7. Which car are you choosing?

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• Find a picture of your car and paste it into the following slide.

(Hint: If you want a specific color, Google Image Search the name of the car and the color)

PART III

My Car

Visit Edmunds and search for your car. Adjust the Year Min to be one year less than Year Max and set the Condition to be NEW. Click on a version of the car that you like including color, features, and price.

9. What is the price for your car? (this will sometimes be listed as MSRP or Dealer Price)

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Below the price, click Est. Loan and set the Term (Months) to 60 and a Good credit score on the calculator.

• The suggested down payment for a car is 20% of its value (which includes any trade in value from your current car). What is the suggested down payment amount for your car?

Buying New

Buying New

If you don’t think you can afford 20%, enter a down payment amount that �you think you can afford.

• What is the estimated monthly loan payment for your car at the bottom of the calculator (which includes estimated taxes & fees)?

If the car does not have taxes and fees, you will need to pick a different car.

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• What are the pros and cons of buying this car new?

Pros

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Cons

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Leasing

Now click the Lease Tab at the top of the Payment Calculator.

13. How many months are you leasing the car for?

(36 months is the most common)

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• How many annual miles are you going to purchase with your lease?

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• How much did you put for a down payment? Remember that leases often don’t require a down payment but a lower down payment will result in a higher monthly payment.

Leasing

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• What is the estimated monthly lease payment for your car at the bottom of the calculator (which includes estimated taxes and fees)?

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• What are the pros and cons of leasing this car?

Pros

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Cons

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Buying Used

Go back to the search box at the top of the Edmunds website and search for the three year old version of your car and click “in Used Inventory”. Find a car that you like taking into consideration how many miles the car has been driven, any accidents, number of owners and any features that are important to you.

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• What is the listed price for the car you chose?

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• How many miles has the car been driven?

Buying Used

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Click on the car, then on the Est. Loan link below the price. Enter the same information that you used for the new car.

20. What is the estimated monthly loan payment for your car at the bottom of the calculator (which includes estimated taxes & fees)?

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• What are the pros and cons of buying this car used?

Pros

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Cons

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Reflection

• Now that you’ve had a chance to research your buying options, are you going to buy new, buy used, or lease your car? Explain why you made your decision.

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• What have you learned about the process of researching the options available when buying a car?

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