The truth is that as a native New Yorker, I never actually learned how to drive. While I finally managed to get my license in my mid-twenties, it's just become a form of ID that I pull out on the rare occasion that someone is kind enough to card me!

While living a car-free lifestyle can certainly be freeing, now that I'm a mom, my inability to drive is a total headache at times. When my daughter was first born, I wouldn't commit to any activity before evaluating whether I could actually manage it myself using the good old MTA system or finding out if my husband's parking space was worth giving up to play chauffeur to the two of us. But just as leaving my Brooklyn neighborhood was starting to seem like a special occasion in and of itself, I uncovered the incomparable convenience of my local car service and it literally became my lifeline.

At this point, I'm pretty much a livery cab pro — having seen most of the city from the backseat — so I've rounded up some of my favorite car service hacks with a little help from our sponsor, Legends Limousine. Whether you're license-less or car-less, or you snagged a spot that's good until next week, here are five ways a car service can be a total game-changer for your family: