Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Hi,

Arriving in Florida next month and have used the equity in our UK cars to pay for flights, shipping container etc etc... So, we have no money for a car in Florida! (Although my employer is organizing one of the trucks for me to use till we get sorted and said we can sue it for as long as we want)

What are my options for getting my own vehicle? I assume a UK bloke with a new SS number and no US credit history is not going to be able to walk into a dealership and get credit, even if I will be earning good money...

Is there such a thing as long term rentals that don;t blow a hole in your wallet?

I wondered if there are any options out there that I can consider. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts!

I'll be in Orlando if that information is of any use.

Thanks.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

There are loads of threads and also great info in the wiki on this...

Basically, without credit history you'll get a shit rate on anything you buy with a loan, but getting a loan should be fairly easy and a good way to build up some credit history.

You could look at a lease, but you'll have to put money down.

Usually the best option is to get a banger, but as Florida doesn't have annual state inspections, that might not be a great idea unless you know cars, as chances are it'll be wrecked and possibly suffer serious rust problems.

You can get long term rentals, can negotiate rates up front, but they'll be shit, that you might as well have bought a car.

Things will help once you've got a Florida license with regards to your insurance, but it'll still be shit too until you get some US credit history.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

You'll almost certainly need to put money down for a lease, so consider....

Put a few $k down to buy a banger, or use it as deposit on a new lease car... Not the cheapest way to have a car overall, but depends on what is more important to you....

Take a look at this thread. We used AIG/TravelGuard and have been very happy with the lead arrangement and them setting up bank & credit cards for us before we made the move.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...&highlight=AIG

Good luck

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Brill. thanks folks I will read this forum link now.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Take a look at the Volkswagon Foreign Business Professional scheme - we just leased a new car through the scheme and it was prety easy - there is a thread here with all of the information. I believe BMW and Audi also have similar schemes.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Thanks Mark.

I will read it thank you. If they offer the scheme for used cars then I am interested. I don;t want a new car until I have settled down and made sure we aren't making a huge mistake!

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Look at ExpatRide or AutoSource too - they help expats lease cars and have both leasing and long term rental options. they get the whole "no credit history" and work specifically with expats so they will be good to have a conversation with.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

International Autosource are very good. You have to do it before you leave though. Only new cars, and will require a couple of Gs down payment (can go onto CC).

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

These are the same people that TravelGuard used for me.

I paid $1000 down via credit card for a brand new leased VW Tiguan.

You'll find it difficult I suspect to find a lease or loan provider that will give you a lease/loan period beyond your visa duration, so your monthly payments could be higher than you might be comfortable with. I would simply say to shop around or models etc - International Autosource can source different makes/models etc.

Cheers

Harry

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Just buy a cheap used car and insure through Geico. I found Geico pretty good (new resident etc), and used cars in Florida are relatively rust free (it's a hot state afterall). Even my 30+ year old truck doesn't have that much rust, and certainly nothing structural (and it sat in an Alabama field for 4 years).

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Recommend buying a car at a CarMax store near Orlando or Tampa. There have some great cheap cars for $10k or less. They will help with insurance and licensing

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

AllState also provides cheap insurance and accepts your UK no claim discount.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Depends...the coast can and does rust cars up a lot...also can find a lot of cars having had water damage due to the weather.

And as there are no state inspections, there's no requirements to get the car fixed, so unless you know what to look out for, more chance of getting a lemon.

Definitely want to get the car history though and especially avoid a car brought over from NO, or anywhere else that has had massive flooding.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Again - ????

Vast majority of the Katrina cars were scrapped. They were piled under the I-10 over pass 3 high for about half a mile! And I do live on the coast in Florida, and we don't see rust on cars.

Buy a $2k Toyota off a used lot to rock around in for a few weeks and move it on the first moment you get.

Re: Arriving in USA next month... need a car - help!
 

Vast majority being the key word. There are still plenty of water damaged cars that get moved to other states for sale...so checking where a car has been registered in the past is no bad thing.

And again, in a state that doesn't require annual inspections, you run more of a risk of getting a lemon unless you know what you're looking out for.

Looking at how good or bad the states lemon laws are is another indicator of how safe it might be to get a old beater.