NYC to LA road trip - Buy or rent a car?
 

My girlfriend and I are moving from NYC to LA next year. We are planning on doing the road trip in December 2015. We want to head South, visit places like Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, and Austin.

But we are trying to decide if it's best to rent or buy a car to do this.

Since we both do not have cars right now and will need at least one in LA, I figured it would be a good reason to buy one in NYC and drive it across the country.

Would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

You need to do a cost analysis and look at the total cost for renting open jaw, and if you both are not at least 25, be sure to add the extra there for the time you will be on the trip. Of course, if there is a problem along the way, you can call the rental company to solve it.

When you consider buying, do add in the cost for the car, insurance, temporary NY registration, and California registration and be sure you get a car that is California legal.

Ultimately you need to do some homework first, but do have a wonderful trip.

Under thee circumstances I would definitely buy a car - which you must have in CA. But - do be sure that any car you buy meets CA emissions standards.


Note: This assumes you will be buying either a new car or a recent model used car no more than 3 year or so and fully inspected by your own mechanic. If you are looking at a budget used car I would not buy one to drive cross country - there are too many options for significant problems and no way for you to obtain recourse from a seller 3K miles away.

You don't have to get a car that is "California legal" just to drive into California, but you do have to register it within 20 days of establishing residency...and at that point it will have to be smog-checked and "legal".

or you can try this.....

http://www.theguardian.com/travel/20...ve-out-courier

My biggest pro for buying a new car is that we will have a vehicle as soon as we get to LA.
The biggest con is putting 3,000 miles on my new car and the registration process. But is that really an issue?
I think I would go the new car route.

Are you planning to pay cash for the car?

I don't know whether this is an issue or not, but if you need a loan to pay for it, will the lender balk at your buying the car and then taking it cross-country with no residence established in the new state yet, need to transfer title, etc.?

You definitely need to check that before proceeding with your plans.

If they qualify for the car loan when they buy it, they can take it out of state whenever they like for whatever reason. As long as they make the payments, no one cares. People certainly move and take their unpaid-off cars with them all the time. I suspect the lender is notified when the registration is changed, as co-owner. In any case, having done it myself, it never occurred to me to ask permission of the lender if I could move, please. It isn't an issue.

As mentioned, just make sure it meets California emissions standards and you may still have to get it smog checked in LA before you can register it.

MmePerdu, I thought it might be an issue because they plan to take it out of state right away, especially if they have not secured an address in CA yet.

I don't know how lenders think these days, and I don't know if their circumstances would make a difference. But it seems at the very least that they would need to disclose that they are moving, and especially if whoever is buying the car does not have a job lined up yet. The issue is not that they are taking the car out of state or even moving. The issue is they know they are moving when they buy it, and the lender might find they are being deceptive if they don't disclose that.

In this case, the lender most certainly WILL be notified when the OP goes to register the car in CA, if it is model year 2014 or newer (assuming they go to register it in 2016). And the OP will be the one doing the notifying!

That's because the OP will have to send the original NY (or wherever) title to the lender and have the lender sign a lien release on it before CA will issue the new title.

See

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1...es/howto/htvr9

and

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1...s/howto/htvr10

OP—

Is you plan for one of you to buy the car or for the two of you to buy it together, as co-owners?

If the latter, make sure you understand your responsibilities and liabilities if for some reason you should break up before it is paid off.

I would not buy a car in NY or CA. If you buy a car at least 3 years old, you may not have to pay the sales tax in California to get a title and registration.
You could buy a car on EBay motors anywhere in the US and drive it to California with a temp tag.
After you have established a California residency, take the car and title (if it has one) to the DMV. They will give you a few days to get it smog checked.
The other way to get from New York to Los Angeles is to take the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited to Chicago and then take the Southwest Chief to LA.
The car that I bought using EBay Motors I flew to Florida to pick up and drove home to PA where I lived.
FYI: Oregon and Delaware have no sales tax.

tomfuller, Where did you see that no tax is due on vehicles more than 3 years old?

"If a vehicle is brought to California within 12 months of purchase, use tax may be due. If you paid sales/use tax to another state, you may receive credit toward California use tax not to exceed the California tax."

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1...t_facts/ffvr34

"...the OP will have to send the original NY (or wherever) title to the lender and have the lender sign a lien release on it before CA will issue the new title."

Getting the car registered in CA has nothing to do with the title. It never occurred to me to advise the bank of my move beforehand, DMV registered the car in CA, no questions asked and I gave the bank my new address. Having done it myself recently, I think you're over-thinking the whole process, Cranachin. Anyone can loose their job the day after they buy a new car or move unexpectedly to a different state. The point is for the bank paying the payments, nothing else.

Keep an eye on the weather around the country THIS December and you'll get an idea of what you might be facing NEXT December.

Sorry - there is no way I would buy a car that is either brand new from a local dealer - or a used car from a reputable dealer - after having my own mechanic look at it (you never know).

There are way too many risks in buying a car sight unseen - esp if older, out of state and not examined by you own mechanic. For a while there was a huge market in cars totaled in Superstorm Sandy (due to be flooded) that were sent to other parts of the country and sold without the warning that is had been flooded/totaled.