Car shopping is often presented as a magical, weekend experience. You spend days wandering various car lots, asking questions, driving a number of vehicles, and then receiving eager service as you sign the dotted line and drive the new car home. It is possible that your car buying experience will look like a car commercial, but it might not, especially if you do your due diligence. Here are the top X things you need to do before you go car shopping.

Clean Up Your Credit

There are several reasons you want to clean up your credit before you do anything else. Late payments and unpaid bills hurt your credit. This means you’ll be charged a higher interest rate on a car loan no matter where you go. Your prior financial mismanagement may result in higher insurance premiums, as well. If your credit is bad enough, they won’t let you drive off the lot with a car. Know before you go so that you aren’t embarrassed or taken to the used car lots and shown other people’s trade-ins with the knowledge that’s all they’ll let you choose from.

Learn about Your Auto Insurance Coverage

If you sell your current car and buy a new one, at a minimum, you’ll need to update your auto insurance. However, your current insurance policy may not pay out enough to cover the full cost of repairing your future new car. If you saved money by having a minimal auto insurance policy, you may want to increase your coverage to include vandalism, theft of the car, and the cost of a fender bender.

Determine How Much Car You Can Afford

Create a realistic budget and determine the most you can afford to spend on a car. Factor in costs like insurance, gas, tolls and parking fees. Set a ceiling of how much you can spend in total. Note that you don’t want to spend that much if you don’t have to, and you want margin so that you don’t end up stressed trying to afford the payments on the car you need to get to work. When you have that hard limit, you can tell the dealer no, you can’t afford the sporty package or the built-in infotainment center.

Create a List of Prospective Cars

Don’t walk onto a car lot and get railroaded into a car that really isn’t right for you. Create a list of requirements like the fuel efficiency you want it to get, the amount of cargo space it must have, how many seats you want, and any other features that you consider to be necessities. Do some tentative research on your own for cars, trucks or vans that may fit your needs. Even ruling out a few car brands is progress, because you can tell the dealer you’re not interested in them. This will save everyone time.

Shop around for a Loan

Take the time to shop around for a car loan. You can ask your current lender and main bank for quotes but know that they may not give you the best rate. Check out other lenders. This is especially true if you have bad credit. This car loan site for bad credit will offer lower interest rates and fees than mainstream banks.

Know Which Car Dealers Are Worth Your Time

Before you go car shopping, spend as much time researching local car dealers as you do cars. You don’t want to do business with a car dealer known for selling cars with problems or over-charging customers. Learn which dealers sell the makes and models of vehicles you’re considering so you don’t waste time showing up at a dealer that doesn’t sell them.