- If you are at least 23 years of age or older with a valid driver’s license (foreign travelers also need a passport with valid exit visa), you can travel the United States with Auto Driveaway.
- A refundable security deposit of approximately $350.00, check with the office that you are driving for to get the exact amount and method of payment on deposit.
- You will receive the first full tank of gasoline, a certain number of days and an appropriate amount of miles to complete your trip!
- A current MVR (motor vehicle driver’s record) for ALL drivers will be needed when you arrive at the office to pick up the vehicle. If you do not have a MVR, one will be generated at a cost to the driver(s). Foreign travelers must bring a current Motor Vehicle Record from your home country.
On National Car List are quite a few cars available, so I checked all of them, and some are quite suitable for our little trip …but they advise to call or e-mail each individual office for further information on the vehicles they have available (after the jump)!
Free rides available on June 22, 2009
Images link to Google Maps, usually you get a full tank with the car, other gasoline is your own cost, so it’s not a free ride after all 
Fort Lauderdale, Florida – Farmington, Connecticut
Farmington, Connecticut – Charlotte, N Carolina
Long Beach, California – Chincoteague Island
Louisville, Kentucky – Farmington, Connecticut
New Orleans, Louisiana – Tonawanda, New York
Phoenix, Arizona – Bethesda, Maryland
Phoenix, Arizona – Bowie, Maryland
Portland, Oregon – New Paltz, New York
Salt Lake City, Utah – Chicago, Illinois
San Diego, California – Meridian, Mississippi
San Diego, California – Panama City, Florida
San Diego, California – Park City, Utah
Seattle, Washington – Buffalo, New York
Seattle, Washington – Quincy, Massachusetts
San Francisco, California – Auburn Hills, Michigan
San Francisco, California – Brooklyn, New York
Washington, DC – Mobile, Alabama
So, you see … there are a lot of options for getting a free ride across USA (a few Coast to Coast rides as well), just pick one, drive and enyoj the adventure. For us the best choice is from San Francisco to New York, … but as you see you can find various routs to combine to get across United States of America.
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The plan is to see Big Apple first, then road trip from East to West via Chicago, Las Vegas, following the routes of Jack Kerouac (and his legendary novel On The Road), to Los Angeles, then maybe to see San Francisco – they say that it’s the most beautiful American city. Question is: which route to take (north, south, or somewhere in the middle).
Car: rent a car (or from the west to the east coast)
Rent-a-car “coast to coast” is expensive! Really: I checked online to see how much this will cost us (for a week, with middle-class car set by default by websites):
- Avis – $ 2,078.41
- Budget – $ 1,347.00
- National – $ 670.40 (although Kayak says over 1,100 $)
… a lot for 2 Eastern Europeans! If you add 588 $ for the gasoline, as viamichelin.com says, that’s even more. And they say gasoline in US&A is cheap?! We heard that you can drive a car from coast to coast (I drive your car for free system), so if anyone knows any ways how to or where, please tell it in comments below)!
Airplane
Flying would be an opion, but Jack Kerouac would rise form the dead … so, I will without further ado, summarize my questions for low budget road trip:
Key issues
if someone knows, we will be of great help, if you can tell us the answers to:
- how to get cheap airline ticket to New York (other than through Odklop.com) got it via Traveolcity, as I posted on Twitter on Friday,
- where to rent the cheapest car for a coast-to-coast road trip (I drive your car for free would do),
- which route across America do you recommend (it doesnt matter if we’re getting a free ride, otherwise via Route 66):
- north (New York – Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles) Northern (New York – Chicago – Denver – Salt Lake – Las Vegas – Los Angeles)
- south (New York – Washington DC – Nashwille – Memphis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA) South (New York – Washington DC – Nashwille – Memphis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA)
- somewhere in between – Route 66 (New York – Chicago – St. Louis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA) in between – on the routes, Route 66 (New York – Chicago – St. Louis – Oklahoma City – Albuquerque – LA)
- which motels along the way are the best and most favorable,
- anyone knows a place to crash or cheap hotel/motel in New York, L.A. for a couple of days,
- where to eat cheap (except McDonald’s).
For any answers I thank you in advance, the report of the way surely follows …
P.S.: Fellow Slovenians, this is English translation of original post in Slovene language.
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