Even if you only want to buy a used car, then it is still going to require a big chucnk of cash nowadays. Also, getting a car you can rely on is sometimes tricky. There are so many people out there looking to rip you off to make a quick buck that it is a bit of a minefield, and the wrong choice could leave you with a lot of stress and hassle. So it is not something you should do on the spur of a moment, as if you jump in without any planning and do get a dud you will have plenty of time beside the road waiting for roadside assistance to come to regret your decision!
One of the most important things in my mind is to find a few garages you can trust, start off by googling for a few garages in your local area, so you could type in ‘used cars Nashville‘ for instance and then have a look through the sites which pop up. Now you should have at least a few different places you can consider, then you can start to ask people you know if they have been to those places before and can recommend them or not. That will allow you to cut the list down a bit and find one or two you think you can trust to sell you a decent car.
The next stage is to go around each of the places and have a look at the kind of cars that are in your price bracket, and try to make a note of each one you like so you can see if they are cheaper elsewhere. A sneaky trick once you have found a car you like is to go to another garage and ask them for their best price on a similar car to that one, then take that lower price back to the garage you want to buy from and tell them they have to beat that quote if they want your business.