We often take pride on our car assets. After all, we bought these expensive vehicles with our hard earned money. So most of us truly love these four-wheeled machines.
But owning one isn’t as easy as 1-2 and 3. Having a car or even cars, comes with big responsibilities. Yes, whether you live in my area or you are from abroad, we all have to consider some things before we decide to own a car.
In this short post, I will give you some of the things I know, car owners should do to become a responsible owner.
I will divide this post into two – financial responsibilities and car safety.
Financial Responsibilities
The first thing to pop-up to my mind with regards to car responsibilities are financial responsibilities.
This include loaning a car from a bank or dealer, though buying a vehicle in cash also comes with certain level of responsibility as well.
Car loans are for everyone who wishes to buy a car without the capacity to buy cash or just want more flexibility with their finances. So most people opt to buy cars through a bank car loan.
Car Loan
To be able to avoid any inconvenience in the future, one should plan carefully if he or she can truly pay monthly car mortgage.
By agreeing to terms with a bank, you are required to pay monthly dues (with taxes and interest) with your bank until the contract is fulfilled, usually 3 to 5 years.
The amount you are paying monthly is of course have a higher interest compared to other types of loan that a bank or dealer offers. So what happens if you miss or don’t want to pay any more?
Well, the chattel mortgage contract says that your car is the collateral to your loan. Failure to pay your dues means that they will forcefully take your car from you. This will waste all the money you paid into the drain without any return.
So to avoid this to happen, you have to do whatever it takes to keep your car until you fully paid the contract.
Car Insurance
Most people, especially those who owns older vehicles, ignore to have their cars insured by an insurance company. Why? Because it will be another car expenditure.
But you will regret not getting a car insurance in the long run.
Insurance comes with many types, liability, collision and comprehensive insurance.
Liability is your insurance from the damages you inflict to other people or cars. Collision is the insurance with regards to accidents, and comprehensive means you are insuring your vehicle from theft, vandalism, fire, flood and many others.
So neglecting to have your car insured maybe a bad move. There are dozens of car insurance companies (there’s even online companies that offer insurances) that offer insurance packages at low cost. Getting your car insured is a sign that you are a responsible car owner.
Car Registration
Here in Manila, every vehicle are required to be registered at the Land Transportation Office or LTO. Depending on your country’s government agency, most likely you also have the same requirements.
Registering our cars is a must as required by the government for tax, safety and car identification. As you know, owning a car is not a right, but a privilege given by the government.
So we can’t do anything about this but to register our cars in a yearly basis.
Here in Manila, registration costs depends on various things like the year model of the vehicle, its reliability and emission status, and many others.
Basically the registration is not that expensive. If you can buy a car, you can definitely afford government car registration fees.
Car Parking Space
Depending on where you live in, most countries don’t give provision to their citizens to buy cars if they don’t have a parking lot. Just look at Japan and Australia for example.
But here in Manila, most car owners don’t have their own parking space and they often park their cars on the streets. Here, it is much cheaper to buy a car than to buy a parking lot (or a house and lot), that’s why cars packed the streets of Manila.
But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have laws here with regards to illegal parking. Local municipalities here work hard to fight against illegal parking. Some cities issues tickets, some even tows illegally parked vehicles.
However, more cars are still parked on the streets. So to be able to be a responsible car owner, one should consider having a car park garage first before buying a vehicle.
Some businesses here offers apartments for cars, so that’s one option for car owners.
Car Safety and Reliability
Believe or not, most car owners don’t know how to keep their cars in tip top shape as they don’t know how to perform regular maintenance.
Yes, car safety and reliability first comes from us, car owners. Each one of us should know how to make our cars more safe for us to drive and safe for other motorists as well.
So how can we make our cars safe and reliable?
Obey Traffic Laws
This isn’t surprising as traffic rules are made to keep the roads safe to all motorists. One single driver that neglects traffic laws will endanger all vehicles around him. So we should be responsible when it comes to traffic laws.
If your city have speed restrictions, it is your responsibility to obey this rule not because it is a law, but because you want to have a safe ride together with other vehicles.
In contrast, disobeying traffic rules increases your chances of accidents and apprehension, which will keep you closer to driver’s license revocation.
So be an obedient driver and not an outlaw!
Car Maintenance
And the most obvious way to be a responsible car owner is to perform regular maintenance on your cars.
Some of the car jobs that you should regularly check includes the following:
- Tire wear, pressure and expiration
- Brake system maintenance
- Suspension
- Cooling system
- Engine oil replacement
- Lighting and electrical system
Your tires and brakes plays a big role on your car’s overall safety. If your tire explode or fail during travel, then it will mean that an accident will happen. Same goes to a malfunctioning brakes. So have your brakes and tires check regularly to prevent any unwanted accidents.
Your vehicle suspension also plays a big role on the reliability and safety of your car. Make sure that your front and rear shocks are in good conditions, as well as your springs (leaf, coil, etc). Also, check your car’s rubber bushings, ball joints and propeller shafts that needs greasing.
Your engine oil should also be replaced in a certain mileage interval, so don’t forget to change your oil on time. Otherwise, it will greatly reduce the life of your engine, make your engine emits black smoke, low power and many others.
Your electrical system should also be checked especially if you install a lot of accessories in your car such as speakers systems, aftermarket head unit stereo, and many others. To avoid fire and other electrical-based trouble, have these modifications done by a professional.
Cleaning your car shouldn’t be ignored as well! Your windshield, side mirrors and rear glass should be streak-free and 100% clear so the roads are completely visible while you are driving.
Of course, don’t forget to check your airbag system and seatbelts, which are your first line of defense in case of accidents. If you see an airbag warning light on your dashboard, better have it repaired as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Did I miss anything about this topic? If you would like to add more responsibility tips for car owners, don’t hesitate to leave your comments below our comment section. I love to hear your thoughts about this.
So again, owning a vehicle comes with a huge responsibility. It gives us prestige and acts as one of our assets, but it can also be a burden to us if we are not a responsible car owner.
Here is my video discussing the same topic but in Tagalog language. Don’t worry, I added English subtitle so you will still enjoy my video!
