6 Month Road Trip Across The States From Uk - Help!!!!

[cherylnix]

Cheers guys!
Does anyone know what i need to do about car insurance and also what type of travel insurance i will need?
Thanks!! :o)

[Midwest Michael]

Insurance certainly can be confusing. This thread really does a great job of explaining the different types of car insurance offerings that you'll commonly see when renting a car.

Also rememeber that your insurance provider in the UK might also provide coverage to your rental car under your exisiting policies. Its certainly worth checking with them to see what they recommend.

[UKCraig]

It depends on whether you are renting or buying. Presuming you are renting, you should look for LDW/CDW (usually comes as standard when you book on a .co.uk rather than .com site) but this will leave an excess (or deductible) to pay if you have a bump or the car goes walkies. Rather than buying the (usually vastly overpriced 'Super CDW' insurance offered by the insurance company) you could check out Insurance4CarHire.com who offer a secondary insurance at a very good price. I have used them myself in the past and the only reason that I don't have a policy with them now is that I have booked my recent rentals through Travel Supermarket whose prices include full cover. You could put the car on its roof and not have to pay a single penny. On longer rentals though it is well worth looking at all options and considering taking out an insurance yourself.

If you are buying a car... I am not sure if anyone has yet found a company that offers a policy to non-US residents. I know that Berglunds Insurance has been mentioned a few times but I have yet to hear of anyone who has contacted them and used their service. If anyone has I would be very pleased to hear of the outcome. Additionally, and perhaps more problematic, without a US address you will be unable to register the car in your name. So, unless you have relatives or friends who could register it in their name and 'lend' it to you... you may be far better off to rent. This thread offers some idea of the troubles you'll face.

[cherylnix]

Thank you, all your suggestions have been really helpful!

Does anyone know roughly, without the cost of buying/hiring a car, how much a 6 month trip like this would cost? Including things like motels/accommodation, food, fuel cost etc?

[cherylnix]

Hi,

I posted a thread on here a while ago about road tripping across North America for 6 months with my boyfriend.
I found everyone’s comments really useful, so thank you for that.

I am a 22year old female British citizen with a UK address.

I am now trying to work out a strategy for a car. Does anyone know the best way to go about it. I have looked into Adventures on Wheels and have sent them an email asking for advice on what to do in terms of leasing, renting or buying a car with or with out buy-back guarantee. Ideally I’d like to buy a car and sell it once we’re finished as I think this would work out cheaper than renting one.

Does anyone have any suggestions or had any experience in this?

All suggestions and tips welcome! :o)

[Midwest Michael]

We've already given you a number of thoughts and links about the challenges of purchasing a car as a non-resident of the US. I suggest you go back and read some of the links that have already been posted, or do a search of the forum as the subject has come up fairly frequently.

A Buyback company like Adventures on Wheels could be a good options, and we've had at least a few forum users use their services.

[Brits in America]

Welcome to the RTA Forum BIA!

I think renting a car will end up being a pretty smart decision in your case, and certainly a much easier decision to make when you are over 25.

Personally, I would recommend "bothering" with a tent. You can get a cheap one for about $50 and it will give you a place to go to be out of the car. While sleeping in a car or minivan would certainly be a decent option at times, just having a place to be that's not the same place where you've spent all day while driving is a bit of a stress reliever in its own right. Plus, as Judy often mentions, setting up a tent is also a great way to stretch and get moving after spending the day inside a car.

That's a good point, Michael. We'll certainly bear that in mind. Of course, it will involve learning to put up a tent! - neither of us have much outdoors-y experience - but the whole trip's going to be a huge learning experience anyway.

[RoadTripper Mike.S]

Hi,

Not aware that you cannot drive into New York although as mentioned by previous poster whether you would want to is a different matter. Having walked the streets of New York I am not sure I would voluntarily drive through it! We drove around the outskirts July of last year from Martha's Vineyard to Wilmington across the George Washington Bridge and I noted in my diary "incredible traffic flows like we have not seen before" It was jampacked with every bridge and road full of traffic. BUT it kept moving very slowly (unlike the M25!). Once into New Jersey it eased greatly. Lets hear it for air conditioning!

Mike

[cherylnix]

Hello everyone. I have posted threads on here previously about my 6 month road trip I'm planning with my boyfriend for later in the year from the UK. Everything you have said has really helped a lot but now we're stuck for car ideas!

We've given up buying one and selling it once we're finished as it works out too much hassle for a trip we're supposed to be enjoying! We're now trying to find companies that lease cars and the best prices. we're finding it hard to look up companies using search engines like Google.

I have looked into autoteam.com and got a quote of around $4800, which isn't too bad but I'd still like to shop around a bit. If anyone has ahad any experience with this or knows of any companies please let me know!

Thanks!

[Midwest Michael]

I'm not really aware of too many companies that will do a 6th month lease. I think looking around at some of the buyback companies, like those that have been previously mentioned in this thread, would be your best bet to find this sort of service.