Test drives are little miracles for car buyers. While some cars look great on the outside and might be shiny and new, under the hood they can have serious problems that will affect their longevity and usefulness to you. And thus, the test drive is your best weapon against ill-advised purchases of vehicles that just aren’t quite what they appear to be. Before heading home in that shiny new or used vehicle, make sure you follow these 7 simple tips.

Get the most out of a test drive

1. Truly test everything: This means not just driving the vehicle but noticing and it feels when you park it, stop it at lights, and get in and out of it. Does the seatbelt stick? How about the gearshift? Maybe there’s something uncomfortable about the drivers or passengers seats. Whatever those things are, make sure you give a thorough investigation of everything inside and outside.

2. Look into the future: If you are an active driver who drives a lot, you’re going to want to envision yourself in this vehicle in the future. Are the seats comfortable enough to get you through the longest drive? Does it have braking issues that might make a commute to work a nightmare? Are there enough seats for everyone in your family or everyone you might want to ride in the vehicle someday? Think of all these things.

3. Drive on different roads: Don’t just take it for a drive around the block. You want to get a feel for how it drives on highways, back roads, and downtown streets. The more roads you drive it on, the more comfortable you can feel about taking it home.

4. Test features: There are many features in vehicles, especially newer ones with massive amounts of tech features. Play with those buttons! Make sure that you really test out your navigation system if there is one. Make sure you feel the seats and how they might make you feel if you had to take the car for a long drive. It’s important to test any and every little thing in the vehicle, not just drive it around.

5. Consider the price: Always keep the price in mind. There are some vehicles that would be a good value if listed at a lower price, but if you already get the feeling that your new or used car is overpriced, no good test drive is going to matter. Discussing the price can always take place later, though, but keep it in mind as you conduct your test of the vehicle.

6. Look for red flags: There are some red flags that bad cars have, and you should go into every test drive looking for these. This means opening and closing all the doors, seeing if anything sticks, looking for little-seen spills in the back seat that might be permanent stains or any imperfections you can think of. It could be as simple as a seatbelt that’s hard to fasten. When you detect these things early on, you keep yourself from buying a defective vehicle and regretting it later on.

7. Bring in another party: Taking a friend with you can help you see the vehicle more clearly. Sometimes we fall in love with a vehicle that might not be good for us in the long-run. Someone who can observe and check the car with you can shed more light on whether or not a purchase is worth the price. A friend or family member will usually be happy to go along with you and help you investigate this prospective vehicle more carefully.

Get out there and test drive

If you keep these 7 simple things in mind going into your test drive and have a checklist you can refer back to, you’ll feel more confident about your purchase later on if you do end up buying. That’s because you know that you thoroughly inspected the vehicle and really put some thought into buying instead of just going with a love at first sight attitude and avoiding common sense and all evidence that disagreed with you. Bringing along someone who can spot red flags and knows about cars is a great idea because they can almost immediately spot a used or new vehicle that might not be the best purchase for you. If you keep these 7 things in mind and stick to your game plan, you should find a vehicle that’s just perfect for you in no time.