Buying a car

[andyross]

Hi guys

This is my first time using this site, but i am plaaning on going ona road trip with a couple of friends in the summer of 2012. We are going to start off in New York and end up in LA. The plan is for the trip to last just under 3 months and we are hoping to buy a car over there for the road trip. The problems we have are the 3 of us are all goin to be 23 years old at the time of travel, and 2 of us will have only had our domestic drivers license for under a year. As such i am not sure how expensive insurance will be. As i understand when buying a car and getting it insured you need to have a permanent address in the USA. Fortunately one of my friends is an American citizen and has a sister who lives in New York. Does anyone know if this makes it easy to get a car insured, and whether it might make it cheaper if me and my friend were secondary drivers on such a policy?

Cheers guys :)

Andy

[DonnaR57]

With one of your friends as a citizen with a NY address, that's part of the battle. But to my understanding, your friend may have to have a NY license. That's the second part of the battle. The THIRD part of the battle might be selling it before you leave. If you abandon a car because you have to leave LA and can't sell it before you leave, you have a big problem! (And if your sister co-signs or you use her address, she may also have a liability.) Insurance is also a big deal. NY is an expensive place to insure a car (from what I'm given to understand) and the fact that you all are under 25 will double it.

You're almost better off trying to rent (hire) a car through an online place that deals with overseas residents. Others will chime in and give you the online URL. There's also a place on this website that allows you to compare car rental rates.


Donna

[Lifemagician]

You may like to check out this crowd. They do not have the under 25 surcharge, and cater to your age group.

Lifey