I got to 30, 2 kids and a college degree, having never driven or owned a vehicle. I recently got my license, and am wanting to start driving, but have no idea how buying a car or getting insurance works. I’m in Alberta, Canada. I have ok credit. I hate the idea of walking into a dealership with no fucking idea what to even say or ask for, and am lacking in parental figures to ask. eli5?
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Oh yay a question I’m uniquely qualified to answer as I live in Sherwood Park. So basically go to a dealership and pick a car you like that has payments within your budget test drive it and talk to the salesman he will then check to see if you qualify for the loan. Once you get the car you go to registries to register it then get insurance. Keep in mind that when you buy a brand new car you need the full insurance (the one that covers your car for damages not just the one that covers any damages to other cars) not just the basic one so one thing I recommend is before buying the car but after picking the car call an insurance company and get a quote to make sure insurance+ car payment is within budget because your a new driver with a new car your insurance is going to be expensive and I know people who’ve fucked themselves because they thought insurance would be like 150$ which is standard for new drivers on fully purchased cars but then found out there insurance would be like 400$.
Do you have an idea of what kind of vehicle you want? Once you do, head to a dealership and do a test drive. You can do the entire purchase through a dealership at which point you call your insurance company and get the vehicle insured and then you go to a registry to get the vehicle registered. Back to the dealership to pick up and away you go. Hope that helps! You may want to shop around for insurance.
Watch videos on common dealership tactics to rope you into paying more, via interest on a loan as an example, definitely shop around dealerships of all neighboring towns to see which one gives you best price, they operate under one vehicle make but are essentially independent of each other.
Bargain, AB is in deep shit of a recession, it’s your golden time to buy as their sales are low now.
If it’s a used car, have a mechanic take a look at it, not the one employed by dealers, an independent one, referral to a one they usually work with is ok.
Shop around for an insurance, get quotes. Some banks, like TD, give you discounts if you purchase multiple products from them, like bank with them, car insurance and home insurance. Get those quotes in writing, like email.
Do the usual dealership thing of buying, others have written on that topic. Take insurance, then go register.
Read the car manual, best QA ever.
Winter tires in AB is a must! See a multiple car pileup? We call it “Annual summer tire club meeting” for a reason.
If you are a new driver, consider a cheaper car because chances of an accident for you are much higher due to inexperience, i.e you can’t predict idiots’ actions and avoid them in a timely manner yet and you will yourself make mistakes too. With that, a cheaper car is cheaper to repair (think honda vs a Mercedes) and if it’s a used one, cheap parts are always are at a local pick-n-pull.
If there is a diesel one, get that, diesel combined with smaller engine means cheaper fuel costs. Mine goes from Calgary to Vancouver on a single tank and some is still left.
As a first car I’d recommend either a bargain basement dealership model or a private purchase, you can get a car that’ll last 2-3 years for less than 3-4 months worth of payments if you don’t need anything special. Then you can beat it up, hit curbs, tap fence posts and not worry as much as it’s a shitbox
I recently had to get auto insurance for the first time (Ontario) and the biggest piece of advice someone gave me was to shop around for auto insurance. Get a bunch of quotes from broker companies (Kanetix, LowestRates, [Rates.ca](https://Rates.ca) etc) and direct insurance companies (Sonnet, TD, Intact etc.) I basically just googled “auto insurance ontario” and used every online quote application I could find.
The way it was explained to me is that it’s worth putting in the research with insurance because when you find a low/the lowest quote, you’ll know for sure that it really is the lowest one. The first quote you get likely won’t be the lowest one which is why it’s worth looking around; again, even if it is, you’ll know for sure if you can compare it other quotes. Some people even do this every year especially if their price goes up a lot when it renews.
When you’re comparing/getting quotes, try to check off the same coverages and amounts so you know you’re actually getting an apple-to-apples comparison.
I ended up going with a broker company: [https://www.foxquilt.com](https://www.foxquilt.com/) because I needed the extra help (I also needed tenant insurance and I had just transferred my US license for an Ontario one.) Also from what I understand, a big part of your insurance price is driving experience. I was getting insane quotes because I’m young (early 20s) and it looked like I had no Canadian driving experience since I had just exchanged licenses. Since you just started driving, this may be the case for you as well so a broker might be more helpful in this scenario too. Hope that helps!
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