All About Lugan

Happy 2017 everyone.

The past year has been very good for me and my husband and we are nearing 1 year here in the maple leaf country. I still cannot comprehend the fact that we are now living the world which we once dreamed off. God is really good and works in mysterious ways. And guess what, we already recovered our settlement fund amounting to almost a Family of 4 from our salaries in just 7 months. I am the Ms. Record type woman even when I am still single. I always have a yearly spreadsheet of all the inflows and outflows of my/our money. I really am my mother's daughter, LOL, that is why I know where we spend this and that and the money comes from here and there. But it is a good thing. So, I am recommending, especially us newcomers, to make a spreadsheet of the ins and outs of our money. It will at some point help you in decision making just like buying your own car.  

Anyway, as promised, I am now blogging about driving lesson, driver's license, car financing and its insurance for a first time driver and newcomer like us but before anything else, meet this handsome 2013 Ford Escape model below:

Hello. My name is Lugan. Born 15 December 2016 at Fredericton, New Brunswick.

I call Lugan our soulmate and it is really meant for us. Yes, we are scouting for a car because we know, even back in the Philippines, that it is a necessity here in Canada but we are not really in a rush about it. Why? We wanted a car that is age 2012 or higher because honestly I do not want us to spend too much on cars because I wanted us to have a house for Little R so I told my husband that I wanted a car that we can use not for a short time but until 5 years or more to which we both agreed. I wanted also a small car only but my husband convince me that it is better we have a bigger one like ours now in preparation (1) for little R and his/her stuffs; (2) for our family who are next in line from migrating here; and (3) for adventure purposes. So, SUV it is. We both also wanted a black car, as in black only. Then came this post from KIJIJI. When I first saw Lugan, it was love at first sight. I was stubbornly asking my husband to call the dealer, schedule a day where we can go visit, etc., etc. During that time, my husband is already enrolled in driving school, working full time at UPS and part time at KFC and me the hard headed wife just keep on pushing him to come let's go see Lugan, blah, blah, blah and my poor husband with little to no sleep at all can't do nothing, LOL.

I honestly do not know anything about cars but through my husband he told me that Ford is one of the good brand of cars here in North America. Lugan is a second hand car but its mileage is only at 46,843 and if you see the history it started as a for lease car. Why? We were also offered a brand new 2017 Ford Escape (we actually had a chance to ride on it even a 2017 Rogue Nissan, LOL, we're actually choosing on these 2 cars) but it is for lease (we don't want to lease only). If it is for lease, maintenance is free for 5 years and Lugan was well taken cared off by the previous owner where you can see in its history that it always has check ups. Like a baby, LOL. Lugan also traveled only in Fredericton. I am guessing that the previous owner is a senior citizen which explains why he/she uses Lugan in Fredericton only. Thus, the explanation why we bought our car earlier instead of waiting for my husband's 7-2 driver's license. Lugan is a very good deal for the both of us.

DRIVER's LICENSE and DRIVING SCHOOL

In New Brunswick, if you wanted to have a driver's license, may you be a newbie or a newcomer with your international license, you are both required to take an exam. A booklet, like the one below, is being sold at Service New Brunswick (SNB) for $5.00 plus tax and it is a reviewer. You can take the written test anytime you want for a fee of $25.00 plus tax. See NEW BRUNSWICK FEES HERE. Once you passed, you will be given a 7-1 driver's license or what they call a beginner's license.

My husband took his written test in August 2016. He passed it on his first try (If you fail, see the fees on the link I shared above). If you have been reading my blog, you will know that we both secured a Government ID in lieu of a driver's license because both of us does not have a license back home and does not know how to drive. Thus, my husband surrendered the Government ID and SNB changed it to a 7-1 driver's license for a fee of $90.00 plus tax.

Since we are Filipinos, we will be dealing only on Philippine driver's license to be used here in NB.  Okay, the thing is, you can directly drive using your Philippine driver's license for a period of 6 months. During said period you must convert your Philippine license to that of NB by taking a road test provided by SNB for a fee of $25.00 plus tax. Once you pass, you will have your class 5 driver's license or an equivalent to a Philippine professional driver's license.

In our case, since my husband is new to driving and has a 7-1 license, he can drive but (1) he has to be with someone who has a class 5 license, (2) he cannot drive from 12 midnight to 5:00 in the morning even with someone who has a class 5 license, and (3) he has to convert his 7-1 to 7-2 license, or an equivalent to a Philippine non-professional driver's license, by passing a road test. In order to do all these and he being a newbie to driving, the driving school comes up in the picture. A 7-2 license is convertible to a class 5 license after 2 years. Note that the difference only of a 7-2 and class 5 licenses is the number of passengers allowed in a car, 2 for 7-2 (the driver and a passenger) and 2 or more for class 5.

My equally stubborn husband enrolled in a driving school very late from where he passed his written test. He can be as hard headed as me, LOL. So he passed his exam in August last year but enrolled only in November and started his driving lessons only in December, grrrr, LOL. I was actually complaining of me waiting for a bus, freezing cold and my fractured arm in pain almost everyday since Fall started and have to pressure him more when winter came, LOL.

Anyway, my husband took his driving school with First Rate Driver, see above or the website, for a fee of $631.00, inclusive of tax. This amount includes 4 consecutive whole day Saturday classes starting from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM and 11 hours actual driving. The 1-hour of it is allotted on the day of his actual road test with SNB. However, because of the onset of the holiday season, his schedule for actual driving lesson were moved this month starting from 20th January to 21st April 2017. Thus, we literally cannot use Lugan yet in our everyday routine because my husband has yet to convert his driver's license to 7-2. There is a new rule now for newbie drivers which gives them 8 months from getting a 7-1 license to convert to 7-2 license. Thus, we have until April 2017 for him to fully convert his driver's license to 7-2 by passing a road test with SNB. We are just so thankful with our fellow PNP, Vince, for patiently riding with us (even if he has his own car) to and from UPS and for being my husband's teacher in driving. At least, I am no longer frozen in the bus stop, LOL, and we can cross Priestman Street going to Abbott Court, hahaha, when there is a get together with Filipino NBPNPers.

LUGAN's COST and INSURANCE

As described above, Lugan is a second hand car. It just look like it's new because our dealer company were just so excited for me and my husband because we are newcomers in Canada and we are getting our very first ever car with them. This explains why Lugan is displayed inside the building, it has ribbon too, LOL, but I prefer to post the picture above. So, to take Lugan home, we are required to put a down payment of $5,000.00 and finance it for 6 years at a monthly rate of $246.50. A very good deal indeed. See, even the price is at minimal because our priority is really to have a house 1-2-3 years from now. Lugan's dealer is Riverview Ford at Hanwell, Fredericton which is very near our workplace. You must imagine how excited we are during those days that we are closing our deal with Riverview Ford, LOL.

Our dealer were the ones who recommended an insurance company for Lugan but the insurance company do not accept newcomers but they still endorsed us to another one, D.W. Olts & Sons. My husband told D.W. that he is still in driving school and have yet to get a 7-2 driver's license. D.W. explained that since he is totally new in driving and have yet to get a certificate from his driving school then Lugan's insurance will be much higher compared to those who have a certificate. Note also to those with Philippine driver's license who are planning to have a car that even if you have a class 5 license but no certificate from a driving school, your car insurance will most likely cost just like ours. Thus, it is advisable to enroll in a driving school just for the purpose of getting your insurance lower, if preferred only.

So, Lugan's monthly full insurance cost for the both of us is $240.77 until we have not presented a driving school certificate. We already paid for December and a security deposit totaling $481.00 after tax last month. Once a certificate is in order, Lugan's insurance will drop down to $186.00 monthly. It will still drop if I prefer to do my driving school but I am not yet into driving. I'll change my mind if Little R comes, LOL. Okay, so what we did to lessen our monthly costs was we kept a budget for Lugan's insurance on our bank. Once we get the certificate, we plan to pay Lugan's insurance for the whole year so I will not have problem doing the math for it, LOL. Note that insurance cost lowers every year, so, we have to deal with high insurances for the meantime, LOL. Perks of being a newcomer and a newbie one.

There goes the post about buying your own car. The husband is literally reviewing my blog post because he is actually the one involved on most of it. I just do the writing, teehee. P.S. I will update this post once the driving road test is in order.