Looking to get your first car? Well – hold your horses. You need to do a few things first.
Firstly, you need to get qualified. Driving isn’t just for anyone to do – you need to be able to before you roll out onto the road. It’s a tough journey, but if you practice, take the tests and pass, you’ll be there before you know it. Practice comes through the practical driving lessons, which will get you used to the abilities of a car and how it performs on the road, but there is the theory section, which will test your knowledge of the laws of the road. It’s always worth seeking more info on written knowledge test, even if you think you know it all, you can never revise enough! That goes for the practical test; there’s no limit to how much you can practice!
Get the qualifications, and you can move on. Now you’ve got to research your car, find how much it’s going to set you back. Then you’ve got to calculate the insurance. Once all the costs are worked out, you’ve got to find the money to pay for your car and its insurance. There might be more options for you as a first-time driver as you may be able to get a mileage tracker fitted to your new car by an insurance provider to keep the costs down.
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Now all that is done, the hard work truly begins. Most homes have many cars attached to them, sometimes – too much for the driveway to handle. What’s the point of laying all the foundations if you can’t fit your car into your property?
The easiest solution is to simply rent a parking space or garage that’s located next to your home. If you’re living in an inner city area, this actually might be your only option due to cramped conditions. Parking spaces can be found to rent in every major city across the globe, and this could be a huge convenience for a city driver. Most of them could be quite cheap as well. The trouble is that it will be ‘dead money,’ you’re giving it straight to a landlord instead of investing it towards your property like you would be a garage or driveway development. City driving comes with it’s own unique issues, and it’s perhaps best to rent a space until another solution becomes available. If you’re living in a metropolis, the chance is that you won’t even use your car much, anyway!
However, if you’re out in the suburbs, you’ve got a lot of options. A lot more than if you’re stuck in the city. You could extend an existing garage, build a separate one or extend a driveway. It’s going to cost money, but these still count as DIY options if you’ve got the time or inclination. You’re going to need the space to park up your car one way or the other. All of these options are going to add value to the property, though, so it might hurt your wallet a little less if you decide to consider them as investments. A garage is a very reliable security option for keeping your car safe from criminals if the garage is locked.
It’s not just about making room for your car and securing it, though – you’ve got to find space to store your car if you’re not going to use it in a while (this could be if you’ve purchased the car before achieving the qualifications needed to drive the vehicle). If you’ve got a garage, great! If not, you might need to look into an offsite storage solution. Your car needs to be kept safe when you’re not using it. If you’re not going to use it in the long-term, the car needs to be filled with petrol and started every so often. This prevents the battery from dying. If the battery does die, you’re going to have an additional problem to fix. Covering your car also protects the exterior from pests and rodents.
Once you’ve got room for your car, you can start planning the trip of a lifetime. You’ll have more independence and freedom than ever before. Just make sure that you not only keep your car safe, but keep it maintained. Having a space to store and park your car is going to save you from a great deal of problems down the line.