Montreal to LA

[alecf50]

Me and 4-5 friends were thinking of buying a used van for about 2000-2500$ CAN (maybe a 2001-2002 version) and driving from montreal to los angeles for about 3 weeks total. Anyways, if anybody has any suggestions, ideas or informations, feel free to post it :)

[AZBuck]

Bienvenue sur les forums de RoadTrip Amérique. Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

The first thing you have to be aware of is that a C$2500 van is not going to be in the world's greatest shape. While you might find one that can make the round trip to the west coast and back, that will either take a very large stroke of luck, or considerably more expense in repairs, either before you leave or while on the road. t also will not serve as an RV for that many people. With all of you and your equipment, you will not be able to get any real sleep in it. There will simply be no place to stretch out. You'll still need to pay for lodging for all of you , even if it's only camping gear and a nightly camp site. So, if this is your plan for basic transportation, how constrained is your budget? And what are your interests? Both of those pieces of information are required before anyone can give you any useful advice.

AZBuck

[alecf50]

well to purchase the van, i would say 500-600 each for a total of 2500-3000$ which we can get a good one with about 150 000kms on it. and we were planning of camping and sleeping in the van to drive and back and we would be sleeping in hotels during our stay in california

[AZBuck]

As noted, even a modestly high mileage, but mechanically sound van is going to cost you more than $3000. And that's just the purchase price. Then there's the transfer taxes, license and registration, and insurance. You'll need to get all that squared away on your own before we can really help you plan a trip which is so far little more than a pipe dream. I wish you the best of luck, but I seriously doubt that you'll be successful. Be sure to have whatever vehicle you are considering thoroughly checked out, paying particular attention to the drive train, the exhaust system, and the degree of rust on the main frame.

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

I have to agree with Buck that I think you are overestimating how good of a van you'll be able to get with your budget, I also think you're underestimating all of the additional costs of ownership that you will be dealing with like repairs, insurance, taxes, etc, and finally you're overestimating the utility of a van. As Buck mentioned, trying to use a van to sleep that many adults is a sure fire way to not get any real sleep, and have a group of people who start to turn on each other from being cramped and overtired.

It's not to say that you can't have a great roadtrip, but trying to buy a car just for one roadtrip, especially for one that is only 3 weeks long is almost never a cost effective idea. Generally you need to be talking 2-3 months before you start to reach the break-even point, because of all of the extra things that go into ownership beyond just the purchase price.