NY to LA

[Elisabet]

Hi,
we are a Swedish coupel that's planning a road trip from NY to LA. Would like to have some information about how much it will cost. We have to rent a car, and are planning to stay on the road for about 3 weeks.

[Robert Schaller]

A trip like this one will cost approximately $4500 to $5400 USD, plus liability insurance (if you need it; my guess is you do). You may be able to cut the cost to about $3300 or less -- read on.

I have not included any costs for entertainment -- that would be in addition to all of this and will depend on what you want to do while here. There is no way I can guess that for you. We can give you ideas of what different attractions/entertainments cost, if you'll tell us what you are interested in doing or seeing while you are here.

Gasoline, food and lodging for two people per day will cost from between $140 to $180 per day, assuming you drive 400 miles per day. Some days you won't, so that may save a few dollars.

Also, I based the cost for lodging at from $60 to $100 per day. You can often find much cheaper accomodations if you look, which might save you as much as $30 per day.

My allowance for food for two people is $50 per day -- this is for eating in restaurants all the time. You can save some of this depending on how adept you are at finding cheaper alternatives at the grocery store. So let's say you can eat on $25 per day for the two of you.

A bare-bones trip like this might be as little as $3300.

A compact car is included in the above estimates and will cost about $1500 for the three weeks (one way). The price quoted includes a loss damage waiver that indemnifies you against any damage to the rental car. If you can return it to the same place you pick it up, that would save you a considerable amount of money as well. In this instance, the savings would be an additional $600, lowering your costs to about $2700.

Hope this helps! Bob

[Elisabet]

Hi,
Thanks for the information.
Do you know where we could rent a car in NY, as cheap as possible? Thansk

[Robert Schaller]

The cheapest quote I found when I looked for my original reply was Budget, but Alamo and Enterprise often have good rates as well. You might also check with National, and some people like Thrifty, although I do not rent cars from them because of a very bad experience I had with them a few years ago. Hertz is an excellent company with first class service, but they are often more expensive than the others I mention. Bob