The perks of having a car at uni

Broom Broom


Having a car at uni is the best thing ever.

I will admit there’s a lot of headache behind having a  getting a parking permit, making sure that it is maintained (apparently you have to check the oil regularly or something) and not parking in the wrong place.

However, apart from the 2 parking tickets I received yesterday it is worth it. Here’s why.

You can’t get a view like that from the bus

Mobility

There is nothing worse than when you really need to go somewhere and have no means of getting there. For example, I have occasionally had to frequent the after hours doctors surgery at 3am and as the buses don’t run as regularly or right to where I needed to go the best option for me was to take a taxi. Which for a round trip is £20. This would all have been much easier if my car was here. The ability to just jump in your car and take a spontaneous trips is liberating.

My personal chariot

Food Shopping

The smaller food shops in the city are generally a bit pricier so I tend to make weekly trips to the big 24hr Asda saving me a those few extra pennies that are the difference between a night out and a night in watching netflix. The only down side to this is you tend to get 3-4 other people wanting to come along and when you have a Toyota Yaris things get pretty cosy when you put everyones shopping in.

Trips

Sometimes you just need to get out of uni for a bit and go elsewhere. This is made so much simpler when you have your car at uni. Need to go to a 21st in some tiny hamlet in Wales? No problem. Want to take a spontaneous trip? No problem.

One of my spontaneous trip locations

Saving Money

This may make you raise your eyebrows – you do have to pay for petrol and a parking permit. However, if you work at Uni and walking is impractical, paying £1.60 per bus journey does add up very quickly. In a car the trip is much much cheaper and you can get to work faster. It’s even more cost effective if you work with friends and you give them lifts to work for a small fee.

It’s not like I’m driving one of these

Moving in and out

You need a whole lot of stuff for a year at university. Back before I had a car, mum and dad would drive me up. As we sped away, cramped and underprepared, I’d always think to myself “these two extra people and their overnight stuff is taking up valuable space”. Now, without deadweight parents, I can easily fit my bean bag, amongst other absolute necessities.

I also have found that it makes moving out a lot easier. If like me, your parents both have crazy schedules, then organising when you are going to move out takes a lot of forward planning – like 3-4 months in advance (it doesn’t help that I live on the south coast of England and go to university in Edinburgh). I never knew when my exams were that far in advance and I didn’t know what would be going on after exams. So come last summer I just breezed out of my flat whenever I felt like it.

 

Having a car at university gets a bad rap. Ultimately though, it’s one of the best things about my university life. Everything is quicker, everything is easier and, although I accept it’s a Yaris, it all feels more stylish.