We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
#61
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
If you are looking for a toyota - we have a prius, i can recommend the guy we went to, we had no trouble getting credit through them, and we have referred a few expats to them since.
PS: Did get your email thanks, will reply later, things have been a bit hectic the last few days
PS: Did get your email thanks, will reply later, things have been a bit hectic the last few days
#62
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
If you are looking for a toyota - we have a prius, i can recommend the guy we went to, we had no trouble getting credit through them, and we have referred a few expats to them since.
PS: Did get your email thanks, will reply later, things have been a bit hectic the last few days
PS: Did get your email thanks, will reply later, things have been a bit hectic the last few days
Going to look at a Honda bike in Los Gatos on Friday..
#63
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
we werent able to get a 0% deal, we got 9.64% in the end from Toyota, also the length of the credit agreement will only be for the length remaining on your visa
#64
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
Ah that's good as we have 3 years it just so we can build up some credit. It's a special offer Jeep are doing at the moment.
#65
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
You should definitely confirm with the insurance company since policies/companies may have differences.
#67
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 44
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
The shuffling I was told was 'not how they turn the wheel over here, where hand over hand is more advanced and safer' (apparently) and 'you're in the US now, so don't turn ever the wheel like that'.
The latter problem with stop signs/crossings was an interesting interpretation on coming to a complete stop prior to the pedestrian walkway, looking all ways before pulling forward slowly while continuing to look left and right and then continuing on my way. Seems my error was not slamming my foot down on the floor and simply pulling out as if there was no potential for other traffic to suddenly spring out from behind the parked cars that were obstructing the view. Silly me.
I almost complained about the latter given it was obvious I'd been dinged for being more careful, but it was a pass anyway. I seem to recall there had to be 8 points of failure items to fail, and of course all I cared about was passing so I thought it was best to not kick up a fuss and just take the license I had so rightfully earned.
What this really told me though is that if you drive as well as you were taught in the UK then despite some differences and some potential disagreements over higher lower/standards of driving...you'll pass.
The annoying thing for me though is that in this case, I found my older US driving license from another state a week later. The only reason I had to do the test was because it was missing, presumed lost while I had been living in Canada for the two year prior.
Read into that as...I've taken a US test twice. After doing so once you'll appreciate the diligence of the learner and test system in the UK, despite the fact that it annoyed the hell out of you when you were 17.
Over here, it's almost like all they really want you to do here is cut four tokens out from the back of a box of cornflakes and simply turn up and drive around like a crazy dude.
Incidentally, I'll always recall my original test...the guy before me wheelspun it like a teen when pulling out of the DMV, yet still passed. I was amazed by this.
#68
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2010
Location: From Uk, now in San Jose CA
Posts: 166
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
Me too @ San Mateo, although I was told off and deducted a few points for 'that weird shuffling you were doing with the steering wheel' and the fact that I 'ran two stop signs with crossings in front'.
The shuffling I was told was 'not how they turn the wheel over here, where hand over hand is more advanced and safer' (apparently) and 'you're in the US now, so don't turn ever the wheel like that'.
The latter problem with stop signs/crossings was an interesting interpretation on coming to a complete stop prior to the pedestrian walkway, looking all ways before pulling forward slowly while continuing to look left and right and then continuing on my way. Seems my error was not slamming my foot down on the floor and simply pulling out as if there was no potential for other traffic to suddenly spring out from behind the parked cars that were obstructing the view. Silly me.
I almost complained about the latter given it was obvious I'd been dinged for being more careful, but it was a pass anyway. I seem to recall there had to be 8 points of failure items to fail, and of course all I cared about was passing so I thought it was best to not kick up a fuss and just take the license I had so rightfully earned.
What this really told me though is that if you drive as well as you were taught in the UK then despite some differences and some potential disagreements over higher lower/standards of driving...you'll pass.
The annoying thing for me though is that in this case, I found my older US driving license from another state a week later. The only reason I had to do the test was because it was missing, presumed lost while I had been living in Canada for the two year prior.
Read into that as...I've taken a US test twice. After doing so once you'll appreciate the diligence of the learner and test system in the UK, despite the fact that it annoyed the hell out of you when you were 17.
Over here, it's almost like all they really want you to do here is cut four tokens out from the back of a box of cornflakes and simply turn up and drive around like a crazy dude.
Incidentally, I'll always recall my original test...the guy before me wheelspun it like a teen when pulling out of the DMV, yet still passed. I was amazed by this.
The shuffling I was told was 'not how they turn the wheel over here, where hand over hand is more advanced and safer' (apparently) and 'you're in the US now, so don't turn ever the wheel like that'.
The latter problem with stop signs/crossings was an interesting interpretation on coming to a complete stop prior to the pedestrian walkway, looking all ways before pulling forward slowly while continuing to look left and right and then continuing on my way. Seems my error was not slamming my foot down on the floor and simply pulling out as if there was no potential for other traffic to suddenly spring out from behind the parked cars that were obstructing the view. Silly me.
I almost complained about the latter given it was obvious I'd been dinged for being more careful, but it was a pass anyway. I seem to recall there had to be 8 points of failure items to fail, and of course all I cared about was passing so I thought it was best to not kick up a fuss and just take the license I had so rightfully earned.
What this really told me though is that if you drive as well as you were taught in the UK then despite some differences and some potential disagreements over higher lower/standards of driving...you'll pass.
The annoying thing for me though is that in this case, I found my older US driving license from another state a week later. The only reason I had to do the test was because it was missing, presumed lost while I had been living in Canada for the two year prior.
Read into that as...I've taken a US test twice. After doing so once you'll appreciate the diligence of the learner and test system in the UK, despite the fact that it annoyed the hell out of you when you were 17.
Over here, it's almost like all they really want you to do here is cut four tokens out from the back of a box of cornflakes and simply turn up and drive around like a crazy dude.
Incidentally, I'll always recall my original test...the guy before me wheelspun it like a teen when pulling out of the DMV, yet still passed. I was amazed by this.
#69
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
I agree with all you say above. I would make one comment about hill starts, though. On the one hand, I really appreciated the fact that in UK, they make you come to a complete stop on a hill, and then set off without any roll-back, and making good use of the handbrake. This is great training for driving in SF in a 'stick' (manual). However, it's not such good training for driving an auto. It wasn't until about 15 years later that my (US) g/f taught me a much better way to stop / start on steep hills with an automatic - simply use the left foot for the break and the right foot for gas, in much the same way that you use left foot for clutch in a stick on a hill. You really need to figure this out because in so many US automatic cars, you don't get a proper handbrake.
#70
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 12,851
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
However, it's not such good training for driving an auto. It wasn't until about 15 years later that my (US) g/f taught me a much better way to stop / start on steep hills with an automatic - simply use the left foot for the break and the right foot for gas, in much the same way that you use left foot for clutch in a stick on a hill. You really need to figure this out because in so many US automatic cars, you don't get a proper handbrake.
#71
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2010
Location: Northern California
Posts: 96
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
I did the test at the SF DMV (Fell St.)
It was RIDICULOUSLY easy. Basically just a drive around the block with a few stop signs.
It was RIDICULOUSLY easy. Basically just a drive around the block with a few stop signs.
#72
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 44
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
The only place I would advise different is Salt Lake City. One of the DMV's there (actually out in the burbs not the city itself) has an off road course and the advice among ex-pats was to go there because it was even easier than the road test.
To be honest, the off road test was kind of a joke - they'd built a fake railroad crossing with permanent red flashing lights and everything. The general advice was to just stop at the railroad and sit there like a dumbass until you're told 'it's okay, there's really no train and one will never come along so go ahead and jump the light now, but don't do this in real life'. Apparently if you stopped and even said, well, no train and crossed yourself they would fail you.
The reverse park on this course, was pretty much a lay-by size area to reverse into. You could easily get a lorry in it.
Of course the other joke over here is often the written test, which in many states they give you the highway code book to reference as you do it. Absolutely no revision or study is required, you just have to be able to look things up!
Last edited by oldskool; Oct 13th 2010 at 7:30 pm.
#73
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Mar 2008
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 4,913
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
Until very recently I had a Toyota MR2 with sequential manual transmission and it took me quite a while to fully master the art of hill starts and parking with it ...
#74
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
I rent a lot of cars while traveling; my conclusion is, the bigger american cars behave the way you describe but the smaller cars, and Japanese cars, don't. Now, maybe they all will work that way on 'typical' hills, but SF does have some challenging ones!
#75
Re: We leave in three days for a new life in San Francisco
A lot of people I have been speaking to have driven in SF on a Canadian / UK licence for years anyone on this thread done that?