As soon as you get your first car, you learn just what it’s like to independently own your personal vehicle. From giving you space and time alone, to travelling around with your friends and family, having a car for the first time comes with tons of benefits.
One major gain for many people is knowing that they can be in control of their travelling. Not only are you able to decide the route you wish to take, you are also in control of the time you begin you set off. For many people, awaiting a lift from someone else or offering to transport someone else can be incredibly frustrating if they fail to be on time.
On top of this, awaiting public transport or a taxi can also be irritating, be it too busy on board the bus or simply irritating feeling you should converse with the taxi driver. When it’s simply just you travelling, you are in full control of the time you leave often meaning you feel more relaxed and comfortable.
As well as this, being able to either travel around alone or with other people on board is another benefit. Travelling to social events or work with other people on-board can make you feel that you are being supportive and helpful to others. It may also make you feel more comfortable if you have other people are around as being alone may make you feel isolated and nervy. For some people though there are more benefits to driving alone. One of these may be being able to fully focus on the task at hand: driving.
Remaining in the car alone boosts the ability to remain fully focused on following driving regulations to keep yourself and others safe. Taking in your surroundings and the events happening around you, will benefit you as well as further road users. Travelling where you want to, and when you want to is an enormous advantage of passing your test as well as getting hold of your own car for the first time.
Another great advantage to having your own vehicle means you can keep on top of its maintenance feeling confident that your car is fit and well. Most of the checks you can do and correct independently. A good place to start is making sure you can see out of your windows, particularly the windscreen. Opening the bonnet and making sure there is enough screen wash in the bottle will mean you can keep it clean whilst moving around. Keeping a screen wash top up in the car can be handy just in case the liquid runs out during your journey.
Next, checking your tyres are inflated is another simple thing to keep on top of. Some newer cars have fittings that monitor the tyre pressure, but many need you to check them manually. Sometimes its easy to tell if the air pressure is too low as your tyre/s can look flat. Other times though you can’t always tell that the air pressure could do with topping up. One easy way round is having a tyre inflator you can keep in the car and power using the cigarette lighter. Not only do they read the tyre pressure, as you can most likely tell from the name, they can also be used to inflate any tyre/s that aren’t at the correct level. There’s all sorts you can get your hands on, so here’s a look at some of the best.
Whilst checking your screen wash and tyre pressure regularly is important, keeping an eye on your tyres tread is also important. Ensure your tread is legal. It must be no thinner than 1.6mm deep (UK Government guidance). If its close, get them checked and changed.