What to do after you buy a new car

Advice about which new car to buy and how to go about purchasing one is not hard to come by, but there’s little chatter about what to do after you take delivery of your new pride and joy.

It’s old-school advice, but setting an hour-or-so aside to read the owner’s manual can be invaluable – especially for newer cars with their increasingly complex arrays of buttons, switches and touchscreens. A good dealership will be willing to help with some pre-delivery pointers, so come armed with plenty of questions.

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Features such as adaptive cruise control, active safety system controls and infotainment user interfaces can vary hugely across new cars. Certain new vehicles, such as the Volkswagen Golf, have semi-customisable infotainment systems, allowing you to add shortcuts that can be extremely helpful.

Lately, even gear shifters have gone rogue – you can get everything from a simple five-speed manual in a Kia Picanto to a rotary selector in the brand’s flagship Kia Sorento GT-Line, or even a ‘Crystal Sphere’ selector in the Genesis GV60. So it’ll pay dividends to study the owner's manual, or at least sit and familiarise yourself with the cabin, before setting off.

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Should I take it easy for the first month?

New engines don’t need to be run in at slow speed like they used to, but it’s a good idea to treat a new car gently within its first 1000 kilometres. This includes:

It’s also worth knowing what to expect from your new car as parts wear in so you’re not alarmed. You may experience the odd burning smell when new parts, such as brakes and plastics in the engine bay, heat up for the first few times. And fuel and oil consumption may be higher before engine parts have fully loosened up.

Should I take any other precautions?

You don’t want to be taken for a ride by snake-oil peddlers, but there are some preventative extras that will help your car last longer and look better in the process.