Q: I’m starting at University of Houston this Spring and I’m going to get my first BMW in Houston. Are there any tings that I should know?

A: As a student who isn’t familiar with the workings of cars and their business, you need to get to know what it’s like to own a BMW in Houston and what you need to do as a car owner. If you’re living near the U of H campus, then you’re close to pretty much everything and won’t have to worry about being in the middle of nowhere like two thirds of the city.

• Your title.

Sometimes when you get your BMW in Houston, the car dealership will apply for the title and the registration for you and just ship it to you in the mail. This has never happened to me, and definitely didn’t happen when I bought my BMW in Houston, but I know others have told me about it. I wouldn’t expect it, though. I had to go to the department of public safety and apply for registration and a title for my car on my own, and you’ll probably need to do that, too. It costs around a hundred bucks for the title.

• Your registration.

You can get your registration in the same trip as when you get the title. It costs around sixty dollars, and you just fill out a form and you’re done. You’ll be given a sticker to put on the windshield of your car, and it needs to be visible and prominent at all times. If the date on that registration passes, then the police consider it open season for you and you can expect to get ticketed. I let my registration go one time when I was trying to sell my old BMW in Houston, since I thought I would only have it for a couple more days, and I got ticketed TWICE driving to junk yards. Bad idea.

• Parking.

I’ve managed to park at U of H several times with my BMW in Houston without getting ticketed for lacking a parking permit, but I think I was just lucky. My car stuck out like a sore thumb along with the hundreds of cars with vary colored permits in their windows. If you’re going to park your BMW in Houston on the U of H campus, then buy a permit and use it.