Best way to buy/rent a car for a month-long U.S. roadtrip. $2k
January 12, 2022 4:43 PM Subscribe
I need a car for 28 days. I want to start and stop in different states. I'd like to spend less than $2k.
I live outside the u.s. but have u.s. license. How can I easily get and then get rid of a highway-legal vehicle?
If i buy something i don't necessarily need to sell it, but i wouldn't want to own it after the trip. Maybe a donation?
Locations: California bay area, Seattle, Colorado springs, New England area
I live outside the u.s. but have u.s. license. How can I easily get and then get rid of a highway-legal vehicle?
If i buy something i don't necessarily need to sell it, but i wouldn't want to own it after the trip. Maybe a donation?
Locations: California bay area, Seattle, Colorado springs, New England area
Is there a specific reason you don't want to just rent one? That seems like it would be the easiest.
Prices will vary based on where you are renting from, and whether you already have insurance. Usually renting from a place far away from an airport will be cheaper, as there are often local fees/taxes tacked on to support convention centers, airports, etc.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 4:52 PM on January 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
Prices will vary based on where you are renting from, and whether you already have insurance. Usually renting from a place far away from an airport will be cheaper, as there are often local fees/taxes tacked on to support convention centers, airports, etc.
posted by mrgoldenbrown at 4:52 PM on January 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
$2000/28 days is ~ $71 a day. There are cars on Turo you should be able to rent on a daily basis on that per diem, if not from the usual car rental agencies.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:54 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:54 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think the starting and stopping in different states is what makes this hard. You can easily rent a car for a month for under $2000 from most of the major car rental services, but it will cost you a lot extra to return the car halfway across the country.
But it would also be a problem if you buy a car in one state and sold it in another - this would either be a huge pain in the ass on both ends, probably involving a half-day at the DMV for each transaction OR you would likely lose more than $2000 worth of value on the car if you bought it from a dealer and then sold it to a dealer on the other end. And you'll have to buy car insurance without a US address, which I'm sure is possible but it's probably expensive and, again, a huge pain in the ass.
I think for starters you should just play around with different city pairs and see what rates you can get (I see rates around $1600 for starting in Colorado Springs and ending in Seattle, e.g., on Enterprise.com, which is literally the first place I checked) from a normal car rental agency. And I'd very seriously consider whether you want to drive from Colorado Springs to New England or whether it makes more sense to fly and rent another car on the other end.
posted by mskyle at 5:06 PM on January 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
But it would also be a problem if you buy a car in one state and sold it in another - this would either be a huge pain in the ass on both ends, probably involving a half-day at the DMV for each transaction OR you would likely lose more than $2000 worth of value on the car if you bought it from a dealer and then sold it to a dealer on the other end. And you'll have to buy car insurance without a US address, which I'm sure is possible but it's probably expensive and, again, a huge pain in the ass.
I think for starters you should just play around with different city pairs and see what rates you can get (I see rates around $1600 for starting in Colorado Springs and ending in Seattle, e.g., on Enterprise.com, which is literally the first place I checked) from a normal car rental agency. And I'd very seriously consider whether you want to drive from Colorado Springs to New England or whether it makes more sense to fly and rent another car on the other end.
posted by mskyle at 5:06 PM on January 12, 2022 [3 favorites]
Costco is generally a good value on rental cars.
Audi's Silvercar might also work out with the right coupons and codes.
posted by dum spiro spero at 5:08 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
Audi's Silvercar might also work out with the right coupons and codes.
posted by dum spiro spero at 5:08 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
At least in the before times, I've seen codes for Avis, Hertz, and National that eliminate out of state return fees. Also Avis and Hertz used to run promotions twice yearly to get cars in and out of Florida that had very inexpensive rates and no drop fees.
I've got no idea what they're doing these days, though, what with all the COVID issues.
posted by wierdo at 5:18 PM on January 12, 2022
I've got no idea what they're doing these days, though, what with all the COVID issues.
posted by wierdo at 5:18 PM on January 12, 2022
Following on what others have said, if you do explore the one-way rental option maybe take a look at AutoSlash - has both a good search feature (can make use of AAA, Costco memberships, credit cards you hold, etc.), and price tracking tool that’s been useful to me (one can rebook without penalty on all but prepaid rental car reservations). National car rental does seem to price out inaccurately, FWIW, but Avis and the rest have always matched/beaten what I could find.
posted by alexandermatheson at 6:35 PM on January 12, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by alexandermatheson at 6:35 PM on January 12, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm in the same situation and for me (in Europe), the rates and policies are different that when I book in the US / from the US website. They are almost alwys better in that they include more of the types of insurance, which otherwise cost a lot when added on in the US. I don't know where you are, but I would just start by looking at kayak or booking.com for your country, if you are in Europe try also autoeurope.com. Try to avoid additional third party middlemen or discount companies. Right now on kayak I am getting some offers from large companies that are much lower than $2K for Feb. 15-March 15, including one way rental fees and some insurance.
Again, depending on where you are, you might be able to buy insurance in advance at a much lower rate than in the US. Before Brexit I had a yearlong policy for around $100 based in the UK. Where I live now, a country where you can insure anything, there are policies available for a few $ a day.
posted by melamakarona at 7:31 PM on January 12, 2022
Again, depending on where you are, you might be able to buy insurance in advance at a much lower rate than in the US. Before Brexit I had a yearlong policy for around $100 based in the UK. Where I live now, a country where you can insure anything, there are policies available for a few $ a day.
posted by melamakarona at 7:31 PM on January 12, 2022
Just to point out
California bay area to Seattle is 1300 km, or roughly the same distance as London UK to Warsaw Poland.
Seattle to Colorado springs is over 2300 km
Colorado Springs to Boston (New England area) is over 3200 km
Flights inside the USA are relatively cheap. You might want to consider renting in each metropolitan area, both for convenience and so that you don't spend half of the 28 days on long stretches of "nothing much to see"
posted by blob at 9:31 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
California bay area to Seattle is 1300 km, or roughly the same distance as London UK to Warsaw Poland.
Seattle to Colorado springs is over 2300 km
Colorado Springs to Boston (New England area) is over 3200 km
Flights inside the USA are relatively cheap. You might want to consider renting in each metropolitan area, both for convenience and so that you don't spend half of the 28 days on long stretches of "nothing much to see"
posted by blob at 9:31 PM on January 12, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've looked into doing this multiple times. The cost of insurance, the loss of resale, and the overall hassle make this a much better option to rent. Especially when you factor in the unreliability of a $2000 vehicle for such a long trip.
As you weren't too specific about locations or dates, I used Oakland, CA and Boston, MA with the dates of March 1 to April 1, 2022. Budget Car Rental is offering a Compact (Kia Soul listed) for $1,714, taxes and fees included. Unlimited miles and free cancellations. Also from Budget, a large car (Toyota Camry listed) was $1,828. Both within your range of budget.
I do not know your relationship with the US, or if you have family/friends, but if you were a friend I would strongly recommend you rent for the reliability. Rental cars are max 2 years old, with low miles, and come with roadside assistance if anything were to happen.
Best of luck.
posted by wile e at 12:26 AM on January 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
As you weren't too specific about locations or dates, I used Oakland, CA and Boston, MA with the dates of March 1 to April 1, 2022. Budget Car Rental is offering a Compact (Kia Soul listed) for $1,714, taxes and fees included. Unlimited miles and free cancellations. Also from Budget, a large car (Toyota Camry listed) was $1,828. Both within your range of budget.
I do not know your relationship with the US, or if you have family/friends, but if you were a friend I would strongly recommend you rent for the reliability. Rental cars are max 2 years old, with low miles, and come with roadside assistance if anything were to happen.
Best of luck.
posted by wile e at 12:26 AM on January 13, 2022 [4 favorites]
You cannot now, nor could you even before used car prices went bonkers, buy any $2000 car that would be "reliable" enough to trust on a cross-country drive. You could lose days or weeks having to source a part and find a shop or buy a new beater halfway through. You ever need a fuel pump in Lincoln, Montana before? There's a lot of rigorous conditions on a cross country drive, depending on weather. Forget buying a car unless you're an excellent mechanic yourself.
posted by spitbull at 2:14 AM on January 13, 2022
posted by spitbull at 2:14 AM on January 13, 2022
The cheapest way to do a one-way rental is usually to pick up the car at a non-airport location, but then return at the airport. It's worth spending a good amount of time comparing different locations in a city, which will vary widely in price even with the same company.
posted by veery at 6:25 AM on January 13, 2022
posted by veery at 6:25 AM on January 13, 2022
I am not sure a state could process and get you the title in 28 days. You would also need an address to register the vehicle. Years ago when we rented a car and drove from Seattle to San Francisco we found rental agency that had a car that needed to be returned to the SF and negotiated a deal, we had a travel agent to do this.
You might be able to find some needing a car moved and willing to let you use it for an extended period time to make the move.
posted by tman99 at 7:50 AM on January 13, 2022
You might be able to find some needing a car moved and willing to let you use it for an extended period time to make the move.
posted by tman99 at 7:50 AM on January 13, 2022
Regarding renting: Different rental companies have different policies regarding returning the vehicle to where you picked out up. Sometimes there is no extra fee at all, sometimes it's a daily fee, sometimes it's a per-trip fee.
posted by ropeladder at 2:47 PM on January 13, 2022
posted by ropeladder at 2:47 PM on January 13, 2022
Response by poster: I ended up using Turo in one city and traditional car rental in another - I was careful to choose where I picked up and dropped off based on price (do these guys deliver cars?)
posted by jander03 at 9:18 AM on September 6, 2022
posted by jander03 at 9:18 AM on September 6, 2022
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posted by theora55 at 4:51 PM on January 12, 2022 [2 favorites]