need help: need a car for 8 months in Los Angles

[burbguy82]

Is a car really a need or just a want?

Public transportation is kind of efficient in square blocked cities.

 

[Hall]

so won't have to worry about stickers/inspections in CA.

Why would California (police) care about inspection stickers from New York state ? I'm quite certain they don't. As for the NY plates, who is going to check or keep tabs on how long she's there with them ? No one.... If she got pulled over and asked about it, she tells them she's a student going to "Disney's training school" and is moving back to NY when done. She'll have a NY drivers license too, will she not ?

 

[edyvw]

Is a car really a need or just a want?

Public transportation is kind of efficient in square blocked cities.

In LA??? YES!

 

[edyvw]

Thanks all for your kind replies. Here are some details:

She is currently in Estoria (Queens, NY), she does not have a car (does not need a car in NYC), she won't drive across country (time constraints, starting in late Jan in Burbank). No preference on cars, mainly driving from apartment to work, because there is no affordable apartment near work in walking distance. We are hunting for apartment as well right now. It's apprenticeship job, pay is not great. But there might be future opportunities. She currently wanted to come back to NY, but who knows.

My current thinking:
1) lease a toyota corolla, currently toyota offers $199/month for 39 months, afrer 8 months in CA, we can bring the car back to NY and continue to use, in case she comes back, otherwise, she can just keep the car whereever she goes.
2) buy a used car, 10-12K range, and sell it after 8 months, but hassle with selling a car
3) ship one of my cars to CA. But my cars are older cars, and NYS inspection sticker will expire during the 8month period, I have not figured out what to do on that yet

Not a bad option! In LA she really, really needs a car.

 

[windeye]

Why would California (police) care about inspection stickers from New York state ? I'm quite certain they don't. As for the NY plates, who is going to check or keep tabs on how long she's there with them ? No one.... If she got pulled over and asked about it, she tells them she's a student going to "Disney's training school" and is moving back to NY when done. She'll have a NY drivers license too, will she not ?

Thanks for your comments. I read that, in CA, cops don't like expired out-of-state inspection stickers.

 

[windeye]

Not a bad option! In LA she really, really needs a car.

yes, it's need, it's what people are saying to us, she NEEDs a car in LA. in NY, not so much.

 

[Chris142]

No-but it does have emissions.

Any reason it won't pass?

 

[daves87rs]

Had a co worker who had to do this for their daughter ( not Disney though) for a year internship. He found the address of the place, and shopped all the local dealerships locally. They ended up finding a low milage 2009 Camry, and the place took care of everything over the phone. They even held it for a few weeks until they were able to pick it up. It was a lot of work- but they wanted to make sure that she had a solid car and a good place to live, so he didn’t have to fly out of Chicago to Cali in a hurry for an issue.

Hope you have good luck in finding something!

 

[Chris142]

Is a car really a need or just a want?

Public transportation is kind of efficient in square blocked cities.

L.A.'s public transportation is useless

 

[Chris142]

You should buy a rust free truck. Maybe a tacoma out here and sell it for more when you get it back to NY.

 

[Bladecutter]

Cali are jerks about out of state plates spending too much time there.

This is going to be an issue.
Once the 2 week buffer is up, if she gets pulled over, she's going to get ticketed, and targeted if they keep seeing her driving around on NY plates.

Best bet is to buy a cheap but well liked car in Cali, and then sell it to CarMax when she's about to leave Cali.
Can't get an easier selling process than CarMax.

 

[JHZR2]

My current thinking:
1) lease a toyota corolla, currently toyota offers $199/month for 39 months, afrer 8 months in CA, we can bring the car back to NY and continue to use, in case she comes back, otherwise, she can just keep the car whereever she goes.
2) buy a used car, 10-12K range, and sell it after 8 months, but hassle with selling a car
3) ship one of my cars to CA. But my cars are older cars, and NYS inspection sticker will expire during the 8month period, I have not figured out what to do on that yet

All three are ok options I guess, if you want a Corolla.

#2 would probably work ok if you bought it at Carmax or something. But if you bought it there, I don’t know how registration would work.

For #3, register the car in SD or possibly MT. SD will do it over the phone. Then you don’t have concerns. The registration will have your NYS address, or her address (notionally the same).

Personally I’d just drive it.

 

[windeye]

Had a co worker who had to do this for their daughter ( not Disney though) for a year internship. He found the address of the place, and shopped all the local dealerships locally. They ended up finding a low milage 2009 Camry, and the place took care of everything over the phone. They even held it for a few weeks until they were able to pick it up. It was a lot of work- but they wanted to make sure that she had a solid car and a good place to live, so he didn’t have to fly out of Chicago to Cali in a hurry for an issue.

Hope you have good luck in finding something!

Hi, Dave, thanks for your comments. I certainly will try that.

 

[windeye]

This is going to be an issue.
Once the 2 week buffer is up, if she gets pulled over, she's going to get ticketed, and targeted if they keep seeing her driving around on NY plates.

Best bet is to buy a cheap but well liked car in Cali, and then sell it to CarMax when she's about to leave Cali.
Can't get an easier selling process than CarMax.

wait what? CA allows out-of-state cars, as long as the original state inspection sticker is valid. see below:

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handb...ident owner of a,plates issued by that state.

 

[Hall]

wait what? CA allows out-of-state cars, as long as the original state inspection sticker is valid. see below:

That link says nothing about "inspection". Does NY state use the same sticker for registration as inspection ? Ohio used to do inspections a long time ago but it was a separate sticker (on the windshield) while our registration stickers go on the license plate.

I read that, in CA, cops don't like expired out-of-state inspection stickers.

I don't see why they would care. It's not their jurisdiction.

 

[lbhsbz]

Don't send an older NY car out here with her....Nobody will work it after seeing the rust if anything goes wrong.

I'd suggest buying something decent, 5-10 years old out here, then bringing that back to NY with you and sell it back there when she's done. A rust free California car should sell easily in NY I would think.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Burbank? Jay leno is over there and has a lot of cars he does not use. I'd send him an email.

j/k

I'd look into leasing, maybe custom terms.

 

[windeye]

Don't send an older NY car out here with her....Nobody will work it after seeing the rust if anything goes wrong.

I'd suggest buying something decent, 5-10 years old out here, then bringing that back to NY with you and sell it back there when she's done. A rust free California car should sell easily in NY I would think.

that makes sense... either a decent used car locally, sell when done, or a new car (finance on me), and bring back to NY, sell or keep. thanks for all of your comments.

 

[dogememe]

Buy a used Bolt, use the $4k tax credit, then trade it in/sell it after the 8 months is up That assumes you have somewhere to charge it... maybe not possible if you are in a random apartment.

 

[wag123]

car is reliable. but it's an old car afterall, and we'll be taking a risk of unexpected repair.

Don't assume that a well used $8000 car won't also need an unexpected repair or two or three, in fact, I would EXPECT it! At least with a car that you own, you know what you have.