50 States in 52 weeks

[eaben2008]

So happy we found this site, but was not able to find answer on my question yet...

We are two journalists from belgium and currently planning a road trip to visit all US states over the course of 12 months.

Our Route

Although I have not read any success stories yet we are planning to buy a car in Florida to do the tour. Our contact @ carmax has promised to do the registration piece for us.

Now we come to the next hurdle and that is nationwide car instance which will cover us in all states.... all suggestions are welcome!

Many thanks !!

[Lifemagician]

Hi, and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip forum.

To answer your specific question, I suggest you contact the International Relations department of AAA. (the email address is at the bottom.) I take out a premium roadside service membership each year I visit. Unfortunately I have needed them a few times, and well and truly got my money worth out of the membership.

I take it that you have your visa through your work, and will not be bound by the restrictions of the B2 visa.

Lifey

[AZBuck]

The first thing I'd note is that your route, while it certainly hits all 50 states, does not do so in a very efficient manner. Having worked out my own route for the contiguous states (all of them except Alaska and Hawaii, I know that it can be done in something right around 7,000 miles by using an open loop from California to Oregon. Closing that loop so that you could make the circuit from anywhere along it would raise the total to maybe 8,000 miles or so. I'm not sure how many miles your planned route is, but it's certainly considerably longer than that. You also don't say how long you have for your trip, but you'll need a minimum of 16 days for such a drive, and three weeks if you hope to see anything on the way other than the inside of the windshield.

As for insurance, the outfit that Lifey referred you to, AAA (the American Automobile Association) will, I believe sell you a policy, but so will any number of other people. Some of the larger nationwide outfits include (in no particular order) Geico, Nationwide, Progressive, Farmers, Allstate, and others. Each company sets its own rates based on their own actuarial tables and so premiums can vary widely, and no company has the lowest rates for all classes of drivers. It's worth it to get quotes from several. But no matter who you buy auto insurance from, it will cover you in all 50 states and (usually) in Canada as well. It will not cover you in Mexico which requires that you buy insurance from a Mexican company to cover your driving in that country.

Best of luck on getting the car, but be forewarned that even if you manage to buy one and sell it back through some broker, the chances are that you are going to be paying a considerable sum for the short term usage of the vehicle. You will be buying retail and selling wholesale - that's how the broker stays in business. The general rule of thumb is that you have to own the car for at least three months before owning is financially reasonable. SWhort of that, you might as well rent. Remember, too, that if you own the car maintenance is your problem, if you rent it's the car hire firm's problem.

One final note. Everyone here is more than happy to help you out. But in return, we ask for the courtesy that you post your experiences on this website and not take traffic away from here to some other blog site. In fact, you will not be allowed to do that.

D'oh! - You have 52 weeks! So lots of time to meander about and to make purchase/resale feasible - Nevermind!

AZBuck

[eaben2008]

Hello AZBuck,

Good morning ;)

Thanks so much for your response..

We would be more than honoured to share our experiences on this site and even post a banner to this site on our blog because i think this is a great community!

We have a year and have 2 distinct journalistic projects to cover so all help is appreciated, the trip route is made by visiting each geographical center of each state ;) So we we plan to stay 1 week in each state.
Our goal is to show another face of America than the one we know in our media, we think with much more nuances than the stereotype information we are currently getting.

We would love to see more tourist visiting other parts of the USA than the most obvious ones we tend to visit, and what is a better way than taking a road trip ;)

We spoke to Geico who stated that the car had to remain in Florida( location where we will buy the car) for at least 3 months which is not the case because we will only be there 10 days....and for the AAA, national branch were not able to help because they told us they would not cover us in all states...., so we will try the international option.

Ernst

[eaben2008]

AAA response

Thank you for contacting AAA.

Currently, AAA does not offer a nationwide brand of automobile insurance for international travelers. However, you may contact Travel Guard for information concerning insurance of a vehicle. Their contact information is as follows:

Travel Guard
1-877-708-6995 (toll free in the U.S./Canada) or +001-817-826-7120 (collect call) www.travelguardworldwide.com/relocation

Sincerely,
AAA National Member Relations

and they provided this number +1 888 7373916 spoke to operator and she promised to send the quote form /) will keep you updated ;)

[Lifemagician]

If you have any further problems, let me know, and I will send you my contact in the parent company, who organises my insurance. I have found them most helpful.

Lifey

[AZBuck]

Some time back, we put together lists of 26 or so attractions in each state. These range from the obvious to the off-beat, to the truly local and would be a good starting point for your investigations into what to see on your journey.

AZBuck