When I was little, I remember adults always complaining about all the life changes and such, and wondered why the big deal. Now that I’m ‘adulting’ the best I can, I realize how stressful it is that life throws so many changes our way, and we do the best we can to keep up with it. A big one for us was our plan a year ago to adopt 3 or 4 children into our family, so we got all prepared with a large, 12-passenger van to fit the whole crew. Fast forward to now, we’re adopting 1 child – meaning that vehicle was more space and money that we needed! Luckily, Car Buying was Made Easy thanks to Capital One® Auto Navigator®, and we found the perfect loan AND vehicle for our family – before we even hit the dealership!

As you can probably guess, we’ve been super busy and overwhelmed with everything the past year, so the last thing I wanted was a big hassle for buying our new van. I didn’t want to feel pressured by sales people, or be unsure about which vehicle was right for us. I’m sure you’ve been through all that before, too – the car buying process can sometimes be a nightmare! The Capital One® Auto Navigator® was a lifesaver for us- seriously, it was developed to simplify car buying and financing! This great tool adds transparency to the confusing process of car-shopping by allowing consumers to pre-qualify for auto financing and SEE their financing terms even before visiting a dealer!

Not only can you see if you pre-qualify for auto financing prior to heading to the dealer, but it doesn’t impact your credit score. In other words, no risk! It was also a really quick application process, then once we were pre-qualified we were able to browse – online, in the comfort of our own home with NO sales person pressure – over 3 MILLION vehicles from more than 12,000 participating dealers throughout the country. In other words, we had plenty of options 🙂

Here’s some things to consider as you’re browsing for your new vehicle:

• What payment are you COMFORTABLE with, and what would you PREFER
  • Just because you’re approved for up to a certain amount doesn’t mean that payment is what’s best for your budget
• What are the HAVE TO aspects of your vehicle, and what are just NICE TO HAVE features
  • You may not be able to find every single feature you’re wanting, but focus on the have to things then go from there with ‘nice extra’ things – for example, I really would’ve loved a lighter colored interior, but it wasn’t a necessity. I did get all my ‘have to’ points as well as several of my wants, though!

You’ll come to the dealership prepared with your pre-qualification from Capital One® Auto Navigator®, so you don’t have to worry about as much pressure – you’ll also already have some vehicles picked out that you’re wanting. And thanks to Auto Navigator, you already got to see dealer ratings, car reviews and even access to car history reports, so you can be confident in your purchase instead of just relying on sales people to be fully honest and not just focused on making a good sale.

Just because a life change put you in need of a new vehicle, doesn’t mean you have to deal with extra stress and hassle of car buying – because now it can be MUCH less stressful and even FUN when you get pre-qualified beforehand, and even ‘shop’ for your vehicle before leaving your house!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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