Delivering a car from Washington to Florida

Anyone would like to have their car delivered to Florida on the 19th September 2010? My parents and I are driving down from Washington to Florida .. would save us renting a car and save you transportation costs .. Thanks :)

We are planning a family road trip coming September. We will be landing at JFK, NY on the 15th September and need to be in Kissimme, Florida by the 19th September. We are then staying in Florida and Miami for a week and flying out from Orlando so we will not need to drive back.

We are planning to spend the first night in NY and then head onto Washington by bus or train because of the traffic. We will then rent a car from Washington and drive down, during which we would like to visit the following places:

1. Williamsburg
2. Buschgardens
3. Savannah
4. Charleston
5. New Jersey
6. South of the Border
7. Kennedy Space Centre

Can anyone suggest if we are missing out any other place of interest we could visit or if we are taking on more than we can chew? My youngest son is 13 years old so we would need to stop and stay in 'safe' hotel areas. Can you suggest any?

We have never been to America and have been looking forward for this holiday in a long time so we would really appreciate any help.

Thanks :)

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry to tell you I just don't think your plans are going to work.

First of all, hoping that someone will just give you a car to drive to Florida is not a realistic expectation. Simply put, the risk to the owner would be incredibly high - because not only would they be trusting a total stranger with is one of their most valuable assets, but also if you were to get into some sort of crash, they could be held liable for any and all damages caused. It doesn't hurt to ask, but I think someone would have to be quite the fool to take you up on this kind of "offer." If someone is looking to move a car, then going with a licensed drive-away service is a far safer bet for both the owner of the car and the driver - and also since there is an auto train along the east coast, its quite easy for people to move cars here without driving them.

I also think your trip plan is way too optimistic in terms of how much you can do. NY to Orlando is a long 2 day drive. For comparison sake, your plan would be like traveling from London to Rome, but first traveling to Paris by bus.

You get in on the 15th, and that day will pretty much be lost because of the flight as well as the jetlag. You'll then basically lose the 16th traveling by bus and then getting your rental car sorted. So of your 5 days, you've already used 2 without having seen anything.

Three days to get from DC to Orlando is certainly possible, it can be done pretty comfortably in 2 days, but the detours you're talking about are going to make it very difficult. First of all, New Jersey is in the wrong direction, and if you want to see the Garden State you should just rent your car in NY. Busch Gardens is basically a full day destination all by itself, as is the Kennedy Space Center (Since you have a week in Florida, I'd save the space center for that portion of your trip). Exploring Savannah and Charleston are a little more reasonable, but even here, you're going to figure out how you want to use your time, especially if you reconsider the start of your trip to actually see some of NYC and DC.

Get your tickets now for the Space Center.

Sorry, Travelingman, but I'm not sure what you are talking about here. You can purchase tickets to the space center in advance, but its certainly not required. Its not someplace that gets sold out...

Hi Michael

Someone had suggested the thing of driving down someone else's car. I thought it would be a little daft but I thought I would give it a go. Thank you so much for your information. I have looked into it a little and took on board what you have said.

Do you think its worth renting a car from NYC or should be go round NYC and DC by public transport and then rent the car before leaving for Florida? We have decided to spend 2 days in NYC, 1 day in DC thus leaving us with 2 days to travel down to Florida, visiting Charleston and Savannah on the way down.

Do you think this option is more reasonable and with regards to accommodation, do you think we would need to book in advance or would it be easy to find accommodation there and then?

Lastly, would you suggest to book tickets for like the Statue of Liberty, Empire Statue Building and so on online or would it be ok to buy on the same day?

Thank you so much for your help

:)