Your First Car

Want some advice for your first car? Probably not, but I'm going to give it to you anyway. My first car was a real clunker. It was all my parents could afford until I took the initiative, got a job and paid for my own first car.

Your first car could be a similar experience. When you buy your first car and start driving it there is a feeling of independence like no other. You're free as a bird, to go wherever you want and whenever you want. You dream of the open road. There are no limits to what you can do and where you may go in your first car.

But, that's the dream and not the reality, I'm afraid. There are limits like insurance, fuel, money, repairs, maintenance, car payments if you took out a first car loan. But, your first car opens up possibilities as well.

You may want to get a job as a teenager and may need your first car to get you to and from work. Relying on parents, siblings and friends for transportation is kind of sucky compared to owning and driving your first car.

Having your first car also opens you up to dating possibilities and other social occasions that may not happen when you rely upon others for transportation. So, my advice is to make your first car a memorable one.

Even if the vehicle is a cheap first car you can still trick it out a bit, for not too much money and spruce up the interior. Wash it, wax it, clean out the interior, do minor repairs yourself or major repairs if you're an automotive geek.

This all goes into the experience of having your first car. Take photos of your friends in and around your car. Write a song about your first car. Draw a picture of it. Sing to it. Chair dance to the music in it.

Hoot and holler in it. But, all while driving safely. Make your first car and experience to remember. It is a celebration of one of the great stepping stones in life, that of a teenager moving into adulthood and to a new found sense of independence.