David Sudjiman

I don’t really need a car if it is not for this job. This job takes me about 60-90 minutes to travel using public transportation. I still can enjoy the ride by reading and listening IPod. However, things get bad when I have to work during Saturday or Sunday shifts. No bus on the road in front of the office I work and I have to walk another 15 minutes and wait 1 hour to get the bus during weekend.

We have actually been planning to get a car this year. It’s not that urgent but I can see several activities will much easier done if we have a car.

Having a car in Australia, specially in Sydney, is like a necessity. You can’t rely on NSW public transport while lots of hangout places and scenery is unreachable using bus or train. If you have a car, it means you can go anywhere you want. Even to Canberra on spring season, QLD on summer, or Melbourne. Yes, that’s Melbourne. A friend of mine actually drove from Sydney to Melbourne and the view was awesome.

I was starting to look around on www.carsales.com.au and www.drive.com.au since 10 February 2007 when I passed my Driving test. In Australia, you can only buy a car if you have a driving license. The budget keep changing and also with the car model. The plan was actually simple. Get a used car that can drive us from A to B and last for 10 years. It’s not that easy.

I don’t know anything about a car but I have a friend to drive me around and inspect the car. Such a very nice person he is. He didn’t want anything in return but I managed to treat him and his girlfriend for a dinner. Thanks Dan!

I finally managed to a get car on 16 of April 2007. It’s a Toyota Corolla year 2000. Yes! It is our first car with our own money. I had to filled the Rego (car registration) transfer form, submitted it to RTA and paid 3.3% transfer fee. It was very easy.

The next few weeks was quite busy that I have to the overall service with mechanic, install an immobilizer, and change the Audio head as it did not have CD nor MP3.

I was actually drove my car to mechanic few weeks later. The mechanic noticed that car kept idling at 2,000 rpm. After a checked being done, the throttle engine was cracked and I was lucky it didn’t blow out and put my car in full throttle. I spent quite a lot to fix from oil filter to throttle engine. But at least it is now is a good condition.

The car didn’t have immobilizer and I had to install one as I have to park my car on the street. Funny things happened. After doing some research on the net, I found that Power Lock is a very good car immobilizer. I tried to call the number, phone just rang out. I tried to emailed them, no reply. The last I did was browsing through the its web and found that Black Widow car immobilizer merchant selling Power Lock. I called them, and surprised, they didn’t sell Power Lock but the only sell Black Widow. Thanks to Power Lock that ‘suggested’ me to install a Black Widow immobilizer.

I also had my Audio head Sony CDX-GT250sinstalled at the same time they installed the immobilizer. It was one of the cheapest Audio head that reads CD R/W, CD R, CD MP3, and also has AUX-in. The AUX-in is basically the same connector that you use to connect your IPod to your earphone. It’s good to have if you don’t like to change CDs for a long drive.

I also have to pay for Insurance, a Comprehensive package insurance. It means that if you have an accident and it was caused by you, the insurance company will pay for your car and the other car you hit. For this purpose, AAMI cost AUD$350 less than NRMA. I also joined NRMA road assistant. Having this service means that somebody will come to assist wherever you are if you car suddenly having trouble on the street.

Last week, I drove to Blue Mountain and listening to Fourplay. Felt really good.