Is it necessary to have a car in London

[Guest PDSP]

Hey all you UWOites,

 

I've spent the last 8 years of my life in Toronto getting along with out a car (due in part to the TTC). Considering that I am now moving to London, I have given some thought to buying a car.

 

First, do you think it is necessary to have a car in London during the pre-clerkship years? I mean to get around and pick-up stuff. Or, will the bus system suffice?

 

Next, (and I think I already know the answer here) is it necessary to have a car during clerkship? I imagine for the 6 am surgical rounds that the buses just won't cut it.

 

Thoughts?

 

PD

[Guest lcloh]

To answer your last question first, you got it. You need a car during clerkship. Period.

 

Pre-clerkships a bit different. NEED to have a car? No. NICE to have one? For sure. There are a number of clinical placements and stuff you go to and the hospitals we all visit are spread out across London. London as a whole is suburban sprawl, so it's tough to get around. the buses as a whole suck, but if you live on a decent route (e.g. 2 Dundas, 6 Richmond) you could probably function fairly well.

 

Other than that, you'll probably need to beg for rides/etc. to get to clinical methods, but that's cool because usually there are other people in class who have cars. Of course if you have your own you could be on the other end....

 

Then there are electives and patient care experiences... oh wait, you don't have PCEs anymore. But electives, at doctor's offices, etc. are things you'll have to get to... and the bus system is alrite, but cars are WAY more convenient.

 

Lastly, the question of shopping and night-time transport. Buses suck at night. And shopping.. well, I think that needs no elaboration!

 

So as you can see, you can survive without a car... but there are SO many places where it would be convenient to have one... I bought a car first-year, and I haven't regretted that choice!

[Guest PDSP]

Icloh:

 

Thanks for the thoughts. When you bought your car, did you buy a new one, or pick-up a used vehicle?

 

PD

[Guest aneliz]

Well, I thought I would add to this discussion....

 

I am not going to start 2nd year without having bought a car...

 

I have had enough of the London bus system...it is alright, I live on a good bus route (13 Wellington) and most of the time it gets me where I need to be...

 

But, it is less then convenient sometimes...and some places, it just doesn't go....so I have been relying on rides (from good people like lcloh...thanks buddy!) to get to some clinical placements, class events, etc.

 

Having a car will also make a huge difference to my ability to go home and see my family....right now I am a slave to the Via schedule....and it will also greatly improve grocery shopping expeditions...med students tend to grocery shop about once every two weeks...(or more)...meaning that every shop is epic in terms of amount of food bought....and it is a real pain in the a$$ to carry all of that stuff home on foot or on the bus!

 

For an in-depth discussion on the merits of having a car in London check out this thread on the uwomeds.com forums...

 

www.uwomeds.com/forum/sho...readid=277

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey PDSP,

 

In my case, I ended up buying a new car before 1st year because I: a) would need it eventually (ie: 3rd year) and was tired of messing around with my parents' aging, unreliable vehicles. After weighing the costs carefully, I decided to lease a new car rather than taking a chance on a used one (very doable on a standard LOC, btw). I leased mine over four years, because by the end I figured I'd have an MD degree and a chance to buy out the lease either myself or for my family. And also, it wouldn't hurt to have a car for residency either. That's just what I did.

I'd recommend going new versus used because with used you never know what you're going to get. My roommate from 4th year at WLU bought a used car that year, and although it ran fine for the first 6 months, ever since then, it's given him nothing but grief as every time I call him up, he's got something new that's gone wrong with it. Hearing this from him assures me that I made the correct choice. Plus if you buy new, there'll be a ton of cars for you to test drive in the meantime, regardless if you end up buying them or not! Ultimately, it is up to you, but those are just my thoughts on the matter.

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

[Guest PARTY cal]

I think I will bring my car with me for first year, definitely not a necessity, but nice to have. I was wondering about parking on campus. Is is difficult and/or very expensive to get a parking pass. Timmy, I remember you mentioning that you would park without a pass and just chance it and pay the odd ticket...so what is the best way to go?

[Guest lcloh]

Hi guys,

 

1. I got myself a decent used (virtually unused) car. 2000 Honda Accord, all the fixings, only 37,000 kms, so practically new. Courtesy of RBC and the line of credit. Got it in January.

 

Interesting to note that in the last 6 months I'm already at 45,000 kms, so I've already put 8,000 kms on it.

 

2. Parking is cool. Go to http://www.uwo.ca/parking and apply for a pass. It's pretty decent this year, we were upgraded from undergrad to a new category called "professional" students and eligible for non-reserved perimeter parking passes (grey) instead of those horrible undergrad permeter parking passes (green). This means we can park in a lot semi-close to the building instead of a 6 minute walk away.

 

Parking is relatively cheap at Western compared to other schools and Western has the 2nd largest number of parking spots (gross, not per capita).

 

LC

 

Aneliz: no probs!

[Guest PDSP]

Aneliz and TimmyMax:

 

You guys have helped confirmed my thoughts on the car issue. That is, not essential, but rather nice to have. As for the new vs. used, I'll figure that one out as I go.

 

I a thinka Im gona due sum test driven dis weekend... :eek

 

PD

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey PARTYcal,

 

Yeah, it was okay without the parking pass, but less convenient overall. It wasn't bad most of the time- you can park at Saugeen after 4:30 PM for free, but tickets for getting caught on campus are a hefty $35 a pop- and the parking cops here know ALL the tricks, although it seems that enough people manage to get away with just leaving their four-ways on for indefinite periods of time, kind of like in downtown Toronto at rush hour. I got nailed three times- two of them were bs, but what can you do?

Anyway, those are just my thoughts.

 

Best of luck!

Timmy

[Guest adlinner]

Awwwh!

 

Having gotten a place close to campus this year, I was looking forward to more usage of my bus pass this year!

 

I've been just getting bits and pieces of the places UWO meds have to go in preclerkship (school wise). It looks like Friday mornings for clinical skills are at LHSC locations like Westmin campus and Parkwood. And if I need to go to a clinic to shadow a doctor, I'll need a car too. And there are functions at Four points???

 

I was wondering if anyone would give me a more precise break down of the typical (and a not so typical) week in terms of off-campus travelling in first and second year?

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

I'll give it a shot. Monday and Tuesday you will typically be in DS1002 in MedSci. Wednesday you will probably be in the 'M' rooms for PCL, but this can vary depending on your tutor. Most PCL sessions held outside MedSci were at one of the London hospitals, but this usually will not be for the entire year as groups are switched up twice throughout the year. Of course, you will have all day to get to PCL, so you can realistically take the bus anywhere you have to be.

On Thursdays, it's back to DS1002 before heading out to the hospitals Friday morning (assuming that you are not in the interviewing blocks) for primary physical examination skills. Most of these sessions were held at London's hospitals, but again it will depend on your tutor and where they decide to hold the sessions. Friday afternoons are wrap-up sessions which are back in DS1002. If you get there early, you can sometimes catch leftovers from whatever Dents function was in DS1002 at noon.

Hope this helps!

 

Timmy

[Guest adlinner]

TimmyMax,

 

Thank you, I see then the whole car pool thing depends on who's in your PCL/Clinical Skills groups.

 

I will start looking into a car this weekend....the thought of being car-less and not making it back in time to get free lunch on Fridays frightens me. :eek

 

Yours

ad linner

[Guest TimmyMax]

Well, it's not really a free lunch, more like free cookie or free can of pop after lunch. Good luck with your car search!

 

Timmy

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Yeah, I didn't worry about being on a bus route when looking for a place for first year but wish I had. I ended up caving and buying a card at March break 1st year. The problem is now I have had to pay insurance over that period and repairs. . . a fair bit of coin. If you can get a place close to grocery stores and on bus routes (ie Richmond & Oxford, Masonville) that is pretty key.

[Guest Sam]

Hi All,

 

I am debating which parking lot to choose ... The options are Springett, South Valley, Chemistry and Visual Arts . I see where they are on the map and it seems visual art parking is closest to the medical sciences building. Any advice? As well is the medical parking available ?

 

thanks

[Guest therealcrackers]

It's not. Visual Arts is behind a barrier of buildings and down a hill from Med Sci. Chemistry parking lot is across from UH, which if SARS ever dies down has an access link to the back of the Dental/Medical sciences building. It's also at the bottom of a road leading up to a circle between the Health Sciences Addition, the Nat Sci library (aka Taylor), Dental Sci and the Robarts Research Inst. It's a better lot to be in, also, because it's bigger. The medical parking is not available until after 4 because we won't have the right kind of entry transponder available to us.

[Guest Sam]

Perfect... thanks for the advice

[Guest adlinner]

Also look into buying a parking pass from Huron College. This is an UWO affiliated college right across the road from UCC and Weldon. It's about 200m closer to Med Sci than Springett, $25-50 cheaper than UWO non-reserved parking, AND it's all reserved parking (they don't oversell). Small differences but why not take advantage of them? And yes, they do sell to UWO students.

 

Mailroom / Parking permits

438-7224 x278

Huron College Rm A21

[Guest seedstrike]

Hey guys,

 

Quick question for those of you who ended up buying a new car (or a high priced used car)?

 

How did owning an expensive car factor in the amount of loan you guys were able to obtain from the gov't and the province?

 

Would owning a new car valued at approx 18,000 (about 10,000 in finance) significantly affect the amount of omsas and other loans i may be able to obtain?

 

Thanks,

Strike

[Guest Toonces]

From what I understand, having a car sure does affect your loan in a nasty way.

 

One sly :evil and loan-preserving way of doing it is to get the registration put under another primary driver, such as a parent, so that you don't have to include a car as an asset on your OSAP app.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Yeah, I think an $18k car would kill your OSAP and bursaries. If you do buy one that expensive, Toonces is right - put in your parents name if you can! A number of classmates have done this.

 

The other option would be to buy a car under the limit. . . it was $5k but I think it's been raised to $10k. Check that first, I'm not sure of the value.

[Guest JSS02]

Can you be registered as the primary driver without being the owner? Just wondering, because it might be kind of hard to believe you're the secondary driver (if unfortunately you actually had to make an insurance claim) if your living address during the year is different from your parents' address...

[Guest Toonces]

Well you probably wouldn't be registered as the primary driver. My brother did it and he didn't live at the same place as my parents - I can't remember if he had to make any insurance claims tho. If you're really interested I can ask him re the details..

[Guest PARTY cal]

Can someone please provide me with the number for a good Ontario car insurance company

 

Thank you.

[Guest TimmyMax]

Hey PARTYcal,

 

Do you have an undergraduate degree? If so, then go with Meloche Monnex Insurance. They offer great rates for university grads and I think that they are the best to be with, especially if a single male.

If you do not have a degree, then try the OMA Insurance. They deal through some company, I forget which one, but they'll give you a decent shake. There will be a big OMA dinner first week of school and you can speak to the rep and get the details then.

 

Best of luck!

Timmy