by Chris Thelen

Created on: December 23, 2008

Buying a new or used vehicle can be an overwhelming task. Fortunately, the wealth of information available on the Internet can help take the mystery out of selecting the right vehicle for you and your budget. Here are a few tips and web sites I found useful before I purchased my last car.

Getting Oriented

It is a good idea to decide on the type of car you want before you start visiting dealer lots or reading ads. Take some time to consider if you want a sedan, truck or SUV. Think about if you need a large vehicle to haul around your family or if high fuel mileage is more of a priority. Be realistic about what you can afford and target your purchase price for a little below that goal.

A good place to start the browsing process is cars.com or thecarconnection.com. Both of these sites offer a variety of information including blogs, reader reviews and dealer locations. Cars.com also features a Lifestyle Buying Guide, which helps buyers select a vehicle based on how it will be used.

Getting a Second Opinion

Once you have a general idea of the type of vehicle you want, ask someone you know who owns one if they like it. If you do not have a friend who drives the type of vehicle you are interested in, then the next best thing is a car magazine on the web. Sites like caranddriver.com, motortrend.com and roadandtrack.com offer a viewpoint of automotive enthusiasts who drive dozens of vehicles each year. This is a good way to capture an inside look at comfort and handling from the perspective of an expert. These sites often feature articles with thorough comparisons of similar models with scoring that ranks them according to things such as quality, fuel mileage, performance and comfort. All three also have a new car buying guide on their web site, which makes it easy to find an article on the new or used car of your choice. Consumers Report, long known for its magazine with product ratings, also offers extensive vehicle ratings on its web site at consumersreport.org, but you must pay an annual or monthly subscription fee to access the information.

Safe and Sound

To help you narrow your choice, review the safety features such as air bags and crash data. One web site I like is iihs.org - the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This non-profit organization is funded by insurance companies and dedicated to improving vehicle safety. The group evaluates car safety through crash tests that rank a car as good, acceptable, marginal and poor. Every year it issues its list of "Top

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