Steps For Buying A Car

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About a year and a half ago I found myself in the market for a car. I had moved from Baltimore to Austin car less. In Texas, I found it to be extremely difficult to get around without a car. This brought me to the purchase of a 2005 Toyota Corolla.

The five steps in the decision making process needed to decide what to do in my situation includes; 1) Problem recognition, 2)Information search, 3)Evaluation of alternatives, 4)Product choice, and 5)Post purchase evaluation. I was tired of the poor mass transportation in Texas, a car would give me more freedom and time. I needed a car! During my information search, I asked my friends in Austin (Rebekah and Dan) why they chose the cars they have. We looked online at car maker websites such as Mazda, Toyota, Honda and Nissan. Dan pulled up www.edmunds.com which helped them in their decisions. I also spoke to my friend in Corpus Christi who had recently bought a Toyota Tacoma. For further information, I called my dad and asked him what he thought about the cars out there. He had been car shopping himself. He had bought all of the car comparison magazines including Car and Driver, Consumer Reports, etc. When I was evaluating the alternatives or evaluating criteria, I finally narrowed it down to the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Tacoma, and Honda Civic. I proceeded to write down the pros and cons of each automobile. Finally, in the fourth decision step, I decided on the Toyota Corolla. The car pretty much sold itself. I liked the car since it had great gas mileage, was visually appealing, reliable, and great acceleration for a manual 4 kicker. The interior looks like it belongs in a more expensive car, and ability to seat 4 adults comfortably. Often times, after I have made a ...

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...e. The product itself came washed and vacuumed, had a full tank of gas and a 3yr/36,00mi bumper to bumper warranty. Toyota priced their quality product at a decent cost allowing me to purchase it. The after purchase services included free oil changes when I get the changes done at their facility in Austin. Usually they have a 30 minutes to an hour turnaround with most basic services. Toyota also offers extended warranties to your tires, paint, engine, etc. Security systems, roadside assistance, gap insurance are also items you can tack on the the package and cost of your car. The tricky part is they will tell you what extra services or products you can purchase. They then proceed to tell you practical instances when you wish you had these "extras." The name of the game is to make the buyer believe they cannot imagine how they can live without these "extras."

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