Tips for buying a car as a Christmas gift

We all have seen the commercials on TV that suggest a car can make an ideal gift this Holiday season. And while a car can make for a terrific gift for someone special on your list, you need to begin the process by setting some reasonable expectations. Here are some tips to help you save time, money, stress, and, most importantly, to give a gift that will be cherished for years to come.

Importantly, if you are considering buying a car for a spouse as a family purchase, both of you should list the types of features that will suit your family, both now and in the future. NADA and Edmunds have really great “car selection” tools that compare models against feature sets. This can be invaluable for narrowing down options to exactly the car that will work for your entire family.

The next thing I recommend is to balance what your family needs in a car with what your spouse wants in the car. After all, you intend this car to be a gift! Almost every shopper has a brand or model in mind when they start the process. I firmly believe that consumers should make sure they factor in some of the “want” in deciding on the right model. This will help with buyer’s remorse and for ensuring you are happy with the purchase long after the “honeymoon” phase.

If you’re considering giving a gift to your teenager or college student, make sure you consider options such as trunk space for transporting items between home and their home away from home. Also, purchasing cars with slightly lower horsepower or without turbo chargers can dramatically lower monthly auto insurance premiums for a young driver, so check with your insurance agent ahead of purchasing.

With all of the online car-buying tools at your disposal it is important to educate yourself about car values before you start shopping. The only problem with all of these tools is that it’s hard to know exactly what a car is worth. For pre-owned cars it’s still the age-old “supply and demand” principle. No matter what the books say if there are only a handful of a specific car you want available in your region you can expect to pay towards the high end of the spectrum. If you have some flexibility in color and mileage options this opens up the best possible deals. I really like the new site CarGurus for seeing what cars are selling for across the country in a very streamlined way.

Lastly, as you are holiday car shopping, it’s key to know that there are more resources than ever. There are advocate sites like TrueCar and car buying programs through USAA and other national brands. I started my company iDrive On Demand for this same purpose, to give shoppers a different way to find the exact pre-owned car they want without the typical headaches of dealer to dealer shopping. No matter how you go about it just try to make it fun while knowing that special someone will love such an unforgettable and personal gift.

Ryan Alford is Co-founder and President of iDrive On Demand, innovators in custom order, pre-owned car buying. iDrive On Demand, with locations in Greenville, SC and Jacksonville, FL, was founded in 2012 with a clear mission: revolutionize the used car-buying experience. iDrive will research, hand-pick and deliver the used car that matches the buyer’s exact criteria – make, model, year, colors, features and even price.