For many students, a car is not an optional buy. When you need to get around a lot or your school is too far away, you’ll need something to get you there. You can use public transport if the option is available but, more often than not, this takes too much time or is too complicated for a student with thousands of things on his mind.

Sure, you can find some of your college friends and ask them to drive you around, but this can’t last forever. Sooner or later, you’ll need to get your first car. Fortunately, there’s a way to purchase a car on a student budget. If you worry about how you’re going to afford this, we have some tips that should help you out.

Buyer’s remorse is unfortunately one of those sinking feelings that most of us have had at one time or another. The worst case I’ve experienced was when I purchased a Chinese water dragon from a pet shop at the age of 13 on a whim. It was when I got home that I came to the realization that I was not only expected to feed it live crickets and mice, but that it would someday grow to be three feet long. That was some serious buyer’s remorse!

This doesn’t hold a candle to the types of mistakes we can make as adults, however, particularly with big-ticket items like properties and cars. If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, you’ll want to avoid the following common mistakes which could lead to you driving away with a bum deal.