3 Tips For Helping An Elderly Loved One Buy A New Car

While some elderly people stop driving at an earlier age due to health reasons, there are still many elderly people who are able to safely drive on the road even as they get older. So if you have an elderly loved one who isn’t in an assisted living facility yet and still wants to maintain their freedom to go wherever they want whenever they want but doesn’t have the car to take them there, you might want to consider lending them a hand when it comes to the car buying process in the current market.

To help you both with this, here are three tips for helping an elderly loved one buy themselves a new car. 

Let Them Know They Don’t Have The Leverage They Once Did

In the past, negotiating was part of the process of buying a new car. But after the last few years, car buyers don’t have the same amount of leverage that they once did. 

Rather than anticipating that you’ll be able to pay less than the sticker price on any new or used car that you find to buy, you should tell your elderly loved one that they will likely end up paying at least the advertised price for the vehicle they choose to buy. In fact, they might end up paying more with things like additional fees and market adjustments. So if they want to get a good price, they may have to widen their search to a larger area. 

Choose A Car With The Right Safety Features

At this point in their life, one of the biggest priorities you should be looking for when helping an elderly loved one buy a new car is safety features.

Depending on how old their previous car was, there might be all kinds of new safety features that you can have put in their new car. Cameras to help them see all around their car, lane departure warning to ensure that they’re staying in their lane, assistance with parking, and so much more can help your elderly loved one and everyone else be safer while they are on the road. 

Advise Them To Do A Trade-In

Before the issues we’re currently having with the vehicle market, trading in your old car when getting a new car wasn’t always the best idea for everyone. But now, with car dealerships being desperate to get more inventory to sell to other buyers, you will likely get far more for your trade-in than you would have in the past. So before you help your elderly loved one go through the stress of selling their own car privately, make sure you check out how much they could get on a trade-in. 

If you have an elderly loved one that’s wanting to buy themselves a new car soon, consider using the tips mentioned above to help them through this changing process.