Road Tripping in the USA!

Rich · 1 Sep 2017 at 17:52

VaderDSL said:
Last time I hired in USA we had paper counterpart licence, now it has been abolished, is it worth generating a shared licence code from the DVLA?

Or will Avis literally not care as long as I have my normal photo card licence, passport and credit card?

Can also confirm having picked up from Avis SFO that all they cared about was the plastic license.
Couple of weeks in with the Charger R/T V8. Happy with that decision, sounds epic

XeNoN89 · 1 Sep 2017 at 20:57

Not particularly car related but this is by far the most relevant thread...

I'm doing this in October:

http://www.dialaflight.com/tours/usa/california/losangeles/highlights-of-the-west/#offer_45238

Does anyone have a rough idea of how much spending money would be needed for this trip? Gonna dump a load of money on my Monzo card and just use that out there but don't really know how much I'll need!

[TW]Fox · 1 Sep 2017 at 21:02

Don't bother with those prepaid cards, just take a decent credit card and forget about having to 'dump money' on it etc etc.

Rich · 3 Sep 2017 at 16:37

[TW]Fox said:
Don't bother with those prepaid cards, just take a decent credit card and forget about having to 'dump money' on it etc etc.

Halifax clarity all the way!

Peerzy · 9 Sep 2017 at 00:06

Car hire for my latest tripped just booked, Virgin Holidays came out cheapest by about 1/3rd again for those who are looking.

Eatchipz · 10 Sep 2017 at 19:21

Can someone tell me what the difference between booking direct with the rental company (Alamo in this case) and booking through a website like US Car Hire. From what I can see I have done the same booking but USCarHire is like £100 cheaper. Am I missing something?

b0rn2sk8 · 10 Sep 2017 at 20:10

Assuming your comparing like for like (in terms of insurance etc) then nothing.

VaderDSL · 11 Sep 2017 at 03:16

Well turns out we got upgraded due to no full sized rentals. Got a full size SUV, fairly new Ford Edge, massive compared to my normal car! But made things a lot easier due to built in sat nav, cruise control etc. Not sure on the engine but I think it was just the 2.0T ecoboost version, but it was fine for us!

They weren't able to wash it due to some new sewerage laws so they also knocked. £20 off the price. Fairly happy overall.

Joe T · 11 Sep 2017 at 06:19

Eatchipz said:
Can someone tell me what the difference between booking direct with the rental company (Alamo in this case) and booking through a website like US Car Hire. From what I can see I have done the same booking but USCarHire is like £100 cheaper. Am I missing something?

The prices are often much more similar if you take into account quidco cashback or similar.

Joe T · 11 Sep 2017 at 06:20

VaderDSL said:
Well turns out we got upgraded due to no full sized rentals. Got a full size SUV, fairly new Ford Edge, massive compared to my normal car!

I think that's a regular SUV. The fullsize SUV is quite a bit bigger!

timmeh · 11 Sep 2017 at 18:02

That's what we were given when we upgraded to a full-size SUV. Definitely not what I would consider full-size. We went back and said that that isn't going to work and they gave us a Ford Expedition

VaderDSL · 11 Sep 2017 at 22:54

Joe T said:
I think that's a regular SUV. The fullsize SUV is quite a bit bigger!

Really! Damn the full sized must be enormous then! Definitely made the long journeys comfortable!

uncle_rufus · 12 Sep 2017 at 08:24

Now that September has come around we can start the process of booking our trip for next August! Thinking we'll still go through a travel company rather than trying to arrange everything individually ourselves - especially being the first time we've done it. I expect I'll be posting back here a few times as we try to work it all out.

Joe T · 12 Sep 2017 at 08:39

uncle_rufus said:
Now that September has come around we can start the process of booking our trip for next August! Thinking we'll still go through a travel company rather than trying to arrange everything individually ourselves - especially being the first time we've done it. I expect I'll be posting back here a few times as we try to work it all out.

Nah, do it yourself! Much more fun! You'll need a spreadsheet though....

Peerzy · 12 Sep 2017 at 09:55

uncle_rufus said:
Now that September has come around we can start the process of booking our trip for next August! Thinking we'll still go through a travel company rather than trying to arrange everything individually ourselves - especially being the first time we've done it. I expect I'll be posting back here a few times as we try to work it all out.

Planning a US road trip is the perfect way to start arranging holidays yourself. Everything is in English, thousands of people have already booked similar trips and there is a wealth of knowledge on the internet (including this thread).

There isn't anything to be worried about and it is as simple as it looks (book flights, book hotels, book car). Use Excel and Google Maps to plan out a rough route and then start looking at hotel prices.

FWIW I booked flights for my October trip a few months back when they came on sale and have only just booked the hotels and car hire (less than 6 weeks before flying). You have 11 months so plenty of time to figure everything out.

You'll save yourself a bunch of money and have a trip that is exactly what you want compared with the travel company offerings. The travel company packages I've seen advertised seem to just be box ticking as many places and 'things you must do' into 1 single trip as possible. I doubt you'll find San Diego on many travel company California road trips as there isn't the single big iconic attraction there but it's by far our favourite place in the US (and lots of other people agree looking at this thread).

uncle_rufus · 12 Sep 2017 at 11:39

I guess our feeling is more that should something go wrong the travel companies are more likely to have a wealth of contacts etc. and experience sorting things out (though now that I think about it that's exactly the sort of myth that would be pushed by those same companies, so maybe it's not as hard as you might imagine!)

Peerzy · 12 Sep 2017 at 12:01

uncle_rufus said:
I guess our feeling is more that should something go wrong the travel companies are more likely to have a wealth of contacts etc. and experience sorting things out (though now that I think about it that's exactly the sort of myth that would be pushed by those same companies, so maybe it's not as hard as you might imagine!)

If something did go wrong I'd much rather be fixing it myself and dealing directly with suppliers (hotels, airlines etc...) than phoning a helpdesk style phone line.

Generally speaking if you follow the advice on the internet and in this thread there isn't really much that can go wrong.

Use the mentioned car rental firms (via a UK broker) and go for a big brand (Alamo and National always come out cheapest anyway for me and they are as big as it gets). UK broker will automatically give you all the insurance you'd need.
Flights are simple, book with a credit card and just make sure your dates are fine. Make sure you have a passport and ESTA.
Hotels go through a UK website like booking.com and hotels.com (collecting WR nights and using Quidco).

You're then covered for everything anyway.

FishFluff · 12 Sep 2017 at 16:47

uncle_rufus said:
I guess our feeling is more that should something go wrong the travel companies are more likely to have a wealth of contacts etc. and experience sorting things out (though now that I think about it that's exactly the sort of myth that would be pushed by those same companies, so maybe it's not as hard as you might imagine!)

American customer service staff are all unbelievably helpful in my experience. If anything goes wrong they'll go the extra mile to help you sort it.

Housey · 14 Sep 2017 at 18:37

So I have to be on the West Coast next month and plan to take some R&R after work activities. I am considering hiring a car and driving back to the east coast, from San Francisco and wondered if this is a stupid idea, won't allow me to see anything of interest or is an epic road trip. Anyone done a West to East drive and if so, was it good or a bit ****?

Gibbo · 14 Sep 2017 at 18:42

Housey said:
So I have to be on the West Coast next month and plan to take some R&R after work activities. I am considering hiring a car and driving back to the east coast, from San Francisco and wondered if this is a stupid idea, won't allow me to see anything of interest or is an epic road trip. Anyone done a West to East drive and if so, was it good or a bit ****?

I am doing it next week buddy.

Landing in San Jose, got a V8 Mustang convertible automatic. A couple nights in San Jose, then a night in San Fran, then drive down the east coast to Santa Cruz, stay a night there, then drive down to Monteray Bay and a night there. Then drive about another 75 miles south along coast and staying in a nice newly built Marriot for relax and spa. Then drive back to San Jose, plane home. Or if your up for it stay one night and drive all the way to LA, probably best to just get on the highway though to cover the distance faster. Once in LA area, there are lots of nice areas to visit, one of my personal favourites is Newport Beach, where a lot of the famous and rich live, but the food, beer and hotel prices are cheap considering.

www.turo.com if you want to hire something nice for a better cost. Was going to go with a Corvette but it gets expensive real quick if your taking out full insurance which I am. So went with the car I know albeit with a soft top and automatic, hopefully sun shall be out so I can enjoy those coastal roads and make plenty of stops along the way.

Living the dream!

Was also tempted to hire a Dodge Viper for one day, oh and I am going to stop by Laguna Seca of course whilst in the area, might also go on track.