My Road trip trough the States

[Viper]

Me and a friend are planning on making a road trip from Miami to Los Angeles.

Since there's quite a few Americans here, I'd though I'd run the idea by you here to get some pointers on what to and what not to do.

There's one topic I'd like to start off with: Transport.

I won't be taking my own car over from Belgium, so we'll obviously need to get one there.

Renting a car it shall be, since buying a crap muscle car Top Gear style is probably only a good idea if you're rich enough to have a team of mechanics following you about.

Most rental companies that I find only give out classes of cars however, and this is a problem for me. I AM picky about what I want.

A bit of advice please. Who knows, if you've got some golden advice I could perhaps buy you a beer if I'm around

[LittleZippyUK]

Well, have fun mate. I can't offer no advice but my best wishes and have fun

[gtr2_race_pro]

maybe u can do it top gea gose to america II style and buy your self a challanger

[dav_ral]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

maybe u can do it top gea gose to america II style and buy your self a challanger

or...pretend you are the team from top gear belgium, and bag yourself a Vette

[frapp]

Where will you be landing?


FraPP!!!

[Viper]

We're still checking out prizes for the flight, so haven't picked a definite airport yet. Even the actual start and finish points can be shifted if it's somehow kinder to our wallet.

Also, things like where to sleep etc will be chosen at dusk, we're not going to plan those kind of things.

If the flight is cheap enough, we might rent one car each.

[Viper]

Originally Posted by gtr2_race_pro

maybe u can do it top gea gose to america II style and buy your self a challanger

Buying a challenger... I'd love to, but I can't afford a descent one, and a crap one, although affordable, may not be wise or even possible.

As I said before, the chance of it breaking down is kind of a party wrecker.
Plus: Not being a U.S. resident, I don't really think that I'll be able to get away with it. What about registration, license plates etc.?

Originally Posted by dav_ral

or...pretend you are the team from top gear belgium, and bag yourself a Vette

A rental corvette would be nice.

I'm especially looking for something with a MANUAL gearbox. With a ridiculously big engine.

Anyone know a good car rental service?

[dartguy]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/04/11/...lby/index.html

That would be fun.

[Viper]

And way too expensive. But great fun indeed.

[pitradio]

In the Dutch Autoweek they did that..
They bought some crappy Buick Toronado there for $1000 orso, went through the States, and sold the car in the town they ended their trip.

[Viper]

I'd like to do something like that, but how does it work with registration etc? I can't imagine that you can just arrive in the states, buy a car, hop in and off you go.

Well, technically, you can obviously. But it's supposed to be a 2-week road trip, not a 2-week high speed police chase.

[dartguy]

I doubt you could buy a car. You would have to get insurance and register it. Maybe it's possible, but not likely, or too much trouble.

[Viper]

That's what I feared. At the moment I'm looking more into renting one, but since I want a cool, powerful car the sites that I'm landing at atm have cars that are too exotic, and most of all: too expensive.

They all have lambo's and Vipers , but they are all wicked expensive.

[LittleZippyUK]

Maybe someone has a car they can lend you ?

[Viper]

Now THAT is wishful thinking.

But even if I could somehow find someone with a nice car to lend it to a complete stranger that he's never met before in his life, I don't think I could accept that.

Nor do I have any family or real friends over there, so a paying service it shall be.

[brabham67]

Since you will be driving, might I suggest something economical and reliable. Maybe a Toyota. Good luck on your road trip. I know you will enjoy your self. If you decide to come up to the Pacific Northwest(Great Beer here!) let me know. If you do you can get to California via Highway 101. It's a great bit of twisty tarmac that winds its way down the coast.

As far as what to do or not. Just be yourself and have fun. I think you'll find that we 'mericans are good folk, and helpful too.

[DocZ]

Most of the major rental companies have deals for extended rentals. Then there are outfits like Rent-a-Wreck http://www.rent-a-wreck.com/ that rents used cars.

Your basic route from Florida to LA would be I-10 across the Florida panhandle, into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana (New Orleans), Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Lots to see and do only a few hours off the main road. Grand Canyon, etc.

Good luck.

[Viper]

Thanks for the advice!

I'll have a look at that rent-a-wreck site.

I drive a Mercedes C-class sport coupé 220CDI with 176bhp, so the car we rent will need to at the very least top that.

Picture in attachment, it's the first in line, all dressed up to drive for a wedding.

[October]

They don't like to talk about it much but often larger car rental places will have cars they need moved from one place to another, especially clear across the country. A discount might be in order. It's not often someone rents a car on one coast and returns it at the other.

Still, without knowing your budget my best solution would be buying one and then selling it at the other end too. Insurance should be possible and a little AAA in case you break down. You might even pay for part of your trip that way.

Lastly, try a couple of the car rental places further away from Miami. Anywhere close to an international airport is going to have very high prices on the fun stuff. Even if you have to rent something cheap in Miami to drive 50 km to go rent something more fun it would be worth looking into.

[pjj1180]

Renting a specific car and returning it in another state is tricky. If you want a sports car you will have to go to a company that specializes in such. They will really make you pay and are likely to have issues with returning it in another state. The main companies are a crap shoot. You will end up with like a Pontiac G6 or Mazda 6 or similar. If you go luxury it will be a gas eating Caddy. SUV is also a choice, but again who wants to drive those gas chompers. If you don't mind a little extra money don't reserve one and get off at the airport and see what everybody has there. There are lots of companies on sight and not many of them will guarantee a certain car just a "class".

[boyracer5500]

Hey Viper, if you go to HertZ they will let you rent a 436hp corvette C6 ZHZ. Me and my dad rented one just for fun and took it up to 153mph then we took it back a day later. btw, you can get up to 28+mpg on the highway whick isnt that bad seeing you have the potential to top out at 193mph

[Viper]

Originally Posted by October

They don't like to talk about it much but often larger car rental places will have cars they need moved from one place to another, especially clear across the country. A discount might be in order. It's not often someone rents a car on one coast and returns it at the other.

Still, without knowing your budget my best solution would be buying one and then selling it at the other end too. Insurance should be possible and a little AAA in case you break down. You might even pay for part of your trip that way.

Lastly, try a couple of the car rental places further away from Miami. Anywhere close to an international airport is going to have very high prices on the fun stuff. Even if you have to rent something cheap in Miami to drive 50 km to go rent something more fun it would be worth looking into.

Thanks, I'll look into that

Originally Posted by pjj1180

Renting a specific car and returning it in another state is tricky. If you want a sports car you will have to go to a company that specializes in such. They will really make you pay and are likely to have issues with returning it in another state. The main companies are a crap shoot. You will end up with like a Pontiac G6 or Mazda 6 or similar. If you go luxury it will be a gas eating Caddy. SUV is also a choice, but again who wants to drive those gas chompers. If you don't mind a little extra money don't reserve one and get off at the airport and see what everybody has there. There are lots of companies on sight and not many of them will guarantee a certain car just a "class".

Yup, that's pretty much all the stuff that I feared... Hope I can make it work though.

Originally Posted by boyracer5500

Hey Viper, if you go to HertZ they will let you rent a 436hp corvette C6 ZHZ. Me and my dad rented one just for fun and took it up to 153mph then we took it back a day later. btw, you can get up to 28+mpg on the highway whick isnt that bad seeing you have the potential to top out at 193mph

Which would be really cool, but renting that for two full weeks, and driving thousands of miles with it will be unaffordable to say the very least.
I'd love to, but my wallet doesn't.

[Viper]

Originally Posted by brabham67

Since you will be driving, might I suggest something economical and reliable. Maybe a Toyota. Good luck on your road trip. I know you will enjoy your self. If you decide to come up to the Pacific Northwest(Great Beer here!) let me know. If you do you can get to California via Highway 101. It's a great bit of twisty tarmac that winds its way down the coast.

As far as what to do or not. Just be yourself and have fun. I think you'll find that we 'mericans are good folk, and helpful too.

Bit of a late reply: Yup, something economical and reliable would be the sensible thing to do. But this holiday is not about being sensible

The twisty bit of tarmac does sound good though!

When we're a bit closer to the date of departure, I'll make sure to post again at NoGrip and let everyone know where I'll be passing by, so perhaps I could go have a beer with some of you.

[October]

My vote would also be for a corvette. Maybe a mustang GT or cobra as second choice, a BMW or Mercedes if you look in the right places.

The problem is that anything that is fast is going to cost a lot of money. A car that tops what you are used to driving will be difficult to find in the US without having a pretty healthy budget to play with.

I don't know what the details of your trip are but if you have connections here you can lean on a bit buying a car in Florida and selling it at the other end might be the most attractive option, if you can pull it off.

PS, if you find yourself on Hwy. 101 going North and have the time, don't stop at the California border! I'm with brabham67 and would happily buy you a pint or two if you make it up my way. (The Pacific Northwest is the best part of continental USA anyway )

[Viper]

Will do

Damn, I guess finding a cool car is going to be harder than I had hoped.

[October]

Originally Posted by Viper

Will do

Damn, I guess finding a cool car is going to be harder than I had hoped.

Oh, we have LOTS of cool cars here, it's just difficult (or expensive) to rent one

[dartguy]

I have heard of people paying to have their cars driven across the country. Maybe you can get lucky and find one that needs to get to the west coast.

[RC45]

What is your budget?

Hertz Vette rental is about $140 per day.

[FastTex]

Viper,
Can you pick me up a nice 2001 Honda Prelude SH Si that I want to buy on eBay in Sarasota, Florida and bring it out to my Honda dealership in Dallas? They only want $3800 for it but are giving me a bunch of crap about the shipping. I don't care if it takes a couple of weeks to get here and that will take you half wa accross the US. Seriously, the buying a car in Florida and selling it in California is not a bad idea. If you find the right car in Florida (Usually clean one-owner cars that have been taken care of by a mature individual with some collector value) drive it for a few weeks and sell to someone looking for that particular car (Put it up for sale in CA ahead of time)

[Viper]

I'll see if I can find some info online about getting registration and insurance etc.

An offer like the above would actually be quite a cheap way for us, although it's not the kind of car I had hoped for. Can't have it all, right?

[October]

Originally Posted by Viper

I'll see if I can find some info online about getting registration and insurance etc.

An offer like the above would actually be quite a cheap way for us, although it's not the kind of car I had hoped for. Can't have it all, right?

Insurance I'm sure is possible. In the states "registration" usually means a more permanent ownership. Once the title is free and clear with a bill of sale you have usually at least a couple of weeks to actually register it, depending on the state it ends up in. In other words if you can prove you didn't steal it and you have insurance you can drive it (and it has current "plates" on it, renewed annually).

Worst case scenario you can get temporary trip permits for a vehicle like that. Not difficult to get nor expensive. I think most are good for three days or something like that. FastTex, if he's a dealer, might be able to fill you in on this sort of work around too, if you need it.

Hell, $10k or less, US, should land a good deal on a BMW M3, an older corvette, Mustang cobra, Camaro SS, LT1 Trans Am or several other options.

[gazman]

I found this Free car travel across America.
I'm Aussie so it could be crap, who knows.

GoNOMAD MINIGUIDE
Drive Away Across the U.S.A. -- Even If You Don't Own a Car!

http://www.gonomad.com/transports/00...driveaway.html

[Viper]

Originally Posted by RC45

What is your budget?

Hertz Vette rental is about $140 per day.

So that would be about two grand for a two-week stay. That completely rules out the one-car-each dream we had, but it's worth considering if we split costs, although it is still a lot of money.

Originally Posted by FastTex

Viper,
Can you pick me up a nice 2001 Honda Prelude SH Si that I want to buy on eBay in Sarasota, Florida and bring it out to my Honda dealership in Dallas? They only want $3800 for it but are giving me a bunch of crap about the shipping. I don't care if it takes a couple of weeks to get here and that will take you half wa accross the US. Seriously, the buying a car in Florida and selling it in California is not a bad idea. If you find the right car in Florida (Usually clean one-owner cars that have been taken care of by a mature individual with some collector value) drive it for a few weeks and sell to someone looking for that particular car (Put it up for sale in CA ahead of time)

I know I said earlier that it's not exactly the kind of car I had hoped for, but actually a Prelude is pretty damn sweet. Something like this could work out for both of us, but I'm not doing this trip NOW.
It'll be at least four more months before we leave, depending a bit on the flight rates. So won't that be a bit late?

Also, could you fill me in a bit more about what I would need to do if I would buy, drive and sell a car in the states?

Thanks for the offer mate!

Originally Posted by October

Insurance I'm sure is possible. In the states "registration" usually means a more permanent ownership. Once the title is free and clear with a bill of sale you have usually at least a couple of weeks to actually register it, depending on the state it ends up in. In other words if you can prove you didn't steal it and you have insurance you can drive it (and it has current "plates" on it, renewed annually).

Worst case scenario you can get temporary trip permits for a vehicle like that. Not difficult to get nor expensive. I think most are good for three days or something like that. FastTex, if he's a dealer, might be able to fill you in on this sort of work around too, if you need it.

Hell, $10k or less, US, should land a good deal on a BMW M3, an older corvette, Mustang cobra, Camaro SS, LT1 Trans Am or several other options.

Thanks for the advice, but ten grand is completely out of budget, even if I can recuperate it at the end of the trip.

I'm only 24 of age, and I'm a simple working guy

Originally Posted by gazman

I found this Free car travel across America.
I'm Aussie so it could be crap, who knows.

GoNOMAD MINIGUIDE
Drive Away Across the U.S.A. -- Even If You Don't Own a Car!

http://www.gonomad.com/transports/00...driveaway.html

I'll read up on that now, thank you.

[vondutch51]

Ok first I admit to not reading every post in this thread so if this has been covered please forgive. Since your departure is to be from Miami, I would check out some of the various rental agencies there. Some of the smaller specialty agencies in Miami have various types of cars up to and including Ferrari's' and Lamborghini's'. I don't see any reason why you could not work out a deal to rent something unique for your drive across country. Porsche Boxster's are plentiful at rental car agencies there or perhaps a Honda S2000, BMW M3, or Z4. If you are willing to pay to have the car shipped back from LA(if you rent from a local Miami agency) and have good credit, then you should be able to find most anything. Try googling Miami rental car agencies and see what you find. Good Luck and enjoy the drive across country, it should be awesome!

Edit: I see that you are only 24. In the US most rental agencies WILL NOT rent to you unless you are at least 25. So make sure you can get something to drive before you leave for the States.

[Viper]

Oooh, an S2000 might indeed be a rather good idea. It's not American muscle, but I've always wanted to drive one of those... Thanks!

But so far all the big exotics like Lambo's and the likes are way out of my league price-wise, especially if I'll need to pay to ship them back...

[Pizzaman]

uhhh. I wouldn't be all that worried about a fast car.
Speed limits are enforced there and lower than here in Europe.
Even though it might be fun to have something FAST you'll be stuck behind other drivers.
Might as well get something IMPRESSIVE.. Hummer... hahahaaaa!

They might throw your foreign butt in jail... they do it to 'their own' as well!

[Viper]

Yeah, about that... Bonneville is one of my stops

Edit: ok: MIGHT be... Depending on the car and the weather I guess...

[gtr2_race_pro]

do what top gear did and go out on the dead straight roads with on 1 on them

[pitradio]

One advantage, I've seen gas is very cheap there
http://gasbuddy.com/

Man, an average of $1.82 per gallon, while we pay $5.92 per gallon!!

[RC45]

Originally Posted by Viper

Oooh, an S2000 might indeed be a rather good idea. It's not American muscle, but I've always wanted to drive one of those... Thanks!

I see you are under estimating the distances involved

The trip you are conteplating is like driving across Cina.

The USA is a very large country... it takes 20 hours to drive across Texas... and taking the trip in a car like the S2000 would get very old after the first nights stop..which is when you will realise you had no place to pack your bags and your luggage is still on the sidewalk outside the rental agency

It is a LOT of driving... and in the western US you will travel longer distances between some towns than the distamce it takes to cross some European countries hehe

The ideal way to travel cross-country is in a rental Lincoln Continental.. I have done it a few times - now that is smooth saling.

Originally Posted by Viper

But so far all the big exotics like Lambo's and the likes are way out of my league price-wise, especially if I'll need to pay to ship them back...

Understand that these rental agency exotics aslo carry huge per-mile charge, and normally require a $2,000 to $5,000 refundable damage-deposit.

[pitradio]

Originally Posted by RC45

The USA is a very large country... it taks 20 hours to drive across Texas... and aking the trip in a car like the S2000 would get very old after the first nights stop..which is when you will realise you had no place to pack your bags and your luggage is still on the sidewalk outside the rental agency

And I think not all roads are premium quality and in such cases you want to have a car with more space between car and ground.

I think the roads don't have as much street lights as the Belgian motorways do.. That's just abnormal.. It's said you can see all the Belgian motorways from space at night.

[RC45]

Originally Posted by pitradio

And I think not all roads are premium quality and in such cases you want to have a car with more space between car and ground.

Actually if you stick to the Interstate system you will be amazed that such a vast and spacious freeway system can exist. You can criss-cross north-south/east-west and never have to leave a 4 lane dual carriageway.

You would actually have to go out of your way to find "bad roads"

[pitradio]

Originally Posted by RC45

Actually if you stick to the Interstate system you will be amazed that such a vast and spacious freeway system can exist. You can criss-cross north-south/east-west and never have to leave a 4 lane dual carriageway.

You would actually have to go out of your way to find "bad roads"

Hmm wouldn't have thought that. Because it's a large area with in fact not that many people living in such an enormous area.. In Europe it's not possible yet. Well you can cross Western Europe completely without leaving a motorway, but if you pass the former iron curtain it can be problem.
Is the maintenance of the roads done by the country stuff, the state or whatever is below that? Or depends on the road?

Here every country does his own roads, and further it depends on the hierarchy. Like most motorways here are financed by the whole state. Than mostly 100 or 80kmh roads are done by province, and everything in towns is done by the specific municipality.

Oh, about the streetlight, we don't have them much around the motorways, but we have a lot of traffic jams, like this:

[RC45]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_highway

[nigave]

If you subscribe to Bitorrent look for, download and watch "America Unchained" by UK comedian Dave Gorman. You will find it useful and very funny.

[October]

Originally Posted by RC45

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_highway

Wow, nice find there! Highly recommended reading for anyone that doesn't know that much about the US Interstate system yet, American or not.

I remember when Montana had basically an unlimited day time speed limit "within reason" on the Interstate. We convoyed three cars across there including my 1977 Pontiac Trans Am and I'm not sure we ever went much slower than 80 mph, several stretches at 100 mph.

Anyway, back on tangent. You know, honestly, I think if I were in your shoes (viper), knowing what I know now, I think I would fly to Miami if that is where you need to land at, and then fly again to California (or maybe Seattle )

Take the money and time you would have spent driving across the southern US and enjoy a more leisurely vacation on the west coast. You can still rent something and get plenty of driving in and plenty of sight seeing as well.

The point I'm trying to make is this is a VERY large country and you can see some of it fly by a window in two weeks or "stop and smell the flowers" once in awhile. You'll never see all of it or even all the "good" spots, not even if you had a month to drive around. Maybe it's time to think about narrowing down your agenda a bit.

Also, as RC45 said just the state of Texas alone is HUGE and will take you a long time to drive across. Also the terrain just doesn't change a whole lot for a couple thousand miles. Seen one big stretch of desert, you've seen them all, or at least it will likely seem that way at interstate speeds.

And I have only the smallest bias about the Pacific Northwest (I love it here!) I have nothing against any other state or region, I spent nearly 15 years driving the Interstates coast to coast, every winter was down on I-10, I've driven most of the 47,000+ km of Interstate and have crossed the borders of all the continental US at least once. There is something special to be found pretty much anywhere you go in this country, if you have the time to look.

[Viper]

Originally Posted by RC45

I see you are under estimating the distances involved

Errr... Yes, yes I am

Originally Posted by RC45

The trip you are conteplating is like driving across Cina.

The USA is a very large country... it takes 20 hours to drive across Texas... and taking the trip in a car like the S2000 would get very old after the first nights stop..which is when you will realise you had no place to pack your bags and your luggage is still on the sidewalk outside the rental agency

Ooh yeah, if I take bags with me I would kind of like to get them in my car. Good point

Originally Posted by RC45

It is a LOT of driving... and in the western US you will travel longer distances between some towns than the distamce it takes to cross some European countries hehe

The ideal way to travel cross-country is in a rental Lincoln Continental.. I have done it a few times - now that is smooth saling.


Understand that these rental agency exotics aslo carry huge per-mile charge, and normally require a $2,000 to $5,000 refundable damage-deposit.

You see, part of the reason why I posted this is so that you could talk some sense in to me, like you've just done now

About the distance and hours we'll be driving: I guess that I am underestimating it a bit on the long term.

I've never driven for weeks on end, but the couple of times that I've driven 10+ hours with only a single break (food+gas) went extremely well. I actually HATED to arrive at my destination

I just wanted to turn straight around and do it all over again.

But it might be something different on the long turn in an uncomfortable car.

[pitradio]

Just to show how huge Texas is:
The area of Texas: 696.241 km²
The area of Belgium: 30.528 km²

696241 / 30528 = 22,8!!! So, Texas is 22,8 times as big as Belgium.


(Yep, we Europeans use point and comma different way than US and UK people).

[Viper]

Hehe, no fair! Comparing something in size to Belgium...

If you drive on the highway, you have to time your braking pretty damn good or you could end up overshooting Belgium.

And most lorries have a braking distance the length of Belgium.

[guybo]

Texas is as big as the entire country of France. You will be a couple days crossing it.

Be very careful of speed limits and traffic laws in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Arizona. These states are infamous for speed traps and crooked cops. If they pull you over (being European) and you happen to get pinched by the WRONG cop, you may be delayed several days.

I'm saying this to scare you, just a FYI from someone who has driven coast-to-coast in the USA.