My son (aged 18) is planning a road trip with some mates going East coast to West coast across America this Summer.

They can get car hire at 18 thro' Dollar amongst others, but so far haven't been able to find out how much extra it costs to leave the car 3000 miles from where they start with it. Another problem is that although they'll take an 18 year old driver they want any additional drivers to be 25+, seems a bit strange & would mean one poor bu**er doing all the driving.

Another option was to buy something on the East coast, drive across & resell - given that he knows about as much about cars as i do about millinery this may not be a good idea, but if they did can you arrange one months insurance for a couple or 3 18 year old drivers?

Does anyone know anything re camping over there, youth hostels or similar, as you can imagine their funds are somewhat limited - he thought they might sleep in the car I thought they might get arrested

Any information gratefully received, my only experience of the States was Florida a few years ago, but I think my budget was a bit bigger than theirs!

No Idea about the answers to your questions, but I can tell you after having read a certain Mr Jeremy Clarkson's book, that you probably want to get him to avoid Detroit City Centre

Cheers

mark

Russ try this website link
They were £300 cheaper than using Virgin holidays own car rental.
We are going in August for 3 weeks.
I think a car that seats 5 people with 5 suitcases costs £375 including the top insurance package.
It also has different drop off options.

You insure a car in America, not a driver, so it should not make any difference if they buy there own. I would avoid hiring like the plague. Companies sting you for one-way (as the car will be registered in the east coat, and will have to go back to the east coast some how).

There are companies that will actively seek people looking to do this (to return hire cars), but no idea how you find them...

I would either buy my own car (as they did in Top Gear!) or look at taking the Greyhound all the way across. Either way, they will have a great time!

Do a search on Camp America - Sure I remember someone saying that they provided advice for the British kids going out there for three months who wanted to buy a car....

If he joins the AAA (american AA) he can get tons of info on hotels.. campsites etc.. Contact the national park service... brilliant camping.. incredible sites... fantastic scenery... Must see includes.. yellowstone for the hot springs.. Yosemite..(what god did to improve on eden..) sequoia redwoods rocky mountains.. south dakota badlands.. I can go on for ever.. The people you meet camping in the states are very often the best and most helpful.. absolutely a fantastic country..

I did a winding 9000 mile trip from NYC to LA about two years ago with a few mates. It was incredible.

Make sure your lad doesn't under estimate the amount of driving there is. We took nearly 7 weeks to do the trip and it still felt like we were rushing all the time. There is a LOT of driving, and we shared it 3 ways.

From memory we paid around £1800 for a Ford Explorer, including a $500 one-way rental fee and 3 drivers all over 25. You really need a big comfortable car if there's a few of you. Plus, when in Rome... etc etc. The Explorer did an average of 18mpg but still only cost us £400 in 'gas' for the whole trip!

My understanding is to buy a car in the states you need a legitimate address to register it to, so it's not really practical unless you have cooperative friends or relatives.

Our accommodation was exclusively camping, hostels and motels. All quite affordable.

All in all one of the best things I've done in my entire life. 8-)

Afraid to say that I think your son will have a few problems with his age and the car rental though.

[Edited on 3/1/08 by AdamR]

For cheap places to stay and suggestions of stuff to do there are lots of books out there. I thoroughly reccomend budget travelling, it's a great experience, those with negative comments tend to be those who haven't gone!

I have a copy of the "BUNAC moneywise guide to north america" which is aimed at budget travellers including by car. I very strongly reccomend guidebooks, especially if you have a car to carry them around in. Lonely Planet guides are very good too.

I found this on MoneySavingExpert http://www.moneysavingexpert.com (good for Locosters in general, anyway!:

"If you're under 25 it's likely you'll be charged a Young Person's Surcharge which could be up to £20/day extra. If you're hiring in the US, Transhire waives this fee for one driver. Make sure your quoted price includes any surcharges."

Transhire is here: http://www.transhire.com/

Also, I looked at joiningg the AAA for a holiday this summer, and it won't let you join if you don't live in the USA

i went out a few years back when i was 21. i prepaid for my car rental from FirstChoice. however, when i got there, i got stung for under 25 surcharge ( an extrac 25$ per day each for me and my partner, ) and state tax and city tax.

more recently, i rented a car from Atlanta for 4 weeks. Was a mid size ( so was big enough for 4 adults and luggage ) and that cost me 1700$ i think.

car rental is a mine field...

one good website is network-airline.co.uk you can do rental through them and the price is very good and usually includes all the bits they stick on at the airport...

if they want to camp, the best thing is to go to walmarts on the first day and get their 30$ tent. then take it back at the end of the trip and exchange it for a few pairs of jeans or some food!

oh, and the best bit of hiring a car - turning out of the car rental place, on to the i75 - all 9 lanes of it!!!!!!! so much fun :-)

one thing is guarenteed, its will be so much fun!

on a side note, when i travelled, i kept my main bank account and opened a nationwide. i would transfer a few 100 bucks every week or so from my main account to this new account, making sure there was very little in there incase it was compromised. i also had a credit card with a big ish limit - £3000 or so, in case of emmergencies. I also opened an Egg account as they have a money manager program that allows you to store all your other accounts logon credentials.

i then went to a bestbuys and brought a very cheap laptop ( £300 ) that i then used for internet banking - much safer than motel PC's. With Egg you save a "Safe" on your pc, which allows you to log on to Egg and have direct access to all your other accounts. i think this is the safest way to handle your money.

[Edited on 4/1/08 by saigonij]

oh, another option might be to see if any of the car rental places need cars returned across state? they might have someone who has done a one-way trip that needs the car returning - cheap way of travelling...