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I'm two months away from being in california and am planning to drive around the US for a while and i'm not convinced hiring a car will be the cheapest options, so i have two questions:
1) i've heard rumours that there are used car lots at LAX, is this true?
2) what do i need to provide them other than cash in order to get the car on the road? I'm think rego and insurance are the key ones, and presume i'll need an address (which i can fudge easily with friends in CA...)
thanks for the help!
1) No.
2) See FAQ 214, and specifically FAQ 159.
In general, it's not worth the hassle for trips under 3 months.
Don't be such a pedant Mr Bzookaj - you know perfectly well what I meant and what was intended! In Internet shorthand, the Visa Waiver Program is a type of short-form visa (the visa you have when you don't have a visa!).
Anyway - the salient point is - three months (actually 90 days) is a short time in which to usefully research, buy, insure, register, use, then sell a vehicle.
To relax, I might start some crazy rumors about cities in Australia or Europe.
And while Cali is bad, rego really grates...
Ian, do you just call Yanks "seppos" amongst yourselves? I have been in Australia twice, and while I was called a Yank repeatedly, no one ever called me that. Just curious.
Off topic, I know (sorry, but the car purchase question has been asked and asnwered to death).
The more common term is still Yank (and Yankieland), but its derivative "Seppo" or just "Sep" (from septic tank) is heard too, especially among boomers or older - although I concede it is used on Thorntree - especially on the Oz-Kiwi Branch - more than in the population at large. As is Seppostan.
And I guess "The City" works within a confined context (setting aside its presumptuousness). There was an Australian cricketer (1930s-1940s) who was so famous and dominant worldwide that a paper's headline could read "He's Out!" and everyone knew what it meant.
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Buying a car in Cali
Hello intrepid people,I'm two months away from being in california and am planning to drive around the US for a while and i'm not convinced hiring a car will be the cheapest options, so i have two questions:
1) i've heard rumours that there are used car lots at LAX, is this true?
2) what do i need to provide them other than cash in order to get the car on the road? I'm think rego and insurance are the key ones, and presume i'll need an address (which i can fudge easily with friends in CA...)
thanks for the help!
2
most easy visas to the US limit your travels to 90 days
There is no US visa that limits travel to 90 days. The Visa Waiver Program--which is not a visa but a visa waiver, i.e. it waives the requirement for a visa--allows individual entry for a maximum 90 days. The B-2 tourist visa allows individual entry up to 180 days (which may be extended).1) No.
2) See FAQ 214, and specifically FAQ 159.
In general, it's not worth the hassle for trips under 3 months.
3
What are the details of the "rumors" you've heard? No used car or new car sale lots at LAX. There may be some in the general area. There are rental car locations near LAX, with shuttle from the airport terminals. Do a search on this site for info on buying a vehicle, including registering it, getting insurance, etc., etc. Selling it for anything remotely close to what you paid could be a big problem.6
There is no US visa that limits travel to 90 days.Don't be such a pedant Mr Bzookaj - you know perfectly well what I meant and what was intended! In Internet shorthand, the Visa Waiver Program is a type of short-form visa (the visa you have when you don't have a visa!).
Anyway - the salient point is - three months (actually 90 days) is a short time in which to usefully research, buy, insure, register, use, then sell a vehicle.
11
i can feel my blood pressure going through the roof!!To relax, I might start some crazy rumors about cities in Australia or Europe.
12
I read a great book about the San Francisco Earthquake - A Crack in the Edge of the World - and even back in the C19th, there were people demanding it be an offence to call that fine city Frisco ... sensitive lot, you Seppos. But feel free to call Sydney Sidders ... or Melbourne Malbs ... or Brisbane BrisVegas ... lots of other people do!13
Nothing to do with sensitivity, but since there are several cities actually named Frisco, it is simply inaccurate. For the answer about what to call San Francisco, I refer you to the Maltese Falcon, where Humphrey Bogart sends a letter to himself in SF and addresses it "The City." That's what I have always called it.And while Cali is bad, rego really grates...
Ian, do you just call Yanks "seppos" amongst yourselves? I have been in Australia twice, and while I was called a Yank repeatedly, no one ever called me that. Just curious.
Off topic, I know (sorry, but the car purchase question has been asked and asnwered to death).
14
Australia has a near-universal tendency to shorten words and add an "o" - rego, servo (gas station), arvo, smoko, milko, vego (vegetarian), refo (refugee) - and if it isn't an "o" ending, it is "y" (footie, brekky, etc). Many of them grate on me, but some are so widely used that they are normalised - rego is one of those.The more common term is still Yank (and Yankieland), but its derivative "Seppo" or just "Sep" (from septic tank) is heard too, especially among boomers or older - although I concede it is used on Thorntree - especially on the Oz-Kiwi Branch - more than in the population at large. As is Seppostan.
And I guess "The City" works within a confined context (setting aside its presumptuousness). There was an Australian cricketer (1930s-1940s) who was so famous and dominant worldwide that a paper's headline could read "He's Out!" and everyone knew what it meant.
