India has more than 14 carmakers selling cars ranging from a few lakh rupees to a few crore rupees. Passenger car sales in India are dominated by small and midsize cars. As many as 30 lakh passenger cars were sold in India in the last financial year. Now, it’s time for you to buy your first car. You have saved enough money and are all set to visit the dealership. But, have you thought through how much you will need to spend till your car is fit enough to drive you around? Shelling out your money to buy a car is often not enough; a car demands love and care, which costs money over its life of 10-15 years. We take a deep dive into each and every penny that you may need to spend to buy and keep your car in mint condition till you want to sell it off.

The latest edition of Financial Express Manage Your Money, “From my first car to my next: The journey of buying, maintaining and selling”, will have discussions on buying and maintaining your car through its life.

India sells way more than a lakh cars per month, with August passenger cars alone topping 1.3 lakh units. The volume growth is on an uptrend, driven by improving chip availability and channel stocking before the festive season. While the sales of cars are considerably increasing, what are the do(s) and don’t(s) one needs to go through when buying a new car? What are the things to remember while getting a car loan or while paying off that car loan? What are the other ownership expenses throughout the life of the car? What are the best strategies while trying to sell the car? The next edition of FinancialExpress.com Manage Your Money will answer these and many related questions around the entire life cycle of owning, maintaining and selling the car.