When my brother and I got our driver’s license, my dad made a deal with us. Whatever we put down for a car, he would match.

So we found summer jobs the second we turned 15 to save up as much money as we could. Being 15, there wasn’t much we could spent money on since hanging out with friends meant going to someone’s house and doing things there.

Nowadays, hanging out is all about going places. Safe to say, we saved up enough money for decent cars.

And as much as I hate to admit this… I was definitely your stereotypical, irresponsible, distracted 16-year-old driver.

My dad taught my brother how to drive from a pretty young age. With me, I never really had the urge to learn, so I didn’t until I wanted to drive.

My brother was definitely the better driver. Since I didn’t really care much about learning, I didn’t really pay attention. Within six months of getting my license, I was in three, minor fender benders. And the day I got my license, I was pulled over for having my brights on, even though one of the first things my dad taught me was know my car and where everything was.

Did I listen? Of course not.

In my defense, that was the only time I have ever been pulled over. I’m proud of my squeaky clean record, since I started off as such a bad driver!

Anyway, after my last fender bender I was absolutely terrified of driving. I didn’t drive my senior year of high school. I had plenty of rides to school since most of my friends had a driver’s license and a car. And who wouldn’t like rolling into school with their friends instead of driving alone, especially when we all came in with super sugary, calorie laden, coffee drinks.

It wasn’t until I lived one year off campus during college that I realized I needed a car, and bad. My dad only had nicer cars at home, and he was terrified of me crashing his nice cars when I was home for the summers. So we needed to get me a car as soon as possible.

We finally found a 2010 car in 2011 for a great price, which I’ve now had for five years without any damaged caused by me.

I’ve definitely had a lot of work done to my car due to damage from someone else.

I decided it was time for me to get a brand new car I can depend on. I wanted a brand new car because it would (hopefully) not cause me any problems like my current car has caused me.

Where do I begin?

Thankfully, I’ve had plenty of friends who have bought new cars recently, and I’ve learned a few things from them.

• Here’s my first tip: Don’t have your heart set on one kind of car.

I had my heart set on one car. After doing some research, I realized I could get a car that’s not as name brand, so to speak, and it would be way cheaper and include more things in the car.

After I lowered my standards just a little bit, I found a few cars I was interested in. After I found those cars, I did what I usually do, shop around for good deals.

• Here’s my next tip:

You can always find a better price.

Life would be so simple if you could just walk into a dealership and not have to haggle for a price. Of course car dealers need to make money, but they can definitely drop the prices on cars. So never settle for the first price you see.

• My next tip should be obvious:

Be realistic about what you can afford.

Think about how much you can pay a month, for how long, and the interest you will have to pay. Some dealerships have great deals going on where you won’t have to pay interest for a while and that’s something to definitely consider. The best, but probably unrealistic thing to do is to take advantage of the no interest months then pay it off fully so you don’t have to pay any interest. Sometimes the no interest only goes for a short amount of time.

One of the best things you can do to avoid as much interest as possible is to put more money down. If you put $10,000 down on a $40,000 car, you’ll only be paying interest on $30,000. If you put down less, you’ll be paying more in the long run.

• This brings me to my next tip:

Save up a decent amount to put down, which saves you money on interest down the road.

Once you have figured out what you want and what you can afford, it’s time to go to a dealership.

• My next tip:

Test drive the car you want to get.

It might be a no-brainer, but some people I’ve known haven’t done that and end up not liking the car. I’ve test driven cars I wasn’t tall enough for, and that would have been an issue if I hadn’t test driven it and bought it.

The hardest part of the whole thing for me is dealing with sales and the prices.

• Here’s my next, and very important tip:

Don’t feel pressured into buying a car.

There is no obligation to buy a car from anyone. Sure, you have probably spent a lot of time at a dealership and you are taking up someone’s time, but that doesn’t matter. If you don’t like something about the car, anything at all, you shouldn’t feel pressured to buy it just because you have taken up someone’s time. It happens.

If you think you can get a better price, tell them. Go to another dealer. Other cars will always be around.

This brings me to my next tip:

Even if you want a brand new car, it doesn’t have to be the current year’s model.

You can usually find a brand new car from the previous year and it will be cheaper since dealerships are trying to get rid of older models.

If you found a car and decided on a price you’re happy with, the next part is signing all the paperwork. While it seems like a daunting task since there is so much to sign and a bunch of legal lingo you may not understand, take your time. Ask questions.

• My next tip is simple:

Never, ever sign something you’re not sure about.

If they blow off a question you have like it’s nothing big, never settle for that. Get the questions you have answered, or ask others.

I think the most important thing you can do when buying a car is to do as much research as possible beforehand.

If there’s something you’re unsure about or something seems weird, trust your instinct.

Buying a car is a big deal and it should be something you’re comfortable with 100 percent.

• One last tip that has saved me recently with my car:

Once you have a car, be sure to take good care of it.

While my car has had some issues that were out of my control, I’ve been able to get over those problems because I take very good care of my car.