Top tips for having/running a car.

As most of you know I have a car called Ruby, she's a little Ford Fiesta who's coming up 18 in June. She's not new, she's a bit rusty on her doors, scuffed on the bumper and her wheels are dented from where I tried, and failed to do reverse parking. Saying that, she's my pride and joy... Just a very, very expensive one.

Even before you can legally drive the car yourself you need to have lessons and pass your theory, soon I'll be writing a fool proof blog post on how to pass your theory, that will be here. Lets be real, learning to drive costs a fucking fortune, I was just lucky enough to have the bank of Dad to pay for my lessons and test(s). I paid 20 pounds per test and it took me just short of 10 months to pass, eventually. That's a lot of money just on lessons, then add up the cost of your theory and your test. Sometimes, you're looking at in or around £1000 just to pass; and you probably don't even have a car yet!

Insurance will cost everything you have, including your pet goldfish and your soul

Lets just get that out the way first, your insurance is going to cost thousands and there is nothing you can do about it. Me and my Mam searched high and low for 'cheap' car insurance and finally found a company called Carrot who insured Ruby for around £1800 a year, but I pay monthly. This includes a black box which isn't as bad as everyone makes out, just don't be doing doughnuts around maccies car park or driving in the middle of the night, you will get knocked down and scored low. As I found out when I decided to take a trip in the middle of the night for a mcflurry. Seriously, unless your Mams hand is falling off, just stay at home and keep your petrol.

Putting petrol in your car is harder than it looks.

Everything about it just indicates faf, the unscrewing, the getting out of a warm car, the paying and selling your soul to the devil to afford it and the horror when you go over by a penny and have to search your whole car looking for a damn penny. You'll laugh when I say this but I never realised how much the price can vary depending on where you are and how the quality can go up and down. I've found that around £1.02 is the average and the best quality. Don't be fooled by supermarket fuel, it's shit and doesn't last, your car also runs differently. Ruby hates Morrisons fuel so I try and avoid using it at all costs.

Don't be a taxi.. Unless they have the money.

I fell into the idiotic trap of "Give me a lift to Whitehaven and I'll give you a tenner when I next get paid" Only for her to break up with my friend a few days later and I know I'm never going to get that money again. What I'm getting at is do lifts all you want, just make sure you get the money, don't work for free unless it's your best friend or family. Also, a good point to point out is that you might only have so many miles to do in a year. I have 7,000 which seems like loads, but actually it's not that many and you have to pay a ridiculous amount to top them up. Tell them to walk and to stop being lazy.

Tell your friends "no".

If your friends are anything like mine, they are probably already sorting out a calendar of what days you're going to go where and how many maccies trips you can fit into a week. I think as a rule, the first week go wild, take them on adventures and have as many 99p chicken burgers as you want. Just make sure they know what in the future, if they want to come out with you, they have to pay. End of. Don't feel bad, it's your car and your petrol. If they can spend £7 in maccies, they can give you a few quid in petrol money as a thank you.

Things will go wrong with your car.

MOTs, general wear and tear, idiots snapping off your wing mirror and servicing can add up. I found this out when it was 2 weeks before Christmas, my MOT was due and I had to pay for it to get fixed. Put aside some money each week or month to cover costs of maintaining your car, thank me later.

Having a car is expensive and it really means you have to budget more than ever, but it's so worth it and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Safe driving!