Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
#1
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 80
Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
I would really appreciate some sanity checking/advice here.
We are going to be purchasing a car when we fly to San Francisco next month, just something cheap, that does good mileage and won't break down every few seconds.
The idea is a camping (as in tent) road trip through Southern California to Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and some of the southern states, including Carolinas and up home to NYC.
Now my worries are:
1. Will my wife (on a NY State license) be ok to buy and insure a car in California?
2. Will the insurance for her (and me as a LPR) be insanely expensive on a cheap $5-7k) car, as she has no no claims bonus (is this even something insurance companies take into account like they do in the UK?)
3. I have an international drivers permit - is this going to be acceptable as a form of license for me to drive on in the US?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
We are going to be purchasing a car when we fly to San Francisco next month, just something cheap, that does good mileage and won't break down every few seconds.
The idea is a camping (as in tent) road trip through Southern California to Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and some of the southern states, including Carolinas and up home to NYC.
Now my worries are:
1. Will my wife (on a NY State license) be ok to buy and insure a car in California?
2. Will the insurance for her (and me as a LPR) be insanely expensive on a cheap $5-7k) car, as she has no no claims bonus (is this even something insurance companies take into account like they do in the UK?)
3. I have an international drivers permit - is this going to be acceptable as a form of license for me to drive on in the US?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
#2
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
I would really appreciate some sanity checking/advice here.
We are going to be purchasing a car when we fly to San Francisco next month, just something cheap, that does good mileage and won't break down every few seconds.
The idea is a camping (as in tent) road trip through Southern California to Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and some of the southern states, including Carolinas and up home to NYC.
Now my worries are:
1. Will my wife (on a NY State license) be ok to buy and insure a car in California?
2. Will the insurance for her (and me as a LPR) be insanely expensive on a cheap $5-7k) car, as she has no no claims bonus (is this even something insurance companies take into account like they do in the UK?)
3. I have an international drivers permit - is this going to be acceptable as a form of license for me to drive on in the US?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
We are going to be purchasing a car when we fly to San Francisco next month, just something cheap, that does good mileage and won't break down every few seconds.
The idea is a camping (as in tent) road trip through Southern California to Nevada, Colorado, Texas, Florida, and some of the southern states, including Carolinas and up home to NYC.
Now my worries are:
1. Will my wife (on a NY State license) be ok to buy and insure a car in California?
2. Will the insurance for her (and me as a LPR) be insanely expensive on a cheap $5-7k) car, as she has no no claims bonus (is this even something insurance companies take into account like they do in the UK?)
3. I have an international drivers permit - is this going to be acceptable as a form of license for me to drive on in the US?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Question 2 - no idea.
Question 3 - which country issued your 'real' driving licence? International ones are usually not worth anything unless they act as a translation where your actual driving licence only contains foreign languages.
#3
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
Rene
#4
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
1. Will my wife (on a NY State license) be ok to buy and insure a car in California?
2. Will the insurance for her (and me as a LPR) be insanely expensive on a cheap $5-7k) car, as she has no no claims bonus (is this even something insurance companies take into account like they do in the UK?)
#5
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 80
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
We had some things to finalise in the UK which took longer than expected, hence although i went in May, we're only finally able to move now.
#6
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Joined: Jul 2010
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Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
Googled Qu1 so think we're ok with that.
Qu 3 - issued in England, and from what i gather, i can drive on that in the US i believe.
#7
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
You need to look at the DMV's website for the state you will be living in. How long you can drive using your UK DL varies from state to state. It could be as little as 30 days.
#8
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
What are you going to do with the car when you get to the other side of the country? Keep it, sell it?
Honestly for all that hassle it might just be easier to rent a car long term for a month or two. Get an addendum on your wife's "real" car insurance for the car you have in the USA that adds protection to rental cars (which will only be a few bucks) and then rent a car on a monthly or weekly rate. Might be somewhat comparable in expense.
p.s. don't look at Expedia or the travel website for long term rental car rates, talk directly with the rental car agencies--most have a special set up for > one month.
Honestly for all that hassle it might just be easier to rent a car long term for a month or two. Get an addendum on your wife's "real" car insurance for the car you have in the USA that adds protection to rental cars (which will only be a few bucks) and then rent a car on a monthly or weekly rate. Might be somewhat comparable in expense.
p.s. don't look at Expedia or the travel website for long term rental car rates, talk directly with the rental car agencies--most have a special set up for > one month.
#9
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 80
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/resident.htm
"Definition of a Resident. If you become a resident of NYS, you must exchange your driver license and vehicle registration from another state for a NYS driver license and vehicle registration within 30 days"
I won't have another State's license, i'll be on my UK license, so i don't think this will apply to me.
#10
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 80
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
What are you going to do with the car when you get to the other side of the country? Keep it, sell it?
Honestly for all that hassle it might just be easier to rent a car long term for a month or two. Get an addendum on your wife's "real" car insurance for the car you have in the USA that adds protection to rental cars (which will only be a few bucks) and then rent a car on a monthly or weekly rate. Might be somewhat comparable in expense.
p.s. don't look at Expedia or the travel website for long term rental car rates, talk directly with the rental car agencies--most have a special set up for > one month.
Honestly for all that hassle it might just be easier to rent a car long term for a month or two. Get an addendum on your wife's "real" car insurance for the car you have in the USA that adds protection to rental cars (which will only be a few bucks) and then rent a car on a monthly or weekly rate. Might be somewhat comparable in expense.
p.s. don't look at Expedia or the travel website for long term rental car rates, talk directly with the rental car agencies--most have a special set up for > one month.
I didn't realise there were longer term rental options other than what you can spec on the rental car agency websites which were prohibitively expensive (it was coming out at approx $2000-3000 for a month long rental, which included the massive one way fees etc).
Last edited by krosfyah; Sep 27th 2011 at 6:38 am.
#11
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
According to the DMV it says:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/resident.htm
"Definition of a Resident. If you become a resident of NYS, you must exchange your driver license and vehicle registration from another state for a NYS driver license and vehicle registration within 30 days"
I won't have another State's license, i'll be on my UK license, so i don't think this will apply to me.
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/resident.htm
"Definition of a Resident. If you become a resident of NYS, you must exchange your driver license and vehicle registration from another state for a NYS driver license and vehicle registration within 30 days"
I won't have another State's license, i'll be on my UK license, so i don't think this will apply to me.
#12
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
Probably a good idea to get one of the new 10 year Photo Cards.
#13
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
According to the DMV it says:
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/resident.htm
"Definition of a Resident. If you become a resident of NYS, you must exchange your driver license and vehicle registration from another state for a NYS driver license and vehicle registration within 30 days"
I won't have another State's license, i'll be on my UK license, so i don't think this will apply to me.
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/resident.htm
"Definition of a Resident. If you become a resident of NYS, you must exchange your driver license and vehicle registration from another state for a NYS driver license and vehicle registration within 30 days"
I won't have another State's license, i'll be on my UK license, so i don't think this will apply to me.
#14
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
Note that the earlier quote about NY requiring you to trade in licenses from other states has some riders, such as the other license must be at least 6 months old. I had to plan carefully as there was a 2-day window of overlap between being a resident for under 30 days and holding a PA license for 6 months!
#15
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 2
Re: Buying a car and doing a long camping road trip
Should be OK as long as he does not drive in NY.