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Driving across America

qwerty

qwerty

qwerty

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27 Jul 2005
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2,351
I am going to be bored this summer so I have decided to drive across America. I will start in New York and finish in LA.

First up, has anyone done this? Or does anyone want to tell me what a stupid idea it is?

The only things I've put on my route so far are:
-Niagara Falls
-Find some snow in Colorado
-Find a cactus taller than me in the desert
-The Grand Canyon
-Las Vegas
-San Francisco (Might even finish here instead of LA).
Recommendations?

My car options are either to buy, rent, or I've heard that people are willing to pay you (or at least not charge you) to drive their car coast to coast. I need more info on this last option as the other two are much pricier/harder.

So...discuss.
 
nope, i rented car @ 21, infact i rented a car on my 21st birthday :p

Buying is difficult without us license, not sure how many people would pay a young brit to driver car accross country :confused:
 
Sone said:
nope, i rented car @ 21, infact i rented a car on my 21st birthday :p

Buying is difficult without us license, not sure how many people would pay a young brit to driver car accross country :confused:
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Does anyone have the LONELY PLANET GUIDE TO THE USA?

I was flicking through that in Waterstones and it had a couple of websites that specialise in organising for you to take someone else's car long distances. I would be really grateful if someone could find these, or suggest *** to type into google to find them.

I just checked the Alamo website and their policy is 21-24yr olds pay $20 a week more. Still comes to about $1900 with the $500 dropoff fee :( Not ideal.
 
Sone said:
nope, i rented car @ 21, infact i rented a car on my 21st birthday :p

Buying is difficult without us license, not sure how many people would pay a young brit to driver car accross country :confused:
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I remembered wrongly then!
 
You need to be over 25 to rent a car like it has been mentioned. Honeslty, I dont think your going to be able to find anyone who will be willing to allow you to drive their car across country.

You wont have any US drivers insurance, you dont have a US drivers license and your foreign, which to most people will mean that you can crash/trash the car and then fly back home with the chances of you being caught slim to none.

You MIGHT be able to buy a cheap car from either a run down dealership or a private seller but are you willing to risk not being able to find one?

Also, hotels. Some hotels require a credit card number. You dont have to pay on the credit card but they usually have the number so that incase you skip on the tab they can still charge you and are going to get their money. Same with a Rental car. I know you have to have a credit card on file with them to rent for the same reason.

Also, car rentals differ from place to place. Some places wont let you take it out of state, other have a mile limit and you get charged for going over the limit. Others want the car returned to the same location or charge to have to dropped off somewhere else.

I guess they changed the age thing because I remember it being 25 in most places when I was gonna rent

EDIT: also, I wasnt able to buy a car from a dealership without a US license. but a private seller may be different. But remember, you will need to register the vehicle. In the US the plates dont stay with the vehicle.
 
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Stiff_Cookie said:
You need to be over 25 to rent a car like it has been mentioned. Honeslty, I dont think your going to be able to find anyone who will be willing to allow you to drive their car across country.

You wont have any US drivers insurance, you dont have a US drivers license and your foreign, which to most people will mean that you can crash/trash the car and then fly back home with the chances of you being caught slim to none.

You MIGHT be able to buy a cheap car from either a run down dealership or a private seller but are you willing to risk not being able to find one?

Also, hotels. Some hotels require a credit card number. You dont have to pay on the credit card but they usually have the number so that incase you skip on the tab they can still charge you and are going to get their money. Same with a Rental car. I know you have to have a credit card on file with them to rent for the same reason.

Also, car rentals differ from place to place. Some places wont let you take it out of state, other have a mile limit and you get charged for going over the limit. Others want the car returned to the same location or charge to have to dropped off somewhere else.

I guess they changed the age thing because I remember it being 25 in most places when I was gonna rent
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Not a very helpful post. I'm aware of all those things and most are not a problem.

1) I have a credit card.
2) I plan to organise insurance, tax and everything else required in full before I leave.
3) If one car rental company doesn't do what I'm looking for, there are hundreds more who might be able to!
4) I am sure I have contacts over there who could buy me a car before I go.

I am not planning to hop on a plane tomorrow ad hope it all works out! I am going in July so I have 3 months to plan everything!

P.S. If you're in Texas, are you up for a **** up when I come past? :p
 
Costs approx 200$ a year to register your car( in this state at least). More in others I should think.

TBH it would be very complicated to do if you didn't live here. You'd have to go down the office and queue up to get the new plates, but not sure how you'd do it without an address or SSN or license.


Stiff_Cookie - you aren't crazy, whenever we've rented cars, someone over 25 has had to do it too!
 
I wouldnt mind doin this. You can rent average cars but for like another 100 dollars or so you can get much better ones. Think I saw a Mustang somethin or other available for hire cross country. If your gonna do it, you might as well do it in style.

I've been wantin to do this for ages, might get the chance once unis finished.
 
qwerty said:
Not a very helpful post. I'm aware of all those things and most are not a problem.

1) I have a credit card.
2) I plan to organise insurance, tax and everything else required in full before I leave.
3) If one car rental company doesn't do what I'm looking for, there are hundreds more who might be able to!
4) I am sure I have contacts over there who could buy me a car before I go.

I am not planning to hop on a plane tomorrow ad hope it all works out! I am going in July so I have 3 months to plan everything!
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Well, maybe you should have included that in the opening post;)

There are some things rental companies wont do. Renting a car to a foreigner for a business trip in the city is one thing. Rent a car to a foreigner so that he can travel to the other side of the country is something completly different. You might get lucky and find a company willing to do that, if so good on you. But if they do than its gonna cost you.

If you have contacts here who are willing to buy you a car than I think that is your best option. In three months I bet they can find a durable car for cheap and get it registered and everything. Having said that, unless those people live in Cali and are willing to drive the car to NY than now that person is stuck with a car in his name basically abandoned on the other side of the country.
 
Any clarification on the age requirements to rent a car? I've always wanted to do this and I'm 21 in a few months time so hopefully I'll be able to.
 
Raymond Lin said:
How does that work then ? how do they know what car is the plate on?
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When you register the vehicle they give you plates there or they ask you for the plate numbers. I have only every register a brand new car so I got my plates right there at the DMV. My dad bought a used car and the guy he got it form grabed a screw driver, went out to the car and took the plates off. I asked my dad why but I cant remember what he said.
 
ive always planned doing this.
my plan would be to buy a cheapo car, i mean think of what you could get for £500 here? a good car full mot etc. so you bound to find somthing over there for that price... so you have a 500 car... buy a cd player!
ok so for the price of a weeks rental you have you own car, get it checked over too :)
i was planning on going for a few months mind you. might not be a good idea if you were just going for a few weeks. i dont think they have an mot over there.. so a service is a must!
 
refuzion said:
Any clarification on the age requirements to rent a car? I've always wanted to do this and I'm 21 in a few months time so hopefully I'll be able to.
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21 in most states, 19 in New York State. If you're under the age of 25, most companies charge a fee ranging from $5-20 a day.
 
On Avis website:

10. How old do I have to be to rent a car?

As with most rental car companies, at most Avis locations the minimum age to rent is 25. In certain situations or at certain locations, the minimum age may be 18 or 21. If you are under 25, you will need to check with us in advance to determine if you will be able to rent.



Like I said, in my experience they won't even budge on the under 25 thing, but maybe some non national places do, I don't know
 
Stiff_Cookie said:
Well, maybe you should have included that in the opening post;)

There are some things rental companies wont do. Renting a car to a foreigner for a business trip in the city is one thing. Rent a car to a foreigner so that he can travel to the other side of the country is something completly different. You might get lucky and find a company willing to do that, if so good on you. But if they do than its gonna cost you.

If you have contacts here who are willing to buy you a car than I think that is your best option. In three months I bet they can find a durable car for cheap and get it registered and everything. Having said that, unless those people live in Cali and are willing to drive the car to NY than now that person is stuck with a car in his name basically abandoned on the other side of the country.
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Sorry I was rude in my first reply to you - frustration at not being told what I wanted to hear I think! Anyway, I apologise.

In response to your second point, I'm sure I could put the car up on eBay and at least recoup some of the money paid for it to solve the problem of its being on the wrong side of the country. I'm not looking for a fancy vehicle here, in fact I'd prefer an old fashioned car like you see in the movies - turning circle of several hundred miles, 0.006 mpg, huge and loud.

I'm just testing the water here, looking for rough ideas, I will move on to details later.
 
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