Buying Your First Car Under ₹10 Lakh: A Practical Guide

Under ₹10 lakh you can buy a well-equipped hatchback, a compact sedan or an entry compact SUV. Start with how you'll use the car, not the spec sheet.

Set the real budget

Plan for the on-road price — ex-showroom plus RTO, insurance and accessories adds 10–14%. Keep EMI under 15% of monthly take-home so the car never strains your finances.

Which fuel?

• Petrol — lowest purchase price, best for under 1,000 km a month.

• CNG — cheapest per kilometre in cities with good CNG access; boot space is smaller.

• Diesel — rare in this budget now; only for very high mileage.

Manual or automatic?

AMTs cost around ₹50,000 more and make city traffic much easier. Test-drive one in stop-go traffic before you decide.

Shortlist safety first

Check crash-test ratings and insist on six airbags and ESC where available. Then use our filters to shortlist.