I am getting into my planning for my trip up your way mid year. (Doing a U shaped loop DC to LA and my travel agent has just planted a seed to be considered. My amount of time on the road has created some issues in my Car rental situation and she has suggested I buy a car in DC and sell it in LA. Can you please act a devil's advocates and let me know what fish hooks I would be facing if I did this? I would be looking at a 2 litre sedan (Ford Mondeo type). I need to consider insurances including breakdown insurance etc.
Les Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back..
:7
Les The English Language is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.
Travel is about 4.5 days coast to coast...longer if you stop and want to visit here and there enroute. If you drive back, you’ll find travel easier once you cross the Mississippi. Trick is to get on the road as day is breaking at the first gray light of day, and off the road by mid afternoon....stay away from big cities, but regardless, stay on the far side of towns, cities and such, so traffic is coming at you and not with you during rush hour. Usually, I take back roads as much as possible...it will add 40 to 50 minutes to your day, but you won’t have the crazy traffic to contend with. Using this method I have actually stopped on a bridge walked about taking pictures and got back in the car or on the motorcycle and didn’t see another vehicle before, during, or after stopping. Use patience and caution. If you travel solely by back roads you might want to have snack food and water along...sometimes out west it’s a long way to a pit stop, so keep that in mind when planning a route for gasoline and food...there are usually old highways to take that will intersect with interstate highways and it’s wise to get off and on for gas and food and bathroom breaks...especially out west.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
Mike I am planning around 60 days :7 I'll message you my Itinerary for critique if you're willing. Currently have 3 nights in Jacksonville to allow for day tripping to Tampa etc. Might even have a Laphroaigh in my cases. Les Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back..
:7
Les The English Language is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.
Sounds good. About three years ago I moved to Tampa, and still have family in Jax, so we definitely will get together at some point. Looking forward to your visit.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
If you buy a car (and I don't know if this is a good idea, though I was tempted in Oz) be sure to buy a good one. New car dealerships tend to resell the best of the used trade ins they get and let the crummy ones go to the secondary lots that only sell used cars.
Used cars in the US do not have mandated quality inspections like I believe NZ does. Some states have a safety inspection but it is very superficial. Most deals are "as is" and buyer beware. You can get warranty but it's really just an insurance policy rather than the commitment of the dealership to stand behind it. It doesn't mean you aren't getting a lemon, it just works the odds that maybe it is not a lemon. Rental car companies sell their cars every few years. Maybe this is a good route. I guess they have had minimal maintenance. You can sell a used car fairly quickly at Car Max. It might be worth giving them a call to discover what their top sellers are, I'm guessing those would be the cars you could get the most for. Try the PR dept. if you can't find anyone who'll talk to you.
Don't buy a used car outside of a major market and be sure to sell there too. My experience with Durango vs LA suggests that in more rural locations the cars are generally driven to death and, because of that, no one will pay decent money for the sort of good used car you can easily find in LA because they aren't used to seeing good used cars. I have recommended going to Denver or Phoenix to buy a car to many friends in Durango and no one has ever been disappointed.
Buying a new car seems crazy but my cousin used to work for VW in England and they calculated that the two moments when you could get the best value per mile was at 3 months and 3 years. VW gave him a deal on their cars so he turned his cars over every 3 months because that was the moment he could get the most on the used market ... in England.
Personally I have had better luck hopping into areas, driving around, and then flying on to the next area either from where I flew in or out of an airport that was in the vicinity of the area I was exploring. That said most of my experience doing that was in NZ and Oz where one-way flights were easy to get and not too expensive ... not like the US.
#10. "RE: Help!!!! AH SH*T" In response to Reply # 0
Had a specialist appointment yesterday and the surgeon advised that my hernia needed repairing sooner rather than later. It's not giving me any problems but it is larger than expected so surgery is being scheduled in the next 12 weeks or so. This means the big trip I planned for May to August is off the books for this year. Not allowed to fly for 4-6 weeks post surgery clearance so that's the next 18 - 20 weeks stuffed. There's always 2021.:7
Les Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back..
:7
Les The English Language is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.
