Driving is not cheap, and that’s even after copious amounts of money are spent on lessons and tests — new drivers should know how expensive it is the second they begin looking into getting their first car. More to the point, they should make sure to consider all the costs attached to car-owning before they make any final decisions on their driving future.
From tax to insurance to repairs to everything in between, the price of being on the road is high, and it’s imperative that you, as a new driver, know this. To see the specific costs that you must consider, make sure to read on.
Insurance
Auto insurance is not just a preventative measure — it’s a legal requirement. It protects you and your fellow drivers from having to pay crippling prices when accidents happen, and things go wrong on the road. Quite simply, it’s an absolute must that you take out an insurance policy.
As a new driver, there’s no getting around the fact that your insurance costs are always going to be high. This is because you’ve not yet got enough experience as a fully-fledged driver to be trusted, which means no insurer is going to trust you with a low premium. If you’re under the age of 25, especially, you can’t be looking below a six-figure quote, regardless of how old your car is or what state it is in.
If you’re willing to put effort into finding the best quote possible, though, you’ll always have the opportunity to bring your premium costs down. You have to shop around the top insurance providers to find the cheapest deal that covers you for what you need. It may take a while, and you may need to put your personal details in over and over again, but it’s always worth doing.
Car tax
Your car tax cost is completely dependent on your type of vehicle and, more to the point, what emissions band it falls into. Simply, the higher the CO2 emission (g/km) on your car, the more you’re going to pay to keep it on the road. As this is the case, if you’re hell bent on keeping your tax down, when you come to choosing your first car you have to pick one that produces little to no CO2 emission. If you want to pay absolutely nothing at all, this means that you should seriously consider getting yourself an electric car.
Service and repair costs
The more you use your first car, no matter how old it is, the more it will suffer from issues of wear and tear. If you want to keep it working in the way you need it to, this means that you have to fork out for service and repair costs — these costs are variable and will depend solely on your car’s model. Whatever you do, just don’t try to get away with no paying for servicing and repairs, as that’ll neither benefit your car nor your bank balance in the long run.
It’s imperative that you understand all the costs that you face as a new driver. Only then can you budget and save accordingly.
