178 days trip around america starting Miami in January

[RoadTripper Edd]

Hi guys.

I have been reading teh forum for some time and havenow got to a point where I would like to ask for some help and direction? Before I ask questions hereis the story so far

My girlfriend and my self are taking a road trip around America. We will start in Miami and go clock wise around the country back to Miami.

We have 180 day visas.

We have book flights for mid january

We have looked at renting a car but we can not rent more than 30 days. If we do not return rent car back to original location we get charged more.

Trian and plain will not give us what we are looking for on our trip.

I have purchased road side america. I have a links to the free wifi websites and to cheep gass sites.

We will use trip advisor and ouur luck to find places to stay and book as we go.

I have Skype and plan to buy a pas as you go (prepay) mobile so that we have an America number to book ahead as we move around.

here is a link to google/maps with some lines on it.

So with this all planned I need you r help with regards to cars

We will buy a car. I understand we need to get plates (tax??) and insurance. I have read on the forum about these things but no one has made any conclusions. Has any one worked out how easy it is for a non USA person to get these things?

Any advise or pointing in the correct direction would help.

Regards

Edd

[Mark Sedenquist]

My girlfriend and my self are taking a road trip around America. We will start in Miami and go clock wise around the country back to Miami.

That is quite a route -- weather is going to be a factor -- but on the whole it looks pretty good.

We have looked at renting a car but we can not rent more than 30 days. If we do not return rent car back to original location we get charged more.

Yep, that is the nature of the rental business -- Purchasing a car and registering it and getting it insured is never easy (for an international visitor) but possible. One other option you ought to consider are those companies that offer guaranteed purchase-backs -- here is the field report of one such use.
Here is an overview about Insurance
And here are some more ideas:
Pitfalls of purchasing
Some UK options for insurance

Happy Planning!

Mark

[RoadTripper Edd]

Thanks Mark

We planned our route so that we would alwasy be chasing the spring weather. Hoping that in Jan to Fed as we head toward Vegas it will be hot but pleasent. By the time we get to the national parks they will be just opening and we can see snow and spring. Then a mad dash across teh top of america hoping to spend the last 2 months of our trip taking in the north east and the east cost.

Therefore it will be July when we get round to leaving in Miami.

I'm also hoping to take in the ranodm things to visit not just teh big tourest items. I heard that there is a killer goat you can spend 5 minutes with in some farm. All very odd.

I will go away and look at those links. I'll report back on my mission. I want to note it all downa nd share the info once I have mastered it so that we dont have to go through the same issues over and over again.

again thanks

loving your work

Edd

[Mark Sedenquist]

I'll report back on my mission. I want to note it all downa nd share the info once I have mastered it so that we dont have to go through the same issues over and over again.

With road trips there is no ONE SIZE fits all -- but we welcome any discoveries you can make with respect to this very popular query on this Forum!

Mark

[RoadTripper Edd]

Sorry for not replying sooner but I have made some head way on the whole car thing.

Right if you are going for more than 30 days these are your options and some quick nut shell explaining

Lots of 30 day rentals

Pick up and return to the same place is the cheepest option. That means you are limited to regions. So you would have to do florida on one rental then fly/train/bus to the next location and then do that as another drive around.

point to point delivery

Thsi is where you deliver a car for some one. You have to follow their route and you have a time limit. I've not really looked into this becuase its their dictated route you have to follow.

buy back

There is lots of talk about this on the forum. So I will not bore you all with it again. Wheels9.com & Camper site & Camper USA all give this option. The idea being that you buy their car/van/camper and they do all the paperwork for you. At the end they will give you some money for the car/van/camper. This is offset by how many miles you do. Miles before this happens varies but I saw about 13K before every 100 miles they start dropping the price. I rang some of the places up and they already did not have cars for january. It's interesting to note these places also do long term rental. Most booking is done by quote through thier websites. Dont just ring them. It saves time.

buy and then sell on

I'm sure this is more simple than it look. You buy a car, you get plates, you get insurance you drive around, you sell the car at the end of the trip. So buying the car is the easy bit. The rest is a pain.

So my example is I am going to start in Miami so first I went here

DMV of Miami to check what the law stated. I didnt get much out of the website but it might help some one else.
I then emailed The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

they said

Temporary or non-residents are not subject to Florida’s titling and registration requirements. Florida law requires the payment of sales tax in the amount of 6 percent, on a vehicle purchased in this state. The payment of Florida sales tax qualifies you for issuance of a 30 day temporary license plate. Proof of insurance, is required.

so to add to the cost of buying are car you have other hidden costs and then there is the insurance.

We worked out this would be very expensive if you want a good car that will be good for 20K road trip.

long term rental

You can do it. You have to go to the US sites of some hire companies and deal with them direct if your an outsider. Budget long term rentle was the cheepest I saw but then you had to pay for all their insurances. In the end we went with a company called Carhire3000 based in the UK. They are a broker and got us a deal on a 6 months rental of a Neon. These people also throw in all the insurance crap that you get with hiring a car for free.

So to conclude the cheepest option we found was to rent. Maybe this will bite us in our actual trip but we think we have saved nearly £2000 in all maybe more.

I hope that all this information helps

regards

Edd

[Mark Sedenquist]

Edd,

Yep, your conclusions exactly match with the advice we generally give around here -- but it is excellent to have the experience of someone who has just "walked" that road.

Thanks for sharing!

Mark

[RoadTripper Edd]

I am now in week 3 of this road trip and I have been blogging it here.

Anyway news on the car. Seem if you hire a car you willhave to return it some where every 28 days for them to "check over".

Found my first cockroach in the motel we are staying at tonight.

I have loads of infor for you guys but it seems that the site keeps throwing me off if I spend 30 minutes writing a post.

[Lifemagician]

point to point delivery

This is where you deliver a car for some one. You have to follow their route and you have a time limit. I've not really looked into this becuase its their dictated route you have to follow.

This has not been my experience. I have relocated some two dozen cars, never have I had a route dictated. Suggested, yes! Dictated, no!

It is true that you get a mileage and time allowance. However, I have always found this to be quite generous, leaving me with lots of time to really check out at least two major attractions enroute. And even if you go over the mileage allowance, the extra cost is minimal. No one has ever charged me for going slightly over. I have always adhered to the time allowance.

For the adventurous traveller who is flexible in both time and destination, this is the cheapest way to see the country.

I always made a point of choosing a vehicle which was going to a destination of which I had never heard, just to go to a place where I would not have thought to go. This way I stumbled upon many little gems that a planned trip would never have included.

Lifey highly recommends this