When will you get a drivers licence / car?
When are you going to get a drivers licence?
I'll get my drivers licence when I get a car. I see no point in getting a licence until I'll be using it regularly. I don't need a licence for clubs & licensed venues, I already have a separate 18+ ID card.
So when are you going to get a car?
Possibly never. I still don't have a need for a car. I've been without a car for a long time now, and I enjoy the lifestyle. I like walking to the shops with my iPod and walking though the various parks on the way. I like catching the train into the city - it's slower than a car trip, but I can usually catch up on some reading in the train.
Obviously, my situation is somewhat unique - I run my own software company, so I don't need a car to go to work. The supermarket is just 15 minutes walk away, and fast food outlets are 30 minutes walk away (or I can just get home delivery!). It's not as if I live in middle-of-nowhere-Kansas where the supermarket is several miles away. And for the few times when I really need a car, it's cheaper for me to get a taxi - for me, it's about 50% cheaper compared with the running costs of a car (not to mention the cost of the car itself).
A survey of independent software developers once showed that only 48.15% of software developers feel they need a car. Compared to where I live, where 72.5% of the population owns a car (according to 1998 Census figures), it's a big difference.
Besides - if I ever did go for my license, it would probably go an awful lot like the scene from The Big Bang Theory (Season 2, Episode 5, The Euclid Alternative).
But if you did get a car, when would you get it?
I used to say I'd get a car when I achieved the following criteria (which I've achieved already):
- Can comfortably afford the running & maintenance costs costs of a vehicle using annual income, not savings. A 2009 RAC survey put this figure for a Hyundai Getz at $115 per week (the most economical of all cars tested).
- Can afford all related expenses without compromising my business expenses, personal expenses or my investment & savings plans.
- Can afford to buy the car outright and maintain the above criteria. I don't believe in debt.
- Find a reliable car that will last me many years. I keep things for a long time and use them to their limit (for example, I still have computers that are 25 years old, and one computer was my primary computer for 10 years).
- See a real need for a car. I'll wait until a car is something that I need to have.
- Find a car that I love, while still being a practical choice.
- When I can afford a DeLorean.
I don't believe in leeching or freeloading, so I try to give petrol & maintenance money to people I occasionally get lifts from. If anyone feels I owe them more petrol money, please drop me a line so I know. Being a non-driver I don't keep up with the current cost of petrol, so I need to be reminded occasionally.
Wait, are you serious about that DeLorean thing?
Actually, I think I am. The Delorean Motor Company has started making new build DMC-12s, and have even started producing Right-Hand-Drive versions of the car. The black & stainless steel styling echoes the design cues of recent Apple Macs, and there aren't many cars with gullwing doors. Jay Leno reviewed the DeLorean, and was quite positive about it.
But I can think of better ways of spending my money right now, and that's why you don't see me burning down the freeway at 88 MPH.
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