if you follow me on twitter then you more than likely already know how much of a struggle it was for me to learn to drive and can skip these paragraphs. if you don't or didn't see me bitching about it and cursing everyone with a financial support system (for like.. damn near five months too so I'm surprised if you really didn't see a thing), heres a snippet of my story: I've been in several extremely bad accidents in my childhood. both left the car totaled with somebody leaving in an ambulance. in one accident I had to hold my friends hand and keep her from going unconscious while she had several back-to-back seizures. which was as scary as it sounds because we were teenagers on our way to a party. (fret not reader, she is fine today). I wanted to be one of those adults that never drove because of these experiences. sure my family gave me shit for it (and so did other driving adults which did hurt sometimes ngl but I had to learn they weren't necessarily poking fun at my PTSD, just the ridiculousness of an adult in America NOT in NYC being dead set on NOT driving) but that was all okay.
I've taken the bus to get to where I needed to go and supplementing where that couldn't take me with Uber/Lyft since I first moved out on my own at 17 (it sounds like theres a story here but there isn't lol I just started school younger than my peers). I lived in a small (but still major) metro area so while the bussing system was shit like it is everywhere else in this country, it wasn't TOO difficult to get around. That was my life and it was fine. this changed when I moved to a larger city in my state. while yes, technically we have public transportation.. its such a genuine pain in the ass to get around with that you really don't have an option outside of getting a car. example: to get to work by 8 AM, I could either take a bus between 6:30-45 AM and arrive at 8:10 (LATE) or take a bus that comes between 6:00-6:15 AM and arrive at 7:30 (EARLY and UNPAID). the route has ALOT (read: too many) of stops so the ride is very long. thats why the pick up times are so wildly off day by day. also, because the bus route that I lived on didn't have much pedestrian traffic during the time of day that I would go to work, sometimes it wouldn't even show up at all. :) I called once and they said it was "up to driver discretion" whatever the fuck that means!!!! there came a dreary January day in 2023 where this happened to me for the third time and it started to rain while I was walking back home from the bus stop to call an uber... thats when I said "man fuck this stupid shit, I gotta drive" and started getting serious. now if you're like '..you can't just wake up earlier?' thats what I told myself for a full year while I commuted to my full time job via the city bus and.... it sucks! I'm sorry!! people also don't think about the same wait/delay in travel time also applies to getting off of work too. not being able to walk in the door until after 6 PM and needing to be asleep by 10 (I'm an 10:45-11:45 bedtime girlie) to wake up on time..... its just not a life I could keep living or that anybody deserves. I'm sorry. a 17 minute straight drive should not be a 2+ hour trip via the bus. that is really fucking ridiculous to expect of anybody. I think people assume public transportation in all American cities is like NYC and we want to be polluting assholes who can't "just take the bus!" so I hope if you aren't American or if you've never used American public transportation this gives you an idea about what that is really like in the day-to-day of a working person. I just wanted to give background and talk about myself a bit, as I often do. if for nobody else for me! this is 48% of the reason I wanted to have a website anyway (memory shot due to PTSD so writing out things I've experienced helps me more than anyone else) BUT ANYWAYS I just wanted to give my 'why do I drive' story which is probably similar to yours if you're reading this for help.

you'll need your temporary learning permit license (some call this your 'temps') before you're allowed to test for your license outright. how long you gotta have this permit before you can test depends on where you reside and your age (example: if you're over 21 you only need to hold this permit for 30 days, if you're under 21 its 180 days - this isn't everywhere but is pretty average). I didn't know this until I went to the BMV thinking I was gonna walk out driving - wrong! lol. you do have to test for this license but the test is common sense shit (like who has the right of way in specific scenarios, what road signs mean, etc). if you can't pass it you probably aren't ready to drive yet and thats okay! no really! theres no shame or penalty in testing multiple times like its really not a big deal and nothing is held against you for failing multiple times. you can take a practice test for your state here until you feel ready to take the actual exam. the actual exam is around 30 randomized questions and you only 'fail' if you get more than 6 or 7 wrong (my numbers could be off btw but this is how the rules work)

player tip: it is illegal to drive without a licensed driver in the vehicle while you have a temporary permit. do not do it even to run around the corner, you can get in mad trouble and its just not worth it.

buying a car is a big decision that typically involves some level of compromise on your end, but don't let fear keep you from making a choice at all. I went to a 'cheap cars here' kind of place and purchased a car with a down payment of $500. wasn't the best choice because my payments are high as hell and my interest is INSANE because my down payment was very low (insane like I've been paying for over a year and have just now paid off the interest and am paying the actual balance of the vehicle now). the car I'm driving now is actually not the first car I purchased, its just the first car payment I've had so this will primarily be advice for buying a car outright. if you don't mind that the car will be older and/or have some cosmetic issues I highly recommend buying a used car and not having to worry about payments. your local facebook should have a page called '[INSERT STATE YOU LIVE IN] Cars for Under [ANY AMOUNT BETWEEN $1,000-5,000]' (this is a random example for a page like this based out of Houston, TX and hopefully you get the gist of what these kind of pages look like and offer scrolling through this).craigslist is also a good option for getting a used car (I know many are very wary to use craigslist because of its reputation but really if you use discernment like scams are really obvious on there or once you get to talking to the seller). theres an 'automobile' section on the 'for sale' section of the site. read the descriptions very carefully sometimes people will sell cars that are on their last leg of life and then some months later you're having to repeat this process cause the car costs more to fix than what its worth - this happened to me with a Volkswagen I got my mom off Craigslist back in 2017 and it was a huge waste of my time and money. also! like purchasing anything else over the internet, ALWAYS be safe when meeting up with people online and don't go to the purchase alone (you'll probably have a large amount of cash on you if you're buying with straight cash and sadly some people rob people that way like a modern highwayman lol like this sounds ridiculous but it really does happen so just be safe). if you know a mechanic or if you can get somebody who knows about cars to go with you when you're going to look at it, that would help ALOT. if like me and most other people, you don't have an on call mechanic the one tip the mechanic that I go to told me: if the engine is shaking, rattling, or just sounds overly aggressive leave that car where it is and go home. it has issues that will probably be expensive or unsafe to drive. remember how I said at the beginning that this isn't an exhaustive resource? I've only ever used facebook or craigslist for car buying online and have never explored other stuff like carvana or the trading apps/websites. you maybe could get a better deal on there. the thing with cars is like.. you have to pick one that works within your lifestyle and budget so buying one depends on what your personal needs for the vehicle are. for me I just wanted something mechanically reliable that would last me a long time after its paid off so I didn't have to have payments for at least 3-5 years after its paid off. I didn't really care about the look of it or the mileage already on it. of course I love sweet emily (my car name) nowww lol but when I was just looking I was gonna get pretty much anything that I couldve driven off in with my $500 down. get what I mean? I also am not gonna bother to get into loans, interest rates, and all that other shit because 1) I don't understand that my damn self sadly and 2) its kind of less relevant than you think (or maybe thats my impoverished mindset just making me not bother to learn). important note: if you have either good credit (above 650) or a co-signer for your auto loan you can literally go to any car dealership and get the car you want. like most things in the United States, you'll find the process hundreds of times easier with money. If you're reading this I'm under the assumption you don't have the disposable income to make decisions like that, otherwise you would just go to a car dealership lot then a driving school lol but don't let me pocket watch you. lastly, and this is just an aside/something to tell yourself: don't get overly attached to cars. they are just tools for transportation and machines and are easily replaceable should things go wrong. I feel like people get really hung up on other shit doesn't matter when it comes to cars. we get attached to them because of familiarity but don't get too stuck on it. sometimes with older cars its literally cheaper to get another car than keep throwing money at it

I am not an insurance expert and honestly didn't feel like researching it just to write this page. this is a basic overview of insurance and if you want more detail you'll have to do your own research or ask other driving people that you know. as I said before we got started.. this isn't an exhaustive resource
most car dealerships will make sure that you have insurance before you leave the lot but if you're not taking that route then it can all be really confusing. the short of it is, insurance is what pays to fix damage to your car if anything happens to it. you pay your premium on a monthly basis or you can pay it all at once if you got it like that lol. if something happens to your car you put in a claim with your insurance company, pay your deductible, and then they send you a check where you can get your car repaired at any shop you choose (some insurance places will make you go to specific vendors that they work with sometimes though). sadly insurance doesn't cover wear and tear from regular use so things like oil changes, new tires, tune ups, or general safety checks are gonna be on your own dime. which is stupid as fuck but we aren't gonna get into that rn, just know they only help you if something happens to your car like an accident with another vehicle, hitting a building/property, or environmental stuff like a tree falling on it during a storm. I'm not going to get too much into insurance because you can google the best policy for yourself and your household - just know if you drive a Hyundai or a KIA because of all the theft it is hard for us to find affordable insurance right now. mine went up like $75 this year when I got another policy because of this bullshit...