Some Auto Advice
 

I am shortly relocating with my family through work to Northern CA just outside SF in the Walnut Creek area.

Some background info: I am currently still in the UK, just waiting for the next school holidays to end my eldest Son’s UK education, although he’s only just 5 so its not a major wrench . I have visited the area where we are going to be living in the US many times and have already secured a house and have an L1 visa for myself and family. I consider myself reasonably au-fait (probably naively) with the American way of doing things as I spent a year there as a student on an exchange all be it some years ago.

I would be keen to hear some thoughts and advice on cars (sorry Automobiles ;) )

OK so a car is a necessity, that’s a given as I have two young kids (even though I can actually walk in about 10 minutes from the house we have rented to my office, my US colleagues looked at me as if I had suggested ritual human sacrifice when I mentioned I might consider walking for the first week or two until I find a car LOL! )

On my last planning trip I visited several local car dealerships and it seems that without an SSN, US Bank Account and an established US address (utility bills etc) among other things its going to be hard to sign on the dotted line for a finance agreement on a new-ish car as soon as we get off the plane. Typical immigration type catch-22 scenario.

So the way I see it I have two choices as far as transport goes:

1) Rent a car on a long term basis, perhaps a month or two. I have spoken to a few rental agencies and some do good deals on long term rental. Until we are settled and can go for something more permanent.
2) Buy a second hand car as a run-about pretty much immediately. Although the US second hand car market seems even more filled with cowboys (pardon the pun) than the UK and the risks of getting a lemon seem greater. You pays your money and takes your choice I guess.

What did other people do?

Have I overlooked another choice?

Any ideas or help/advice on this front?

There seems little or no point in bringing a car over from the UK that’s for sure. The immigration process is certainly complicated and stressful but that’s to be expected. Many of the processes seem to me to be like dominoes and once you get one down they all start to fall. However its just these cart-before-the horse situations that make things complicated.

Sir Denis

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

There will be some auto-financing related advice along in a bit, but I'm assuming that it's too late to get your company to stump up with a rental car for a while as part of your relo package?

My company had a pool car kicking about that I managed to grab (well, for a month until Mrs tonrob smashed it up* but even then they gave us another!) After that we bought a car with cash.

There are plenty of crooks in the 2nd hand market for sure, so can anyone in the office recommend a dealer? There's a nationwide chain called Carmax who sell 2nd hand cars for a little over the odds but they come with better guarantees and they have a no-haggle policy and transparent pricing, which could be a benefit given all the other hassles of moving.

Anyway - good luck! :)

Edit: *Please no-one let Mrs tonrob know that I told you all about that...

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

get a cheap beater until you figure out what you need/want, be cheaper than renting...but anyway...craigslist etc, but check lemon laws for the state just in case...here in MA, if you flog a car and either the engine or breaks stop the car working in 90 days you can lemon it even privately the seller is responsible for repairs, unless it is sold as a parts car not road safe on the title transfer, those can still be inspected for road use mind....and would have no idea what laws you have in CA

do a search on the forums, a few people used an international auto source type thingy and got a car in advance, so that might be an option.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

Take a look at International Autosource. http://www.intlauto.com

I got a vehicle from them, they have an office in the UK. They can finance or lease and not sure if they still do rentals or not.

It may or may not solve your problem.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

You can get a long term cheap(er) rental with Enterprise and they also sell their inspected/certified rental cars with a 7-day guarantee to buy them back if you're not happy:

http://www.enterprisecarsales.com/ca...edCarFinder.do

You may wish to join the (local) equivalent of the AA. It's called the 'triple A' in the States and the one for California appears to be called the CSAA:

http://www.csaa.com/portal/site/CSAA

They will do car inspections if you're planning to buy a secondhand car.

Don't buy a car without a Carfax history report, whether privately or from a garage - it will have a record of any accidents the car may have been in, mileage, all owners etc. You just get the VIN no. of the car and go online to buy the history, but when we sold one of our cars we provided some copies ourselves and gave it to the purchaser.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

Yes if you take a look on autotrader.com some of them come with free carfax reports. $10K will get you a decent enough little thing from Carmax, in time you will need two cars especially with kids so it's worth thinking about. And an older car will be significantly less to insure when you have no local driving history or credit score.
Once you do have your ssn etc the issue is not that they won't give you financing if you are new here, but with no credit score to go by they will charge you through the roof for it. If your work has a credit union they will definitely give you a better rate.
If you do buy secondhand from a dealer consider checking them out with your local Better Business Bureau, and then consider getting an extended warranty if available. Our car was decent enough when we got it but a Chicago winter has taken it's toll and we've already made our money back on that.
And when you are going to be driving your kids around a beater isn't an option in my opinion.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

Someone I met through a friend recommended this guy to me - not far away from where you will be. I've not used him myself but the diamond certification gives him some credibility.

As for walking to work - don't forget it is easily possible for the temperature to be up over 100 in the East Bay in the Summer and most Americans struggle to make it from their car to the office in that kind of heat.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

That's assuming there is even a sidewalk or a place to walk safely. A lot of roads here simply don't have them.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

I think Walnut Creek is ok in that respect - but it depends on where you need to go of course and, for the US generally, you are dead right - even where there are sidewalks you often find the simply disappear for stretches as if the folks that put them in thought they were just for decoration and don't expect anyone to use them!

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

well they don't do they :lol:

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

we leased through international autosource and as the car wasnt ready when we arrived - they arranged cheaper car hire for the 5 weeks or so we needed though avis.

Re: Some Auto Advice
 

You know, there's a lot to be said for eBay over craigslist or even a user car dealer. if you get a sale by a highly-rated dealer, a volume ex-fleet/trade-in seller, or a well-rated private seller, then that's a little more reliable than buying a temporary beater car from Kerrraaaaazzzzyyyyyy Eddies used car lot!

My bro' has bought and sold three cars through eBay without a problem. Of course, even with eBay's guarantees - nothing in the world of used cars is guaranteed.

Do they have Rent-A-Wreck out there? Also, if you're hiring long term, don't be afraid to ring around out of your area. If I travel an hour away, I can get rental economy cars from an Enterprise franchisee for $18 a day. Don't forget to ask about insurance too.