Living in California in Fall 2015

[Happy Ent]

Ill be visiting the US (California) for the Fall and probably need a car. We’re a family of five. What is my best option? Should I rent a car? (Do these kinds of long-term rentals exist?) Do I lease? Or buy and sell again? I arrive in August and leave in December.

I have a similar question about mobile phone plans, but thats probably much harder to answer for an American.

[KiDisaster]

Most car rental places have monthly options but they're not exactly cheap. $500-$1000 a month or so depending on the size of the vehicle you need just from two places I checked quickly. For a five month stay it might actually be cheaper to buy something used and then sell it again before you leave. But of course there's always the uncertainty of dirt cheap used cars breaking down and whether you'll actually find someone who wants to buy it or not before you go.

[IheartIheartTesla]

My parents are in town for a month and a half, so I got them a dumb phone ($15) and got a calling card with 250 minutes ($25 @ 10c/minute). That is the easiest way to have short term mobile options. Data could probably be included in it as well. You can refill the card when its depleted, so IMO thats the best and cheapest way to have a phone with a local number without signing a contract.

For cars...no idea. Some rental companies may have mini-leases ... but you may be better off going through the university message boards for short term options (I presume you will be at some university).

[Mlle. Zabzie]

For size - as a member of a family of 5, I have a couple of questions for you:

1. How old are your children? Are they still needing carseats/booster seats?

• If they are quite small, I would might recommend a minivan because of the one click opener (you press a button and the doors open). This can be very nice if your hand are already full.
  
• Do your carseats/boosters fit 3 across in the back of a regular sedan? We have an SUV (Highlander) because of this issue - needed something that all three seats could fit across.
  
• How well do your children do in close proximity to each other and will it be relevant (e.g., long car journeys)?
  
• It is, btw, possible to rent carseats, as I have done it.
  
• If you don't have carseats and are not going to have a small war in the back seat, you could probably do a 4-door sedan though would imagine there will be fights about who gets stuck in the middle seat.
  

2. How much luggage will you have and will you be driving a lot with the luggage in tow?

• If you are going to have quite a bit and driving with it (e.g., up the 1), again, I might recommend a minivan or an SUV for space issues.
  

3. On the mobile phones, you might want to look into prepaid plans. They absolutely exist and could probably get you what you need. I think that's what my friend does when she comes to the states from London for extended periods to visit her inlaws. I can ask her if you'd like.

4. On buying v. leasing through a short term program from, e.g., Avis, there are two considerations. The first is that Avis will take care of the car registration, etc. issues for you so you don't have to deal with all of the paperwork. They would also provide roadside assistance and insurance (to the extent that your own carrier doesn't supply the coverage that you need by law in California). The second is capital outlay. If you buy and resell, you have sunk capital into a wasting asset with a lot of risk. I might personally lease given the circumstances, but it's obviously up to you.

[S John]

I think Zabzie brings up a good point about the paperwork involved in purchasing a vehicle. You'll have to have a title, car insurance, probably pay a tax, and have to spend some time navigating a California DMV office to get it registered properly. All of which will probably be a greater pain in the ass as a foreigner when you don't have residency in that state or a local driver's license. In my experience at the DMV if you can't produce one thing or another they will send you packing. If you rent you do not have to worry about registration or insurance and if anything happens to the car you can just go get a new one and forget about the one that broke down. I'm sure it is possible to buy and resell, but I don't think it will be a smooth process. You'll have to dedicate time at the beginning of your trip buying and getting it registered and insured properly and at the end of your trip you will have to dedicate time to selling it. 4-5 months is a long time though, I'd call around to a few of the American rental companies and see if they'll cut you a deal on a long-term rental/lease.

[Happy Ent]

Great answers, so far! Keep them coming.

(For phones, we *have* phones, we just can’t use them, I guess. IheartIheartTesla’s idea makes sense. So: bring our smartphones, use them only on Wifi, but never make a call or use data. Use the dumbphone for actually placing a call when we’re lost.)

Yes, we’ll be at UC Berkeley.

Children are 11, 14, 16. My first idea is to fly into SFO, spend a few nights in Berkeley for some school-related paperwork and time zone adjustement. Then take the car(?) down the coast on a road trip to San Diego (to visit UCSD.) Spend a week or two in SoCal. Then when our rental in Berkeley is available, drive back. So: two long road trips with full luggage (everything we brought). Probably a lot of driving around San Diego and LA.

Mulling this over—do I need two different cars? When we’re settled in Berkeley there are no super-long road trips and no huge luggage requirements.

Comments are highly welcome!

[Lord of Oop North]

I would suggest trying the King of Car Rentals and get a quote. I've used him a few times (although never for such a long period) and can recommend, as the savings were pretty substantial. I believe that naz rented through the King (that's how I found out about it) for his America-wide road trip.

I think that for most people, buying a car for such a short period doesn't make sense, as you would lose any savings in rental fees by paying more in insurance. You might already have auto insurance coverage through your credit card or even your current policy (maybe not, since you're in Europe), so I would check into that.

[Happy Ent]

$500-$1000 a month or so depending on the size of the vehicle you need just from two places I checked quickly.

I can’t find anything even close to that price range. It seems as if it’s much more expensive than that.

[Happy Ent]

So, when I try various web forms for a 4.5 month rental of a minivan, I end up with 17000 USD or thereabouts. When I look at what a new car costs, that just seems insane. I must be doing something wrong.

[Hayyoth]

You'll need a car, this isn't Europe. Renting is too expensive for that amount of time. So rent a car for a couple of weeks and go to a used car lot or go online and buy yourself something usable, a month before you leave look to sell it. If you can't sell the thing on before you have to fly out do you have friends here who can help you out?

Cell phones? Go to Walmart and get a pre-pay.

[BitsOfBrains]

Just buy a big car/van that holds its retail value.

Something like a Subaru Forester or Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna.

Its possible if you do it right you might actually come out ahead in the end or at worst sell it for maybe a $1000 loss.

Public transportation in the bay area is pretty good and Uber is always an option if you don't want to have to park your behemoth vehicle.

[Kat]

For the cell phone, can't you just get a new sim card for your phone once you get here?

Depending on where you are renting in Berkeley, your life may not need a car except for the trips. Berkeley is one of the more transit-friendly cities in the Bay Area and it has some of the worst traffic on its streets you'll ever know, and I say that as someone who car commutes in San Francisco. Driving on University Avenue is like a little piece of hell. I assume you're visiting faculty of some kind at Berkeley. What is your wife doing during this time? Are your kids going to be attending school?

[S John]

So, when I try various web forms for a 4.5 month rental of a minivan, I end up with 17000 USD or thereabouts. When I look at what a new car costs, that just seems insane. I must be doing something wrong.

That seems outrageous to me, but I have never tried to rent a car for 5 months. If you really can't get a better deal than that then I'd say go ahead and buy one - just do some research on what you need to do to insure it and make sure you get one with a clear title. You could easily get a decent car for half of that price and even if you lost a few grand re-selling it that is obviously better than flushing $17,000 down the toilet.

[Inigima]

I googled "long term car rental" and got pages about that kind of program from the major companies with phone numbers. I would give them a ring and see what they say.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

You might consider something like City CarShare. I'm not sure how their prices compare to renting, but it seems to be a fairly popular program here in the Bay Area.

https://citycarshare.org/

[KiDisaster]

I can’t find anything even close to that price range. It seems as if it’s much more expensive than that.

Might be more expensive in California, my mistake. That price range was from local places. (South Florida)

[IheartIheartTesla]

For the cell phone, can't you just get a new sim card for your phone once you get here?

I tried a new sim card for my parent's phones, and I couldnt get it to work. Granted, they had Indian carriers, but I would be a bit cautious swopping sim cards into phones from a different country. A dumbphone by itself is really cheap, so it isnt a great investment of money.

Also, I tried Avis for 4 months (using an SF address for pickup) with an intermediate SUV and got numbers in the 5K ballpark (without insurance). With discounts etc....you should be able to be in the 4-5K range. Bear in mind, I think Avis is one of the more expensive options out there.

[Happy Ent]

Also, I tried Avis for 4 months (using an SF address for pickup) with an intermediate SUV and got numbers in the 5K ballpark (without insurance). With discounts etc....you should be able to be in the 4-5K range.

For the 4 months? That kind of money would be acceptable.

Kat: both me and my wife will be visiting scholars at UCB. Kids will go to school in Berkeley; 2 middle schoolers, 1 high schooler.

(This worries, me, but the Berkeley Unified School District promises that the children will be enrolled as soon as I show up. But apparently I can’t get this done from here, because I’m not yet a resident. So the idea is to show up a few weeks before school starts, get the paperwork filled out and kids enrolled. Sounds like the Wild West to me. But I’ve asked several times, and the School District confirms that that is the correct way of doing it, and there is absolutely no way to do it remotely.)

[Happy Ent]

From when we made a pre-visit, the most important thing seems to be using the car for grocery shopping. I understand that I need to go to a chain called Whole Foods and cook, otherwise we’ll inflate to US-sizes within weeks, and we don’t have clothes that fit.

[TerraPrime]

Swapping sim cards doesn't always work. I tried that with my iPhone when I was overseas in Taiwan and they couldn't do it because my phone was "activated in the U.S.", whatever that implies.

I also do the WalMart pay-as-you-go route for phones for when my mother visits.

As for car purchase, I do not believe you need proof of citizenship for purchase. You will need it if you need a loan, which I don't think is likely given that you do not have a credit history in the United States. So if you buy a vehicle, expect to pay up front and in full.

Have you tried contacting UC Berkley's equivalent of International Scholar's office? They might have some resources and insights for you, too, given that they probably handled other international visiting scholars before.