<p>My parents might get me a brand new car this summer.
My question is: Is it really necessary to have a car at UVA as an entering 2nd year student living on grounds???
Will it be useful? Or more pricey to have one while at UVA?</p>
<p>Need? No.
Helpful? Sure, especially if you have an apartment.</p>
<p>Just make sure you familiarize yourself with the parking situation.</p>
<p>a few things you should probably consider when deciding are: how close are you to home? if you’re close enough to home where you’d want to come back, would you rather take a bus, or drive</p>
<p>are you paying for all related costs, or are your parents? insurance, gas, parking, and maintenance would probably run about $4,000 per year…ymmv, but that’s what i would end up paying if i brought my car down with me to uva assuming $50/month gas and $50/month parking</p>
<p>what are you going to use the car for? you could most likely walk to class, and buses run constantly. you also probably wouldn’t want to drive to parties, because you’d need a DD to get home.</p>
<p>i was thinking about bringing my little honda down there, but decided against it. if you’re remotely close to virginia you can probably take a bus home – i live in northern virginia and roundtrip bus fare home and back is $17 (i just checked the greyhound website). might be worth checking if you can get home by bus and how much it would be. besides, on-campus housing and some off-campus housing is close enough to campus to get around on foot or by bike. <<<—what i’m doing (getting a bike)</p>
<p>bring your car…i waited until my third year to do it and wish I could have done it earlier. You have so much more freedom to get around Charlottesville, esp. on the weekend if you wanna go get food on the downtown mall or whatever.</p>
<p>If you live off campus, a car can help and be fun. But isn’t really necessary and you have to realize having a place to keep your car can be a gigantic pain in the butt, as parking around C-ville sucks (as it does in most college towns really) and you also have to concede that you’re going to get a really lame parking ticket or 6 from the evil evil evil folks at P&T.</p>
<p>There is no reason to drive to the Downtown Mall. Parking down there is a pain, even though there are two parking decks (one small and old, one large and new). </p>
<p>Walk to the Downtown Mall or take the trolley. The Mall is just under a mile from The Corner. Drive for errands that need to be run on Emmet/Rt. 29.</p>
<p>Again, make sure you understand the parking situation for the building in which you’ll be living.</p>
<p>I have managed to survive for 3 years without a car. The bus service is good enough, I buy a lot of stuff online, and there are plenty of other people you can catch a ride with if needed.</p>
<p>If you stay on Grounds for the summer, though, you’ll need a car. I wouldn’t advise bringing a new car with you – parking spaces are smaller than they ought to be and there is always someone who doesn’t mind slamming his door into the side of your car.</p>
<p>UVa really ought to look at setting up a Zipcar service. Many of the school’s peers have contracted with Zipcar.</p>
<p>And do not ever walk to or from the mall at night without male friends (preferably more than one). Even then you’re asking for trouble.</p>
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<p>obviously disagrees with:</p>
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<p>The entire reason I have my car here is that I am downtown 3+ NIGHTS a week and even taking the trolley late at night is really sketchy (plus, it stops running at around 11pm, and takes forever getting back to central grounds). Even then, sometimes I don’t want to walk back from Emmet/Ivy late at night (like last night… I parked in Bonnycastle until 7:25 am, lol they start towing at 7:30), but usually it is well lit enough that you can wait for the bus or walk.</p>
<p>You can always find free street parking downtown if it’s past 5pm. 
3rd/4th st or Jefferson st are good options, as are the parking spots toward the very end of the downtown mall near the ampitheatre-like structure.</p>
<p>“walk to the downtown mall”—in the winter from Emmet? I don’t know about that…</p>
<p>Is parking at UVA horrible? I never bought a parking pass and I always found parking on JPA, Brandon and down Valley Rd. May be I was just lucky, but not once during the 2 years I had my car, did I feel like it was necessary to buy a parking pass since I always found a spot. I will agree that you won’t use your car that much, but I always found myself bored on Saturdays/Sundays and my friends and I would drive around Charlottesville looking for a place to eat or to just hang out. Don’t count on people giving you rides, a lot of people don’t bring their cars.</p>
<p>really depends on who’s paying for insurance. if you (or your parents) have got the approx. $2,000 extra to insure a car you won’t use daily, feel free to do so.</p>
<p>
Obviously, students need to be prudent after dark. No one should walk any distance at night without a friend.</p>
<p>who pays 2000?..I suggest you look for another insurance company immediately.</p>
<p>closer to 1800…i’m a 20-year old guy with a relatively new car that’s red…plenty of things already going against me.</p>
<p>1800 is still a lot of money though.</p>
<p>do you have a car and pay for insurance that’s in your name?</p>
<p>No I do not, my parents would probably pay for all of that.
From everything, I think I’m probably not gonna take my car. I’ll ride my bike and help the environment :-)</p>
<p>:) <em>10char</em></p>
<p>have you already been admitted UVAfan23?</p>
<p>Not yet, but the parking/car situation has always bothered me. Never hurts to think ahead…which is what i always do lol
(non-procrastinator)</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>It depends. If you like doing a lot of grocery shopping, then you’re likely to need a car, unless you want to carry grocery bags by taking the bus and walking to your dorms. I would recommend having a car if you’re living off campus after your first-year for sure. The exception is if you live in JPA/14th St./Brandon Ave. area.</p>
<p>“And do not ever walk to or from the mall at night without male friends (preferably more than one). Even then you’re asking for trouble.”</p>
<p>Dean J, and everyone else.</p>
<p>I actually thought it was pretty safe to walk by myself on the grounds when i slept over my friends dorm. I got up at 3 AM to walk near Peabody Hall and near the School of Commerce (I was meeting up with a long-lost friend, so i HAD to see him lol). But then again I was spending the night in Brown, which i’m guessing is safer to walk around than other residence areas.</p>
<p>PS. At 3 AM there were still some parties going on, and I’m pretty sure some students who were outside at that time were drunk haha (it was a friday night)</p>
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<p>All you need is your wits. Act mobile. Look like you’d be capable of sprinting off at any second. Never hurts to constantly look behind your back. It makes you look paranoid, but hey, that’s actually what you want. It wards off any possible attackers. </p>
<p>All the on-Grounds residence areas are more or less safe. </p>
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<p>Really? Go to Harris Teeter, pick up stuff, ride bus 7 to Snyder Tennis Courts, transfer to Northline (or walk, if you live nearby at the IRC).</p>
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<p>Bus 7 runs along Rt 29 to Fashion Square, and then Bus 5 takes you as far as Wal-Mart. Lowes is somewhere in between. Are there any big box stores after that?</p>