Top 5 Must-Haves for Your Vehicle - How to Keep Your New Car in Great Condition
Buying a new car is an exciting milestone, but it also comes with numerous decisions to ensure you’re fully prepared. From choosing the right car model to selecting the best accessories. Making the right choices will help you protect, enhance, and get the most value from your investment. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the key steps of buying a new car. Highlighting essential tailored car mats, boot liners, and other top 5 accessories for your car that every new car owner should consider. Keep reading to find out our top 5 new car must haves.
What to Consider When Buying a New Car
Purchasing a new car requires research and planning to ensure you get the best deal and the right vehicle for your needs. Here are some top tips to guide you through the process:
1. Determine Your Needs and Budget
Before viewing any potential new vehicles, make sure you have a clear picture of what it is you want from your new purchase. Are you looking for fuel efficiency, performance, space, or advanced tech features? Make a checklist of your must-haves and nice-to-haves to narrow down your options. Set yourself a realistic budget, and factor in additional costs like insurance, maintenance, road tax, and fuel efficiency to get a clear picture of the long-term running costs.
2. Research and Compare Models
Once you’ve narrowed down your options, research different car models, read reviews, and compare specifications. Consider factors like safety ratings, reliability, fuel consumption, and resale value. Websites, forums, and automotive magazines can provide valuable insights and real-world user experiences.
3. Take a Test Drive
A test drive is crucial to understanding how the car feels on the road. Check for comfort, visibility, and handling. Pay attention to acceleration, braking, and maneuverability in different driving conditions. Take note of the interior design and whether it meets your comfort and convenience needs.
4. Considering Pricing
Compare deals from multiple dealerships, ask about discounts, and ensure you’re informed on extras like warranties and servicing packages. Make sure to explore your finance/payment options. Timing your purchase can also help, as dealerships may put on offers at certain points in the year.
5. Read the Fine Print
Before signing anything, carefully review the contract details, including financing terms, warranties, and any additional costs. Ensure that everything agreed upon is in writing, and don’t hesitate to ask for clarification on any terms you don’t understand.
Must-Have Accessories for Your New Car
Now that you’ve secured your new vehicle, it’s time to think about the essential accessories that will help protect and enhance it. In this guide, we’ll cover our top five accessories to help ensure your safety while on the road, and keep your brand new motor in pristine condition, so you can keep that new-car-feeling for longer!
Custom Car Mats
Benefits of Custom Car Mats: Perfect Fit, Superior Protection, and Easy Maintenance
Generic, one-size-fits-all car mats may seem like an easy solution, but they often don’t fit properly, leading to shifting, wear, and reduced protection. Investing in custom car mats ensures your vehicle stays in top condition, providing benefits such as:
- Perfect Fit: designed specifically for your vehicle’s floor layout, ensuring complete coverage.
- Superior Protection: shields your car’s carpet from dirt, spills, and daily wear and tear.
- Enhanced Style: completely customisable to complement your car’s interior.
- Durability & Safety: made from high-quality materials with anti-slip backing to prevent movement while driving.
- Easy Maintenance: custom mats are designed for effortless cleaning, keeping your car fresh and hygienic.
When selecting car mats, make sure to customise to your needs. For example, if you live an outdoorsy lifestyle, and regularly hop into your car with muddy boots, pick from one of our rubber material options to allow for easy clean up. If you’re looking for a more luxurious look, head towards our platinum carpet range for incredibly thick piled material, making you feel like you're sitting in your living room! Shop our huge range of mats by simply entering your reg HERE.
Phone Mounts & Chargers
Phone Mounts & Chargers: Safe Navigation and Convenient Charging for Your Car
It goes without saying - you should never use or check your phone whilst in control of a vehicle. However, many of us have ditched old fashioned SatNavs and now rely on the likes of Google and Apple Maps to direct us to our destinations. With this in mind, it’s important that our phones are placed out of reach to avoid temptation, but in clear view to allow safe directing, whilst not obstructing our road vision. Investing in a good phone mount will ensure your phone is in safe hands, whilst being able to provide you with those all important navigations.
There are plenty of options on the market, with the more traditional type using a suction cup to fix your phone to the windscreen, options to clip onto in-car vents or stick to dashboards, and some even supporting wireless charging to reduce the need for wires in your car!
Our phones are also important in emergency situations - that being said, you don’t want to go to ring for breakdown recovery and be met with a black screen, so always carry a charger. Most newer model cars will come equipped with a USB port for a quick plug-in and go, but alternatively you can pick up a cigarette-lighter adapter for just a few pounds. Some new designs come equipped with retractable cables, meaning no tangled messy cables in your car! It’s a handy essential that you will undoubtedly be thankful for.
Dash Cameras
Dash Cameras: Protect Your Vehicle and Ensure Peace of Mind on the Road
There has been a huge increase in drivers choosing to install dash cams in their vehicles, and with good reason! Many insurance companies will now take dash cam footage into consideration when processing a claim, which can help you avoid a bill and protect your no-claims discount.
Dash cams are typically mounted behind your rear-view mirror to ensure they don’t interfere with road visibility. Some people also choose to have rear cameras to protect against rear-end collisions. Many taxis and courier companies now also have cabin-view cameras, to ensure employees are practising safe driving while at work.
Aside from the obvious capturing of collisions, dash cams can help protect you in many ways - some dash cams even have a parking function, which means even if your car is parked, the camera will sense any impact and start recording, meaning that dent in your bumper is no longer a mystery!
You can find our range of dash cameras HERE.
Emergency Kits
Emergency Kits: Be Prepared for the Unexpected and Stay Safe on the Road
We all hope that the worst never happens, but should you be involved in a collision or breakdown, or even come across another driver who has, it’s always a good idea to be prepared. If your car breaks down, you should keep the necessary equipment handy to keep yourself safe until help arrives. Common tools amongst drivers include jump cables, a blanket, and a torch.
It is very important, especially at night or in times of reduced vision, to ensure yourself and your vehicle are highly visible to avoid causing accidents. To do this, ensure you keep hi-vis tabards (ideally one for each vehicle passenger), and at least one warning triangle in your vehicle at all times, this coupled with your hazard lights will alert other road users that there is a problem up ahead.
If your car doesn’t already come with one, it’s always a good idea to carry a spare tyre and the tools to change it (or at least a tyre sealant which can seal small punctures while you drive - very slowly - to a garage). You should only ever attempt to change a tyre if it is safe and you have the necessary skills to do so, but having the equipment handy can help you get back on the road and to safety quicker.
We always recommend a ‘Winter Survival Kit’ stored in your vehicle. There is nothing worse than rushing to start your morning commute, only to find your windscreen frozen solid and no way to defrost it! Make sure you always carry an ice scraper and a can of deicer through the winter months.
Luckily for you, CarMats4U is always prepared! So you can find everything you need in one place. Browse our selection of Travel Safety Kits HERE.
Boot Protection
Boot Protection: Keep Your Boot Clean and Safe with Customised Solutions
An important but often forgotten piece of essential kit. You protect your car floors, why not your boot?! Your boot is subject to just as much, if not more, wear and tear than your car interior. It deals with the weekly shop milk spills, suitcases sliding around on the way to the airport, our muddy boots after the weekend's walk, and transporting our furry friends.
CarMats4U offers tailored boot solutions for all makes and models, and best of all - they’re fully customisable just like our car mats! Options that you can choose from include:
- PVC Boot Liner: a custom moulded tray created from an ultra-durable yet flexible plastic. The Boot Liner is tailor fitted to your vehicle, and comes with a high 2-inch lip around the edge, to contain any dirt and spills, allowing for easy clean up. You can opt for a carpet insert in a choice of grades to sit inside the Boot Liner, providing a non-slip surface for your shopping or pets.
- Boot Mat: available in all the same carpet and rubber grades as our car mats to allow a complete matching set, our Boot Mats are custom fitted to your make and model of vehicle, and can be customised totally to your liking, allowing you to be stylish while providing the best protection.
- Bumper Protectors: a must-have for golfers, pet owners, and parents. Protect your bumper from dents and scratches when loading pushchairs, golf clubs, or pets! Choose one of three materials to best suit your needs, easily velcro into place, and simply drop the protector down over your bumper while loading your boot, then fold up into the boot to put away. An often overlooked piece of equipment that could save you hundreds on chipped paintwork or dents!
You can browse the selection HERE.
Additional Tips for Keeping Your New Car in Top Condition
1. Regular Servicing and Maintenance
Following the manufacturer’s recommended service schedule will ensure your car runs smoothly and efficiently for years to come. Regular oil changes, tyre rotations, and brake inspections can prevent costly repairs in the future.
2. Protect Your Paintwork
Using a wax or ceramic coating can protect your car’s paint from environmental damage and keep it looking new. Parking in shaded areas, regular washing, and using a car cover can also help maintain the exterior.
3. Keep the Interior Fresh
Just like the exterior, regular cleaning and dusting helps keep your car (and you!) in great shape. To read more about the importance of keeping your car clean, read our ‘How to Clean Your Car Mats’ guide.
4. Drive Smart
Aggressive driving, such as sudden braking and rapid acceleration, can wear out your car’s engine, breaks, and tyres faster. Smooth driving not only prolongs your car’s lifespan but also improves fuel efficiency.
Final Thoughts
Buying a new car is a big investment; equipping it with the right accessories ensures it stays in tip-top condition for years to come, whilst ensuring you're prepared for anything. It’s important to regularly check fluid levels in your car, and prioritise what you can reasonably carry in your car. Speaking to other experienced drivers who have dealt with unexpected situations can help shed light on what you could carry to help in times of need.
Looking for the perfect accessories for your new vehicle? Explore our range of high-quality tailored car mats, fitted boot liners, and safety accessories today. Protect your car in style with CarMats4U!
