diff --git a/vdirsyncer/storage/singlefile.py b/vdirsyncer/storage/singlefile.py
index f08d4c2..723c553 100644
--- a/vdirsyncer/storage/singlefile.py
+++ b/vdirsyncer/storage/singlefile.py
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class SingleFileStorage(Storage):
 
     def __init__(self, path, encoding='utf-8', **kwargs):
         super(SingleFileStorage, self).__init__(**kwargs)
-        path = expand_path(path)
+        path = os.path.abspath(expand_path(path))
 
         collection = kwargs.get('collection')
         if collection is not None:
@@ -97,7 +97,8 @@ class SingleFileStorage(Storage):
             raise ValueError('collection is not a valid argument for {}'
                              .format(cls.__name__))
 
-        checkfile(kwargs['path'], create=True)
+        path = os.path.abspath(expand_path(kwargs['path']))
+        checkfile(path, create=True)
         return kwargs
 
     def list(self):
diff --git a/vdirsyncer/utils/__init__.py b/vdirsyncer/utils/__init__.py
index b67e5f3..269c50a 100644
--- a/vdirsyncer/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/vdirsyncer/utils/__init__.py
@@ -301,7 +301,10 @@ def checkfile(path, create=False):
     if not os.path.isfile(path):
         if os.path.exists(path):
             raise IOError('{} is not a file.'.format(path))
-        if not create:
+        if create:
+            with open(path, 'wb') as f:
+                pass
+        else:
             raise exceptions.CollectionNotFound('File {} does not exist.'
                                                 .format(path))