Coming from UK - Buy, Rent or Ship

[travel_bug]

Hi,

We're planning a 3 month roadtrip in America, coming from the UK. We want to do it in a camper van - small 2-berth (EuroVan or smaller). Renting for 3 months is looking too expensive for us so we were considering either buying one (used obviously!) when we arrive in the US then selling it again at the end of our trip, or shipping our own van from the UK to use. Does anyone have any experience of this or any advice they can give?

Many thanks in advance!

Jane

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

This is a conundrum which faces many or our foreign visitors, and I don't know that I've seen a great answer yet. If renting a small camper van is proving beyond the scope of your current budget, I seriously doubt that shipping your own to the US and back again, presumably, will be any more of an economical choice, but you should look into that, And please let us know what you find out. Even a ballpark figure could help many others in your situation. The other problem with this solution for people from the UK is that your driver's position will be on the wrong side of the car for our roads. You would, for just one example, be unable to see around a truck you wanted to pass until you were completely in the other lane facing oncoming traffic!

So, that leaves you with buying a car once you get here and then trying to sell it before you leave. The buying is probably the easy part. Most convenience stores in the US have racks of flyers that list nothing but hundreds of cars, trucks, and campers for sale, and there are lengthy lists in the daily papers as well. The problems will come in registering and insuring the vehicle, since you will need an address to register it to, and in selling it, since that may take longer than you have available. The laws for registering cars vary from state to state, so if you know where you'll be landing in America, start by getting in touch with the motor vehicle department of that state and seeing what their requirements are. Then also consider how much of your trip you want to give up at the end for the purpose of selling the car. One other stray idea - you may be able to locate a broker who would take your car on consignment and try to sell it for you after you've left. I don't know that such people are out there, but it might be worth looking into.

Again, it's something that comes up from time to time, so do a search through the forums with the search function (on the toolbar at the upper right of the forum listings), and please, share with others what you find.

AZBuck