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Navigate your next car purchase with confidence. Our car buying guide can help you to find safe, reliable models, understand car finance and insurance, and find car deals. Step one is to make sure that buying new or used is the right choice for you.
Photo: Getty Images
Should you buy a new, certified pre-owned, or used car?
What makes a CR Recommended new car?
CR Recommended new and used cars have a strong Overall Score, factoring road test results, predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, and safety.
Each car we test is purchased anonymously and put through more than 50 tests at our 327-acre test facility. Those tests include acceleration, braking, emergency handling, and fuel economy, among others.
Every year, we collect detailed information on CR member experiences with hundreds of thousands of cars. Analyzing this data, broken into 20 key trouble areas, reveals the likelihood of problems.
Surveys reveal whether a CR member would definitely get the same car if they had a chance to do it over again, effectively measuring whether a car lived up to its owner’s expectations.
This rating combines the results of our dynamic tests, such as braking and handling, with crash test results from IIHS and NHTSA, giving credit for key safety systems that have been shown to decrease crashes and injuries.
How to make sense of car pricing lingo
Here is a glossary of common finance and lease terms you’ll encounter in a dealership’s finance office.
What you should know before going to a dealership
Finding the right car and then negotiating the best price can be a whirlwind experience. So what do people who have recently purchased a new car wish they had considered more carefully? See advice from our experts and consumers.
Our analysis shows that reliability and satisfaction vary significantly among these purchase strategies. Our experts reveal the key differences and provide exclusive advice backed by data.
High transaction prices and market uncertainty might have you worried about your next car purchase. That’s why it’s more important than ever to choose a car that will be worth every penny you spend, and that will serve your needs for years to come.
Check out these CR Recommended cars with incentives. Each is a good, safe, and reliable car that can also save you money.
Buying involves higher monthly costs, but after you pay off the loan, you own the car. Leases have lower monthly payments, but you don’t own the vehicle and can get caught in an endless cycle of car payments.
We talked to former car salespeople to learn their tricks and asked our own experts for their advice. In this article, we let you know what sales tactics to look out for in the order you’ll encounter them, and the secrets of how to conquer them.
Consumer Reports members can access the Build & Buy Car Buying Service at no additional cost.
Everything you need to know about car insurance
We highlight the top performers based on a national survey of more than 40,000 policyholders.
Here is everything you need to know about getting the right insurance at the right price.
Check our actionable tips to lower your premiums based on survey responses and expert advice.
CR’s exclusive car buying tools
View local pre-owned vehicles alongside our reliability and satisfaction ratings.
See how much your car is worth.
Brands are ranked by their costs over time, looking at 5- and 10-year intervals.
