The Acquisition Of Your Driver’s License

In order for you to get your license as soon as possible, you need to efficiently follow the necessary steps that would lead you to the driving privilege that you wanted. Now there are no general specific steps that you can refer to except for the ones that will be provided by your local state. This is why it is really important to refer to your own local DMV. There will be no same set of steps in 2 states but the premise is basically the same.

The very first thing that you need to do is to get your learner’s permit. You cannot push for a full driver’s license if you are a new driver without the acquisition of a leaner’s permit. The request for such permit is pretty much straight forward. You would just need to present the necessary identification documents and at the same time the proof of residence. Some states would then require the beginner driver to attend traffic school.

The next thing you would have to worry about is the next 3 tests. The vision test is basically something that would test if you will be able to operate a vehicle without the hindrance of vision issues. All you have to do is have this scheduled. You can do this online or by getting in touch with the local DMV so they can go ahead and refer you to a doctor who can conduct the vision test.

The next 2 exams will then be challenging so you better be prepared. The first one you need to practice for would be the practical driving test. As suggested by the name, this is the test that will be conducted while you are behind the wheel and right beside you is the examiner will be telling you where to go while taking note of how you go about executing key things that would constitute defensive and responsible driving.

The next one is a real toughie which is the written test. A lot of individuals would actually fail this the first time for a lot of reasons. Most commonly this is because of lack of preparation. You can of course refer to the manuals that you have acquired from your local DMV after you get your leaner’s permit. If you think that is not enough, you can always find another set of reference that you can use like online reviewers as well as practice tests. After you pass all these tests, you should be able to get your license but then maintaining it will be another challenge.

Thing you have to know about your credit report

Are you aware on how to go about reading your credit report? There may be some things that you ought to know regarding your credit report. Feel free to read up and you may be able to look at your credit report in a different light the next time you happen to find it lying around your desk. Here are some details that you ought to know:

You officially get 1 for free annually

This should be enough for those who are just monitoring their credit. On the other hand if you want to get a more comprehensive view of your credit report you are going to have to get your other credit report and this may actually cost you.

There are 3 reporting agencies

There are 3 agencies wherein you can request for your free credit report. You have TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. I actually do not know the reason why there are 3 instead of just one for easier consolidation. However some companies do not really submit to all three so in order for you to get a complete view of your items, you are going to need to request from all 3.

Your free reports will not contain your scores

Do not expect your credit history will already contain your score. The free ones that you are going to get will only reflect the items that are tagged under your name. You will have to pay for a report that will contain your actual score. It is worth noting that requests or inquiries will appear on your report.

Requests/Inquiries impact

As much as possible, do not make the inquiries on your own. The reason being is that too many inquiries will have a negative effect on your credit score. So far there is no published formula that would give us the liberty to compute our own scores that is why it would be better off for us to focus on the items that we have on our report and minimize the inquiries as much as we can.

You can dispute negative items

Just in case you are not aware, you will have to categorize the items to positive and negative items. Positive items are the accounts under your name that has been maintained well. This means that there are no missed or delayed payments. Of course the negative items are the complete opposite. The negative items are the ones that will pull your scores down. Once you got the negative items identified, you can then proceed to disputing them. You can use  Dispute Fax to start the process but if you think that this is too tedious to your liking, then you can actually hire a company to do it for you.

If you need a copy of your DMV credit reports you can check out this website: http://www.dmv.com/records-reports.

Using the Vehicle History Records

Going out to the market to find a new (pre-loved) car can be kind of tricky if you do not know what you are looking for. It is imperative that you take your time in finding the right deal for you. It is not enough that you determine the car that is for you and jump onto the first deal that you see online or in any other ads that you may find.

What would be important is to find out the condition of the car that you intend to buy. There are a lot of things that you ought to consider before you can even look into preparing the money for payment. These are some of those things:

Accidents

Has the car been in any accident before? This is the biggest question that you ought to answer. I would say that a car that has been in an accident is not worth the purchase even if it is really cheap. Chances are even if the car has been reconditioned there may still be problems that may arise shortly after you make the purchase. An accident decreases the integrity of the car itself from its chassis to its engine. All of course would depend on the severity of the road accident.

Mileage

It is also important that you take note of the mileage of the car that you are going to buy. Despite the fact that the car may only be a year old, it may have already seen quite a number of miles and it could take its toll on its engine. This is where the odometer reading will come in handy. There are a lot of issues in the past wherein a vehicle sold has been found that the odometer has been tampered. This is to make it appear that the car has lesser mileage which in turn would increase its market value.

Maintenance

This is also another thing that you ought to look into. You can also find this right in the vehicle history records. You have to look into the type of shop where the car gets its regular maintenance. This will tell you whether the car that you intend to buy is actually getting the best care it can get.

All these things can be found right in the vehicle history records. Do not hesitate to look into this. I am sure that if the seller is not really hiding anything then you should be able to request this right from the seller without any problem.

Using Your Manuals

You must be pretty excited to get your learner’s permit. This means that you are on your way in acquiring your driver’s license. Before you get all too excited jumping into a car, you need to see the packet that you got alongside your learner’s permit. These are going to be your handbook and/or manuals. These things will be your bible of some sort if you want to fast track your acquisition of your full driver’s license.

Each state has a different age requirement for the application of the learner’s permit. Some would allow you to start as early as 14 years old. This should be more than enough time to learn all the things that are required for the full driver’s license. Each state is going to have a different requirement but bottom line is that you would need to pass 3 tests. You may also be required to attend a driving school before you can even take the exam. This is actually a great idea to make sure that the foundation of learning for responsible driving is given to those beginner drivers. It may not really address the issue of reckless driving but it will definitely lessen it somehow.

Going back to the tests that you would have to pass, the first one is just the vision test. As long as you have good eye sight then you don’t really have to worry about this. In case you have some issues with it, you would have to take other necessary precautions before you will be allowed to proceed to the other tests. The other 2 tests are going to be the real zinger because you need to be able to make sure that you are able to prepare. This is where the manuals that you got come in handy. All the information that you need in order to pass will be in that manual.

Let us first take a look at your second exam. This will be your practical driving test. This is going to take place while you are driving with the examiner sitting right beside you with a clipboard taking note of the merits and demerits of your driving. If you happen to browse your manual there are tips there on how to go about performing specific turns which will be expected of you in your driving test. The only way you can do this flawlessly is for you to log a considerable number of hours behind the wheel with a qualified driver riding shotgun.

The next test that you would need to worry about will be your written test. Again, you will have to refer to your manual in order for you for you to really get the information you need to pass the written test. Unfortunately, this is not going to be as easy as practicing for the driving exam. What you need to do is start breaking down the details of the manual so you will be able to digest them more efficiently. This can be a bit overwhelming. Perhaps it would also help if you allow yourself to take advantage of some other references like practice tests so you can determine that you will be able to ace all of the tests on the first try.

If you are tired of taking up these tests you can also check out some cheat sheets from online DMV: http://www.dmv.com/cheat-sheets

Usual Background Checks

When was the last time you had your background checked? This is usually done for employment purposes or if you are applying for a loan, you can expect the loan institution to conduct an inquiry for your credit score. Even us ourselves we do our very own background checks once in a while even though we really don’t realize that is what we are doing. In short this is a very common practice and is deemed necessary.

Let us talk about the 3 most common background checks that are implemented for 3 different purposes:

Employment

This is the check that is conducted to verify the legibility of the claim of your credentials that you have placed on your CV. Some people do try to make their CV more attractive just for a chance for interview but this can actually cost you the job if you happen to be found lying. Some employers would go as far as checking your criminal records but using this against you by denying you of the employment opportunity for that sole reason is unacceptable.

Loans

This is something that financial institution does in order to determine on how they are going to hand your loan application. You can expect that your credit report will be requested from either or all 3 major reporting agencies (TransUnion, Equifax and Experian). This way the loan company can get an idea on the items that have been tagged under your social security number over the years. The most important thing that this will indicate is the interest rate (if you get approved) for the loan. A good credit rating can result to thousands of dollars in savings. It is also worth noting that if you have too many inquiries under your name then this could actually bring your score down.

Driving Records

This is the check that is done by the insurance company you are trying to work with for your car insurance. What this determines is pretty much straight forward, it is basically checking out if you are more of a risky client. It is more of a plain practical thinking to charge higher premiums to those who are more likely file a claim. Think of it as an incentive on the other hand if you keep your records clean. As long as you have no points on your license and no unpaid traffic tickets then you are good to go.

Having your driver’s license

Once you land your driver’s license or even if you are aiming for one, you ought to show it some respect because it is not joke acquiring it. It is very useful in our daily lives and you can even use it even when you are not driving as a form of primary identification. Here are details that you ought to look into:

Acquisition

Now this is a long process and needs a decent amount of preparation. The initial paperwork that needs to be completed is pretty much straightforward. All you need are your identification and if you have your SSN with you then everything else should be standard. What you need to worry about are the tests. The vision is nothing to be worried about. The written and driving tests are the ones you ought to be preparing for big time. If you are just gunning for the learner’s permit, then the process is pretty much the same with a regular driver’s license. Some states may even require you to attend some driving or safety classes before you can even proceed. I find these things quite useful.

As mentioned above the written and driving exams are usually where individuals get stuck. It is not really hard but some become too confident until they start taking the exam. The driving test is somewhere you can actually be a bit more confident as long as you have logged on a considerable number of hours behind the wheel. On the other hand the writing test is really something else. There are a lot of practice tests that you can get online. This has been proven more effective rather than just referring to the driver’s manual that the state has given you when you started your application. Do not hesitate to open up an account that would help you prepare for the written test.

Practice, practice, practice

Maintenance

Not because you have acquired your license it means that you no longer have to worry about it. Your license represents your privilege to drive. It means that you would have to care for it so you do not lose that privilege. There are also times wherein you would have to renew your license. These things are pretty much straight forward. The hard part was the acquisition. As long as you are able to provide the necessary documentations then you are good to go whether you are up for renewal or you just need a replacement.

For more information you can visit: http://www.dmv.com.