A lot of people have no idea how many people buy cars in a typical month or year. In July 2023 alone, the United States had more than 1.3 million new vehicle sales!

Of course, most people never have the experience of buying a car for someone else. It can be more complicated than you might think. When you buy a car for someone else, you have to consider things like their financial situation, car insurance, title, and more.

If you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into when you decide to buy a car for someone else, you can be surprised at how much work it takes. However, as long as you follow the right steps, you should be able to buy someone else a car without any unnecessary difficulty.

Read on to learn all about the top tips to keep in mind when you are buying a car for someone else!

Learn About the Recipient’s Preferences

Before you start looking at different cars, do the best you can to figure out what kind of car your gift recipient might like. You might be able to engage them in casual conversation about their opinions about cars.

Many people focus on aesthetics and branding more than almost anything else. However, when people buy cars for themselves, they get down into details like fuel economy, safety, and more. Don’t neglect these things just because they don’t tend to come up in conversation when people talk about cars.

Of course, you might have trouble getting into too much detail with your gift recipient without making them suspicious. Although most people would never imagine that someone else was planning to buy them a car, it can still be helpful to try to get the information you need in other ways.

If you can trust someone else to keep your secret, you can ask them what they know about your recipient’s preferences. You might even be able to ask them to find out more for you since they will be less subject to suspicion.

Of course, all of this only applies if you are planning to buy a car as a surprise for someone else. If you plan on letting them know you were going to buy them a car, you can ask them to do a fair amount of this work for you. It might even be easiest to just ask them to pick out a few specific cars they would be more than happy to receive.

Consider Finances When Giving Car Gifts

Of course, different types of cars are going to put very different amounts of stress on your gift recipient’s finances. Knowing how to buy a car for someone else also means not making their life more difficult by accident.

After all, you will be saving them from the large cost of purchasing the vehicle, but not from minor costs that can build up over time. Your recipient will still need to manage things like gas, insurance, repairs, maintenance, and more. Of course, you can always offer to cover some of these expenses as well.

However, as your costs go up, you might want to focus more and more on car negotiation to help bring your upfront costs down. It is also a good idea to find the best VW dealership in Corona, CA if you are trying to find a VW vehicle at the best price you can. Consider reviewing some negotiation tips that can help you get a better price for the car you are buying for someone else.

Think About Your Financing Options

If you can buy a car with cash, you may not need to think about financing options. However, there is a good chance you are going to need to take out a loan to buy someone else a car. As a result, you might need to put yourself down as a co-owner of the vehicle to get that loan.

In other cases, you can have the gift recipient apply for a loan and cosign on it. Then, you can cover all of the costs. This can be simpler financially, but it can ruin your surprise.

Figure Out How You Will Handle the Title

For someone to own a car, they have to have their name on the title. However, you won’t be able to get the seller of the new car to put someone else’s name on the title without their permission.

You might be able to get the seller to agree to manage the title paperwork after you’ve already given your recipient their new car. That way, you can get permission from your gift recipient to put their name on the title without having to ruin the surprise.

Understand Relevant Car Surprise Tax Matters

Keep in mind that you might be able to enjoy some of the benefits of the gift tax exclusion when you buy someone else a car. As a general rule, you can give as much as $17,000 to someone else without reporting it to the IRS.

Know What to Do When Buying a Car for Someone Else

When people get the idea of buying a car for someone else, they don’t always realize how much harder it is than buying a car for themselves. However, following the steps in this article will help you get through this process as smoothly as possible. Understanding more about how to handle buying a car for someone else can help you make better decisions about which car to buy as well.

To learn more about the latest information in cars, business, and more, take a look at our other articles!