Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with car and california

Moving to the Bay Area

skaye — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:43:10 -0800

Help me plan my move to the Bay Area! Thanks to everyone who answered my last post, you were all very very helpful. Now that I'm at stage 2 of the move-to-Bay-Area process, I'm hoping the hive mind can help me again.

I'm planning a scouting trip to California at the end of April, about a month before my job starts, to look for housing options and figure the region out. I will have about 5 days. With the previous help of Mefites, I've narrowed down the places I think I can/want to live to pretty much two zones: downtown San Mateo and Potrero Hill in San Francisco (the latter for its proximity to the Caltrain system, which I will have to use every day to get to work in San Carlos, the former for its drive-able proximity to San Carlos and because I want to live within walking distance of shops, restaurants, etc.)

My questions are:
- Do you know anything about these two areas - what are they like as places to live? I am also still open to other area suggestions, though, so feel free to chime in on that. I would really love to live in SF but have realized that unless I live within walking distance of a Caltrain station I will start hating the commute really quickly.
- Is Millbrae worth checking out? My only reason for asking is that it attractively has both BART and Caltrain access.
- Any advice for how to go about looking for rentals in these areas? This is my first job out of college so I have no experience with this sort of thing. I've read as much as I can online and it sounds like I need to go with a credit report and checkbook in hand. Is this true? How current does my credit report need to be? (E.g. can I print one out now, in March, and still have it be convincing for a landlord in April/May?)
- Given that I start work immediately after graduation and won't have much time to shop around for housing, should I stay at a motel for the first week of work while I find a lease, or should I look to rent a place during my recce trip and pay for a month's rent without living there? I'm assuming that landlords won't appreciate the "I love this place and want to live here but can only move in in a month" spiel. Are there any other options I haven't considered?
- If I live in San Mateo, I will need to buy a car. I'm looking to buy something used and cheap - is a budget of about $4k reasonable for a small, modest, but safe and functional car? Any advice for where to go in the area to purchase one? Any car type recommendations to avoid sky high auto insurance?
- What's the best way to use/organize my limited time on the scouting trip? During the trip I'll be living with a friend in Berkeley, if that's relevant.

Any other first-time-renter/first-time-move to CA/first-time-car-owner advice would be very very welcome. The contract is for one year, so long-term stuff isn't really a concern for me. I'm sorry to bludgeon everyone with so many questions all at once - thank you all in advance!

Jay Leno's Tank Car CA street legal?

zippy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:36:19 -0800

How is Jay Leno's Tank Car (Youtube) street-legal in California? California has some of the most-strict laws regarding what kinds of car modifications you can make to a production car and still be street legal. Basically, if it's not on a list of approved mods, it's not legal.

Leno's car is a custom chassis mated with a 12 cylinder tank engine, and he drives it on public streets in California. How did he manage to get this CA legal with respect to the California Air Resources Board (CARB)?

I can just make out that it has a special CA license plate (42 seconds in). What kind of plate is it?

Best economical 4WD car?

lalochezia — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:36:22 -0800

What's the best 1-2 yr old 4WD-capable car? Best for us means: fuel economy, reliability, non-behemoth-SUV-ness, aesthetic and reasonable cost (<$25k). Also: any knowledge about Subaru Outbacks and SoCal 4WD dealers. We're interested in getting a 4WD car to go to the mountains in winter and some minor desert-offroading in summer, but can also act as a daily driver in southern california. We don't need a huge (or medium!) SUV, and would like something that is economical and reliable as possible. I would think that having a selectable 2WD vs 4WD would improve fuel economy, yes?

Current frontrunner is a Subaru Outback: if you know anything about pros/cons/what to look for in these cars, please comment. If you have suggestions for other alternatives, those are welcome too. Things to look out for in general in 4WD welcome.

Suggestions for places to buy/avoid in SoCal a bonus....

car use compensation

Brocktoon — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:39:54 -0800

Is there a California law on the books that dictates compensation for using a personal car for work related activities? Various Google searches give me endless personal injury attorney links. Thanks!

She just wants to pay cash for a new car.

ScarletPumpernickel — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 21:41:56 -0800

Please help -- How do you buy a new car in California for cash? Dealer has agreed to a cash deal, but at 11th hour, insists on signing a loan agreement?!? Help my cuz get this guy to close a cash deal. My cousin has saved up to buy a new car for cash in
SoCalifornia. She got the deal she wanted, and they knew
from the start that she was paying cash. So they should've
gotten a deal they can live with, too.

She pays by cashier's check, signs over the trade-in, signs
all the papers, then finally comes the sales agreement...

...and it's a loan agreement.

She declines, they insist. She reads, and the contract
says:

(a) customer can choose to pay cash. Sign this form, and
you're choosing to pay by credit;

(b) oral amendments are not binding, mutual written consent
only.

She declines, they insist, complete with lies and tactics.
Around and around they go. Finally, she leaves. She has a
paper trail on everything she's given them, so she feels she
can get it back with just some hassle. Most importantly,
she'd like to buy that car -- in cash.

What tactic/consumer law/shibboleth/ninja-finger-sign can
she use to get the deal closed without a loan?

P.S. -- In between claiming that it was State Law that she
sign a loan agreement, one of them offered to make it a
"zero-dollar loan." WTF?

Thanks in advance for prompt suggestions. Clock is ticking.

How to get the most out of driving a car regularly?

lalochezia — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:10:45 -0800

How do you deal with or adapt to Car Culture? Tips on driving, things to do in/with the car, strategies to deal with traffic, autos, parking, life-on-the-road in general please. Also: any specific Southern California driving/car advice. So, I'm moving to east-of-LA from NYC. I've lived without a car for nearly 15 years: in those years, I've driven, on average, one day a month, with some years where I've driven once or twice. Now I'll be driving every day, for my commute, errands, social activities, etc.

I've narrowed my list of cars to buy based on Consumer reports and trawling the web, bought a GPS that reads audiobooks to me, have my insurance lined up. I'm a confident and reasonably skilled driver, but will happily take advice from seasoned veterans about techniques for driving. More specifically:

What other things can I do now and what good habits can I get into to make driving efficient, fun, safe and a positive rather than a negative?

I'd be particularly interested if anyone knows of resources/articles on how-to-live-life-behind-wheels-nicely.

What is the best way to live-blog a cross-country road trip??

tarthur — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:40:01 -0800

What is the best method & location for live-blogging a cross country trip using a MacBook, DSLR camera, DV camera, t-mobile EDGE and intermittent wifi? I'm about to drive/move back to Southern California from Central Florida with my boyfriend and we want to document the trip with photos/video 'live' as we progress across the United States. Our travels will bring us up through New Jersey, Chicago, Denver with a stop at the Grand Canyon.

I have a t-mobile phone capable of EDGE (slow but useable) data transfer for the Mac and plan on stopping at wifi equipped locations to upload video/photos. A GPS type hookup would be sweet but I'm not familiar with doing that with a Mac.

It would be nice to have some type of map showing progress (GPS preferred but manually updated OK), the ability to post photos, gas prices, mood and other utterly useless information.

Has anyone had any experience with this type of blogging? I'm trying to determine if it would be best to use my limited skills to build some type of moveable type/wordpress with google + flickr or use something like Vox.

Thanks!

My kingdom for a horse: Trustworthy SoCal car dealers/mechanics

lalochezia — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:14:34 -0800

Buying-a-used-Car in SoCal-filter : I'm looking for good used car dealerships in the Pomona / Inland Empire / greater LA area. Also, for good independent mechanics to examine a prospective used car. Also: Examples of dealers/mechanics to avoid and general advice. I'm looking to buy a newer-than-2001 used car for 10-13k* at the end of July near to Pomona/Claremont, CA. I'm happy to go further afield to buy, but the nearer the better.

Does anyone have (or know of) any good / bad experiences with a particular dealership? Reputations of said dealers?

Bonus if you or someone you know bought a car in the last 3 months and had a good (or bad) interaction with a particular salesman / F&I office / post-dealer experience.

After I test drive the car, I'd like to get it examined by a mechanic to make sure it's kosher. Suggestions in the Pomona / Claremont / inland-empire areas? What's the going rate for an examination? Any joy in persuading/not persuading dealers to let you have the car examined?

Any other advice on buying a used car in SoCal gratefully received.

* I'm currently narrowing my choices from the standard Accords, Civics, and their import clones (nissan, mitsubishi hyundai, etc), as well as thinking about off-the wall cars like the Scion xB, VW cabriolet, Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider, Toyota Matrix and some others. Criteria: reliable, automatic, economical, 4-seater commuter car, fun. Any advice on these would be appreciated too!

My car just got impounded for expired, out of state registration, what now?

jaybeans — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:44:53 -0800

My car just got impounded for expired, out of state registration. What now? After we moved to California, my mother-in-law in Tennessee gave us a car. When my brother-in-law drove it out here, it already had expired tags. Due to very strained financial circumstances as a result of unemployment which are just now abating, we postponed registering the car (in favor of not getting evicted).

Inevitably, today I got pulled over.

The officer said I'd get something in the mail, but I'd like to get this taken care of ASAP. How do I simultaneously get the car out and get it registered as quickly as possible? And does the fact that I still have a Tennessee license affect what I do next?

Salvage my car?

ilyanassa — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 13:55:51 -0800

Salvage title or new-to-me car? I rear-ended the car in front of me at about 15 mph (I was passing on the left and he stopped suddenly), hitting my front right side on his left rear bumper. My headlight and blinker were pushed straight back and the hood slightly accordioned. Thinking the damage wasn't that bad, I foolishly took the car to my insurance's recommended repair center,who decided that there was $3700 of body damage (which I think is ridiculously inflated, but they won't let me take the car for a second estimate). The car's blue book value is $5000 at best, so the insurance company declared it a total loss. I have the option of taking the whole settlement, or taking a salvage title to my car and the settlement minus the salvage fee.

The mechanics don't think there's any radiator or frame damage. The body damage includes a broken headlight and blinker, the inside dashboard lights no longer work (blown fuse?), dented bumper and grill, and slightly accordioned hood (still latches). I'm willing to live with some body damage, as long as the car is safe and reliable.

I'm not emotionally attached to my car, but I don't want to go through the pain of trying to buy a decent used car for $5000 (done it twice and it's just a LOT of work). Should I take the salvage title and fix up my car? Or is a salvage title not worth the bother, and should I just take the money?

Note: the car is a 2001 Chevy Prizm with about 104,000 miles, and I live in California.

Guy bought my car, I get his tickets. What gives?

rkent — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 12:44:13 -0800

The guy I sold my car to is getting parking tickets, not paying them, and the notices are coming to me -- and I really need to keep my record clean in order to pass the Bar exam. I sold my California-registered car to another person in California in late August of this year. It was a private party sale, so I signed the back of the title, so did the new guy, and I left it with him to send in to the DMV (this is the procedure I followed when I bought the car, fwiw).

Just a few days ago, a friend of mine who now lives at my former address found that an unpaid parking ticket notice had been sent to me for a ticket incurred on September 3 -- at least a week, and I think more like 2, after I finalized the sale.

Obviously I would rather not pay this ticket, and I will follow up with whatever official department I need to via web or phone at the beginning of this upcoming week. But my real concern is that I'm planning to take the California bar in July -- and I can't have some guy running around getting parking tickets and god knows what else in my name in the meantime. What else should I do to follow up on this? How can I prove I no longer own a car when it was a private party sale and I left the title with the new owner? I'm sure the Character & Fitness committee would not hold this against me once it was explained, but I'm doing all my registration from across the country so I'd rather avoid even the long-winded explanation if possible. How do I make really really sure this guy has switched the title and is no longer doing anything bad under my name?

Are Interstate Car Sales a Feasible, Good and Legal Idea?

felix — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:13:57 -0800

A new car costs, say, $16,000. A state's sales tax is, say, 8.5%. That would add an additional tax of $1,360. Which is about the price of a nice new laptop. Is there a way to do this interstate over the internet to avoid the extra tax? It's possible to buy expensive things over the internet for delivery, in general, and not get charged sales tax as a result. But for some reason I've been unable to find any information about whether it's possible to do this with a car, or if so, how to go about it.

A car seems like yet just another tangible good. Shippable, even, if necessary. So you'd think this would work. On the other hand, cars do have differences (a little harder to ship; dealerships and licenses and complex agreements between manufacturers and so forth).

Since it seems like it would be totally worth my while to find a dealership just inside the Nevada state line, send them a check, and have them deliver it just inside the California state line (via flatbed tow truck if necessary), am I missing something?

Cheap Jeep?

fuzzbean — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:00:14 -0800

How hard/expensive is it likely to be to get a ten-year-old Jeep to pass California emissions standards? Here's the deal. My aunt, in FL, has a Jeep (cloth-top, not sure of the exact model). The jeep is roughly ten years old. It's been very well maintained, low mileage, regular oil changes, no known mechanical problems, etc. etc. Gas mileage is in the 20mpg range; not great but not abysmal. I am able to take ownership of said Jeep for a ridiculously small amount of money.

I will be registering Jeep in California. I understand that California has rather stricter standards for emissions than most states. I don't want to try to drive the Jeep across the country only to find that it will cost me a ridiculous sum of money to bring it up to standards or that it can't be done, I can't register it, and I'm SOL.

So tell me: should I take the car and hope that it won't be too pricy to bring it up to meet standards, or should I skip it and just look into buying a used car in CA? The car is cheap enough that if it cost me less than $3K to retrofit it with (whatever) I'd be happy with that outcome, as long as it'll pass.

Valencia Street Parking

mto — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 21:41:22 -0800

In San Francisco, CA, on Valencia Street, in the Mission, I've noticed that many people park in the turn lane. Is this legal? There is almost always free parking in the turn lane, but I've always been to chicken to park there. Do these folks have a pass? Are they just taking a chance? I see people do it during the day and the night, so I'm starting to think it's legit.

How do I put a front plate on my Scion XB?

YoungAmerican — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:41:10 -0800

How do I mount a front license plate on my Scion XB? I got a fixit ticket for having only a rear plate, but there's no holes to screw on a front plate. My girlfriend bought a 2004 Scion XB used a few months ago, and the other day, we got a fixit ticket for not having a front plate. I took a good look at the front bumper, and while it looks like there may be two little indentations where holes would be, there are no holes to screw on another plate. What should we do? I'm scared to drill the indentations and mess something up.

What catches are inherent in a salvage-title vehicle in California?

mhespenheide — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 09:11:56 -0800

I'm looking at used pickup trucks in California. Some of the listings on craigslist are described as having salvage titles. What precisely does this mean? Would a service like Carfax tell me why the vehicle has a salvage title? If this isn't something to be avoided at all costs, what should I ask a mechanic to look for in checking out the truck? Seemingly, the salvage title is something to be avoided. Or is it, if the truck appears to operate well?

Non-rationally, I like the body style of the mid-nineties trucks more than the more recent models; that preference added to a desire for a manual transmission has me looking through a limited pool. It seems like 10-20% of such trucks listed on craigslist have salvage titles.