If you are all ready to go out and buy a car, you have to remember that there are many other costs associated with the purchase besides the actual price of the car. You may pay for things like tax and license and interest on your loan and car insurance. It is easy to think that you have purchased a car that you can afford, when in reality all the 'extra' costs affect it quite a bit and may make it hard for you to make the payments. Even if you pay cash for the car, there will be extra costs that you need to figure into the total.

Let's take this scenario: you just got married and your dad sold you the old car you had been driving around as a teenager for $100. Wow! That is a fabulous deal. However, the next thing you have to do is contact the car insurance company to move the insurance over into your name. They give you a quote for $600 per year, but will work with you to pay it on a monthly basis. Even though the car was really cheap and you paid cash, you really have a monthly payment that relates to that car.

Before you can simply go around driving it, you need to register it in your name. this means that you have to go down to the local department of motor vehicles and pay a registration and licensing fee that may include property tax as well. You take your car down and find that it will cost you $150, but that is not all; you have to get the car inspected before you get your license plates and they simply give you a temporary registration.

Now, you have to go to some local emissions and safety inspection shop to have the car inspected, and could pay $60 to $80 for these services unless you have a discount coupon. If they find a problem, you will have to get it fixed before you can go back and finish up the registration at the DMV. For instance, if your brakes are not working properly, you will have to get new brakes put on, or if the tires don't have any tread, you will need to get some new or used tires that have enough tread to pass the inspection.

Once you have finished that process, you go back and finish up the registration process. They require proof of car insurance, so it is important that you have shopped around and purchased car insurance so you can finalize everything and get your license plates. You will need to decide if you want regular plates or vanity plates, which cost more. Once you have your plates, you put the stickers on them and attach them to the car and you are good to go.

As you can see, even buying a really inexpensive car can cost you quite a bit more than you bargained for, so be prepared and save enough money to cover the tax and license, registration, inspections, repairs, and even the car insurance. If you know what some of the costs will be, you won't be shocked that your $100 car cost you closer to $500.

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