Having a car at varsity can help you in many situations and can make your life easier. Uber can cost a fortune and using them regularly can mess with your student budget. And always relying on others for a lift can be stressful. A car will give you the freedom to do what you want when you want.

Here are a few ways in which a car can make your life at varsity better.

No freedom

When you don’t have a car, you’re at the mercy of the driver and the people who you came with. If you’re eating out with your friends but you want to call it a night, you’ll have to wait until the others a ready to leave. And it may be inconvenient for you.

Grocery shopping

Groceries can be a handful, literally. And it may be extremely tedious for you to carry all those bags from the grocery shop to your res or digs. Having a car solves those problems because you can just fill up the boot with all your shopping. And if you don’t have a vehicle, you may end up going on a thousand trips to the grocery store because it may be impossible for you to carry everything all at once.

Convenience

You’ll have the option of spending hours at the library studying or attending late classes. If you don’t have your own vehicle, you might be forced to leave earlier than you actually want to and may not be able to go to late classes. You might miss out on vital information that the lecturer gives the class and may have to repeat a course for this reason. Some lecturers also take down a class register and allow only a certain number of days missed. And if you go over the number of days allocated, the lecture doesn’t allow you to write the exam, no matter how good your semester marks are. Which means all the nights you’ve sacrificed, energy drinks you’ve bought, and late night you’ve spent cramming into the early hours will have gone to waste.

Have fun

You have to stop and smell the roses. Your varsity days can go so fast that if all you do is work you will burn out and miss out on the lighter side of varsity. You’re young and the future is bright. Enjoy a life of freedom without any responsibilities, except to get your academic record streaming with A’s and B’s.

When you spend 80 percent of your time reading, highlighting textbooks, cramming information and trying to make sense of readings,. you’ll realise you’re in need of a break. It doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. You can relax simply by driving to the nearest outlet and getting yourself an ice- cream cone. Or drive to an area where you can go hiking and enjoy the scenery. Or load your car with your basket, beach towels, sunscreen and go hit the beach and have fun.

Fuel

Petrol can be expensive and you may need to make a few sacrifices in order to cover it. If your schedule allows getting a part-time job that will help you get extra cash, you should.

Freeloaders

You may get a few people who always ask for lifts and for you to be their personal chauffeur. Taking them to the mall. Taking them home. Taking them to class. All without them contributing a cent. Learn to draw boundaries, otherwise you’ll end up frustrated and broke.

Public transport

Taking a uber can be expensive. And trains and taxis can be extremely inconvenient. Although they are cheaper than an uber, they’re not in use at all hours of the night, which means you may find yourself stranded on campus or somewhere else. Having a car allows you to be versatile. If you oversleep, you don’t have to worry about running to the station, huffing and puffing all the way there because you don’t want to miss your 8am train. You can just hop into your car and drive to campus without worrying about train schedules.

One more thing

Just make sure the car you purchase has been thoroughly evaluated and inspected. The last thing you want to deal with is your car breaking down every second. A car book value calculator can estimate your car’s market price. So when you buy your car, it should give you an indication if you’re getting your money’s worth or not.

When you have a car at varsity, you’ll be able to get to classes on time, not worry about missing your bus and be able to enjoy varsity life by spending time in the outdoors having fun.