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East to West
A friend of mine and I are planning to do some form of the east to west coast road trip this summer but we have no idea where to start planning.
Should we use one of the routes suggested by others or pick the places we want to go to and work it that way?
Also, how long does it take? Or does that depends on where you go? And any idea how easy it is to rent a car?
Thanks x
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It's up to you
Personally, it is a toss-up as to whether to choose to plot your own route or use one that someone else suggests. Personally, I would suggest plotting your own route by picking where you want to go. Nothing is worse than going to or through a place that you really have no interest in going.
How long it takes is also difficult to pinpoint. It depends on a lot of factors, from where you go, what roads you take, how many drivers are in your group, how many stops are planned, and whether or not you speed or drive slow.
As far as renting a car, if you're 25+, renting a car is as easy as making the proper registration and producing a credit card.
-Brad
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where to start
If you are unsure where to start.... what are your interests? Big city life or scenery? If interested in scenery, go to the National Parks website. From here, you can see using the map where all the national parks are and what each is about. You could start to plan your route accordingly.
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First-time suggestions
If someone offers up a tip that provides an interesting tidbit or a place you may really want to see, then by all means take it. However, I would shy away from advice that is given under the guise of "making good time". There are many who get caught up in that only to miss many of the best things along the way.
You may also want to start your search for places to see on our planning page.
Where are you starting from? How much time will you have? What are your interests? The answers to these three questions will go a long way towards deciding on what is best for you to do.
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Right, we've decided we're going from the 1st July to the 31st July starting in Atlantic City, taking mostly Route 50, and ending in L.A.
However, we have no idea what to do about a car. We are both 21 so are having a lot of difficulty as you appear to need to be 25 to rent, or 23 to participate in autodriveaway. Our main option now, therefore, is to buy a car in Atlantic City, and attempt to sell it in L.A.
Any idea how cheap we could get a car and if we can do this at 21? Also what kind of insurance would we need? Or is it a personal choice? Is insurance a legal requirement like it is in the UK?
Thanks x
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Buying
Buying a car as a foreign citizen certainly isn't an easy task. There are lots of potential problems, including paying taxes and registering the car, buying insurance, and the time to look for and then resell a car, not to mention the large up front costs.
I'd be hard pressed to recommend buying a car for less than $4k for use on a cross country trip, and then you'll need to factor in at least another $500 for taxes and insurance, and when your trip is done you'll probably have to sell the car for $1000 or more less than what you paid for it.
Buying a car has come up quite a bit frequently. Try searching "buying a car" on the forum, and you should get lots of relevant threads including These 3: Thread 1, Thread 2, Thread 3.
While you will pay a premium for renting at age 21, you should be able to find a company that will allow you to rent, and despite the extra fees, it will likely be cheaper than trying to buy.
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Thanks a lot for all your advice :D
Renting looks to be the way forward then, and we've got a few more autodriveaway type websites to check out too.
This is all so mind boggling, heh.