Swedes seeking assistance & ideas

[Jacob Danielsson]

Hi
Me and two friends are planning on going to the USA (from Sweden) this winter and drive around the country for about 2-3 months. We are planning on going to Miami and then take the southern route to L.A. Then head north to San Francisco and via Las Vegas going to visit a friend in Minneapolis. Then we will go to New York and fly home from there.

We are planning on going early february. Our budget will be very limited and since we are only 20 I wonder how to get a vechile? Any tips? If you rent I guess you have to be 21, and buying a car takes some time with insurance and registration i've heard. I've also heard that there are this deals where you get to drive a car for a company. Anyone knows anything about this? PLEASE HELP US, we don't know who to ask about this.

Also, anyone know how much money we will need? Im thinking about bringning 30 000 Swedish Crowns (I think its about 3500 dollars). Also remember we will be three splitting the gas bill.

Thanks in advance!
/Jacob

Do a search through the forums and you will find other posts about renting cars in the US. There are some companies that specifically deal with long-term rentals listed. Also check out the roadtrip tab. There's a lot of good information there.

$3500 each should be more than enough depending on the cost of renting the car. If that doesn't include paying for the car rental, you should be fine. There's also a lot of posts on these forums about budgeting and ways to save money while traveling. Camping and stopping at grocery stores to eat out of your cooler are just two simple ideas. If you don't want to bring your camping gear with you, there are numerous places to buy inexpensive camping gear. Wal-Mart, for example.

[Jacob Danielsson]

Thank you for your reply.

Well, do these car rentals rent to people under 21? Maybe I should check that out myself before asking you, but i'd appreciate the help anyway.

Car rental might be very expensive...

You can occasionally find a company that will rent to under-21's -- but they are few and the costs will be high -- they will no doubt charge you a premium for their "extra risk."

These are typically going to be smaller, more local companies rather than the national "majors." A quick look through the Phoenix business telephone directory showed one agency (Saban's) that specifically said they will rent to under-21's -- and two others that MAY (their ads simply said under-25 OK, so I do not know what the cut-off age is, if any).

You say you have a friend in the U.S. You might consider having that friend keep an eye out for a good used car for you. You could probably handle the short term insurance through a major company like State Farm Insurance. You could buy the car, drive it for 3 months, then sell it. You can sell a car in one day to a used automobile dealer. Even if you take a loss on, it should be cheaper than renting long term.

I've been thinking about your $3500 budget and I wanted to point out the following...the US is very big and gas can get expensive to get from place to place if you are covering a lot of ground. Most Europeans are very surprised at just how big this country is. So, if you are planning on traveling far while here, gas is going to eat up a lot of that budget.

Also, $3500 for 3 months will be enough if you don't plan on doing a lot of touristy things. Admission fees can get quite expensive and take a big bite out of your funds if you plan on going to lots of places that charge fees to enter. Also, if you are planning on an active nightlife with clubs, etc., that will also get quite expensive.

When I previously said that $3500 should be more than enough, I was thinking of low-key, inexpensive activities like camping and hiking, etc. It can be done but you may have to pick and choose activities. Also, eating out of a cooler vs. always eating in restaurants is another big money-saver.

Sorry I don't have any more info on car rentals for ya.

Hey, I was thinking...if you have just $3500 to spend you probably don't have $2500+ to spend on a "RELIABLE" car. I would look into renting. That way if the car breaks down you won't be paying $1000 for a new transmission or something. As far as the money thing goes...just come here and have a great time and when the money runs out you just go home...HAPPY. Don't stress about that. Don't waste much time in Miami, get out West as soon as you can.

Thanks for your help. Actually I calculated a bit and we will have about 4000 dollars each since the dollar is pretty low right now. Depending on how many we will be sharing the cost things could get very cheap.

Also we are considering going from miami to san fransisco and then flying to minnesota to visit the friend.

Well, we are gonna get that sunburn in miami so we can get the chicks along the way :P

[imported_Brian]

Good luck with your trip man, once you get out west to places like Phoenix, San Diego, and LA, you're never gonna want to go back ;) Palm trees and beaches...mmm.

Just estimating, you'd spend about $20 dollars in gas per day so times that about 100 days and i'd say you wont spend more than $2000 on gas. If you make your own meals I think you would have more than enough.

I'd definately goto Minneapolis LAST though, because I live up there and take it from me it's pretty brutal until about April, but nice scenery. But I guess you're used to it being from Sweden. Again good luck!