Driving very very far
Raneados
police apologistyou shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
police apologistyou shouldn't have been there, obviouslyRegistered User regular
Alright so after years and years, I have finagled myself a car. It's up in Washington DC. I am flying up to get it and driving it back to Florida. These parts of the plan are already set in stone. They are not changing. My flight is booked, events are progressing etc etc
Now for the meat of the situation. I will be driving it back with the previous owner's plates on it and then mailing them back to him later. I assume he needs to turn them into his DMV or whatever. I'm guessing I'll need insurance of my own to drive it down here.
I'm looking for any other suggestions as to what to do for this whole shindig. I'm stopping off in a motel during the night, no chance of doings an all nighter
I need PRESSING suggestions, such as things to make sure to do to not end up in jail or sued or dead.
and I need suggestions to make the trip easier if needed
Now for the meat of the situation. I will be driving it back with the previous owner's plates on it and then mailing them back to him later. I assume he needs to turn them into his DMV or whatever. I'm guessing I'll need insurance of my own to drive it down here.
I'm looking for any other suggestions as to what to do for this whole shindig. I'm stopping off in a motel during the night, no chance of doings an all nighter
I need PRESSING suggestions, such as things to make sure to do to not end up in jail or sued or dead.
and I need suggestions to make the trip easier if needed
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Something I found helps on long drives. Have something to snack on and to keep your hands moving when you start zoning out or getting tired. Drinking something also helps, but then you have to pee.
also is that plate thing such a big deal? I have the guy's phone number and info so I can verify who's car it is
Just drive safe and stay awake. I get drowsy after about two hours of continuous driving, so it's pull over, 15-20 mins of vigorous excersize (jog twice around the block, or up and down the road), a drink and maybe a snack and then back to it. Candy you can eat slowly is good, some Werthers or barley sugars or something like that you can suck on may help.
Here are some suggestions:
First off get some sort of check up on the car before you get it signed over... unless you know who you bought it from and they are your grandmother or something.
Be sure you have your car insurance info with you, be sure the car is clean when you start off or it will be a shithole when you end off, be sure to bring an emergency credit card, be ready to spend 50-100$ a night in a hotel, but no more.
Got to AAA and buy/ask for a trip tick. Its basically a map that gives you direct and unfuckupable directions. The bonus is that it also tells you what roads are under construction and you can plan around them.
Get a small water cooler, fill with sandwiches and drinks. DO NOT stop all over mcdonalds and such as you wont be able to sleep well if your body isnt normally used to fast foods. I made this mistake once after being a health nut for about a year. Also drinks are cheaper if you buy/store them in bulk.
Leave early, around 5 after you stay in a hotel. Don't stay in cities but go the extra 10-15 miles and get a nice hotel in the suburbs wherever you stop. But be sure you are staying in a nice suburb and not the ghetto.
Get some good BBQ in the Carolinas, ask where to go, hell if you get pulled over ask the cop where to go... but you probably wont be so don't worry about it.
and most important of all, Book Tapes. Go to your local library and get a book tape or 3. If you pick something good it will make the trip incredibly easy to deal with. Even if it is a book you have already read a book even consider those. They are especially different if you havnt heard them before but you have read them. Hell, i have the dark tower, the lotr, and the harry potter series and even though i have heard/read them all they are still worth having because the readers are so perfect.
Also take this chance to disconnect from the internet, dont bring a laptop.
Dont buy a skin flick at a hotel, they are far too expensive and most hotels have cinimax/hbo anyway.
If you are really worried about it bring a friend along.
how did you come across this car? what type is it? how many miles?
I figured that price on the room a night. Will make sure the info is with me. The car will be egtting a good once over for cleanliness and I always have my credit card on me
I will look into this
I'm not taking a cooler. I'm not a terribly healthy eater to begin with and I have the stomach of an eating contest champion. I set aside money to kick around on some food places
Sounds good
I do love BBQ
I'll look into it but I was going to make some CDs
like 20 CDs
Don't even own one
I don't jerk it in rented rooms. That's weird
Not a possibility
mom's boyfriend's son's that he doesn't want. 2005 Nissan Elantra. New tires. 40K miles. took in for a full service right after getting the tires
edit WHAT THE HELL
HYUNDAI
for example: I just ate a large pizza by myself with extra cheese, some jalepenos, some pepperoni and some green pepper at 11:30 at night
my stomach is hard to irritate
ALSO I am actually a bus driver. I spend 9+ hours behind the wheel daily
Also, you can never have enough albums/audiobooks. If you think you're going overboard, bring a few more. Better to have many that aren't played than to have few that are overplayed.
e: it had better be the car in your sig.
I'm not very Up to date on how car ownership works
never owning one and all
but I do appreciate all the help
It works pretty well, and tastes better then cold coffee.
So he has to transfer his tags over to his new car. Chances are that it's cheaper than getting new tags. Disregard my last post, then.
Nissan Sentra, or Hyundai Elantra?
If Nissan Elantra was what you were told, you might want to fact-check all the other details to make sure other stuff wasn't mixed up too.
I did NOT type Nissan
Hyundai Elantra
What you want to do is have him sign everything over to you, but not actually go to a DMV until you get back to your state. You need to register the car where you live anyway, so registering it in washington and then again in florida a few days later is pointless (possibly, see below). If you get pulled over, tell the cop he let you borrow the car. Make sure he will corroborate this story if contacted.
Although, you may want to check with your state licensing office to make sure they will allow you to transfer the vehicle into your name with an out of state registration. If fairly sure you can, but ive heard of a few places that want you to transfer it into your name in the state it came from first, before youre allowed to transfer it to another state. If you have to do this, be prepared to waste about 150 bucks on new plates you will only use for 3 days. But its better than the alternative of having to go back to washington just to transfer the car.
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Not always a good idea
For me, energy drinks work for the first 30 minutes or so and then I just start to crash. Some people do say it helps, but it just makes me even more tired than before I drank it.
This is my experience as well. The small amount (well, not small) of caffeine in a large soda is usually enough to keep me awake, as is needing to pee after drinking it.
I'll second the book-on-tape idea. Most people don't realize this, but for long-distance driving talk seems to work better than music for keeping awake. You pay more attention to it, or something. I usually go for either news, comedy, or an audiobook.
This. Get some 'This American Life' and you'll be good to go.
I'm not positive how you're going to work this out. For you to insure the car you'll need to own it and have it registered in your name...with plates.
What I think would work is for you to drive on his insurance. So long as he gives you permission to drive the car you're covered by it.
This would be a little weird depending on how you set up the terms of the sale though. While you were driving back it would need to still by owned by him (which it needs to be if it's got the old plates on it anyways.) The proper way to do this probably involves calling your local DMV and finding out how to handle it.
As for more practical stuff I find books on tape a huge positive. You've already said the car was recently serviced so you're good there. If you get tired pull over and rest a little. Try not to drive tired, it really isn't worth it. At the same time try to stop only when you need to, frequent stops will really kill your progress.
Everyone seems to eat fast food when traveling, but fruit or whole grains are going to give you longer-lasting energy. Put this together with some caffeine to act as a catalyst, and you should be fine.
This is fair, I don't do much power-driving myself so I don't have much first-hand experience.
I've done 750 miles in a day without a problem, though it's a very long day.
The best thing to do if you get tired while driving is to pull over, grab a snack (fast food, quick stop market, whatever) and then start driving again. Breaking the monotony is a good thing.
If you know where the midpoint of your trip will be, go to priceline.com and bid for a hotel room there in advance. You won't be able to pick the specific hotel but will be able to pick the area (or areas) it'll be in. 9 times out of 10 you can get an awesome room for $50 that is about 10x better than a sleazebag motel. I once got 3 nights at the Hyatt in Santa Clara (which goes for like $200+ a night) for a grand total of $150 plus taxes for all three nights.
yeah it is. i've done albuquerque to san diego in one shot a number of times, and that's a drive that you need a day to recover from even though all you did was sit on your ass all day.
Eh, energy drinks work fine for me on 5-8 hour drives, from time to time.
I only do that once every year or two, though, so I'm not like an expert on it.
...though honestly, it might just be the whole "stopping and getting out of the car" that does it. They typically don't have much of an effect on me in normal day-to-day life.
And if you have the time, you should stop at South of the Border just to say you did.
My attention span is like...zero, so I always have my 160gb ipod full, tons of audio books (in case i get sick of one), and a bunch of snacks. And make sure your cell phone is charged and you have a charger with. I always call a friend if i get really tired. Print out a run of your trip on google maps, and have one of those big multi-state maps too.
Also if you have the chance, find out exactly how many miles you can go on a full tank. Then look at your map and kind of plan out where to stop for gas. try to do it on the outside of larger cities, there are usually stations outside of city limits that take less time to get to.
edit: Oo oo forgot another thing. Baby wipes/hand wipes- because if you're snacking and drinking pop for a couple days straight, it is a huge waste of time to stop just to wash your hands.
I would make sure you get the car checked out by a mechanic before you buy it. If you have it taken to the dealership and have them do an inspection it should be less than 100$ and it could save you a hell of a lot of buyers remorse.
Even if the guy is totally legit and thinks everything is great with the car that doesn't mean he would necessarily know if something was wrong with it. Wouldn't you rather find out that hey the brakes are going to need to be replaced in 5000 miles, the timing belts are worn, the fluid levels are low, and oh by the way there is a hole in your AC compressor hose. ALL little things that would add up to like a grand in maintenance after you got the car home.
at the least its 100$ of peace of mind.
Speed if you must in MD, DC, NC, as they don't give a shit for the most part so long as traffic is flowing nicely.
Don't speed in VA, as I see people getting pulled constantly for going slightly over.
Also, the VA rest areas on I-95 are pretty nice compared to other states, so take advantage there if convenient.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
...
You aren't going that far, that is easily a one day trip.
In my experience, and this goes nationwide, you are like 6.7 times more likely to get pulled over if you have out-of-state plates and are outside a metro area. Basically cops actively look for dudes with out of state plates on long stretches of highway, even if they're only doing like 7mph over.
So really, assuming this car has cruise control (do any exist anymore than don't?) you're best just setting it for the speed limit and sticking with it.
And 900 in two days is a pretty easy drive, seriously.
EDIT: And I agree that this can be a one-day trip (I've done Los Angeles, CA to Bozeman, MT in one shot), it wouldn't be a fun one. It's well worth the extra $50-$75 (hotel, food, etc.) to do it over two. Though as somebody else recommended, frontload it a bit, maybe driving an extra hour or two of it the first day...it'll lower your stress level on day two.
I hear horror stories about speeding in Virginia. One thing cool about it though is that they don't set up speed traps. I respect that a lot.