Ok y’all I could use some advice on the best way to get into a car for about 1-2 months in the July/August timeframe. I checked rental car prices and they are nuts.
Supposed to be closing any day now on an investment home in western NY. Looking to go up there for 1-2 months (hopefully in mid-July) and get the home ready for rent. Ideally I could fly up first and get the car in NY.
Currently I only have one vehicle on a great lease deal. It gets terrible gas mileage and I would hate to have something happen to it so would rather not drive it. I live in TX.
I see some posts about ordering cars at MSRP and flipping them, especially ones with the $7500 tax credit.
Is this something I could realistically do before mid-July and what car and/or broker would you recommend? Would prefer something larger than an econobox to haul stuff from Home Depot.
I’m just not following the OP’s logic. There clearly is a semi-reliable vehicle here (at least likely under warranty as it is leased). It would make sense to waste time hunting down a hopefully decent used vehicle, pay TTL, insurance, hopefully at least come close to breaking even on the sale AND hopefully not having any issues during ownership…all for a measly two months? Not my cup of tea, but to each their own I guess.
Could you find a Jeep dealer willing to accept Tread lightly on an in-stock Wrangler 4xe (and you’d need to join treadlightly today and wait 30 days) which would give you 1% off invoice… maybe. And maybe a broker could help you and you come out ahead.
Or maybe a long term turo rental. Regular rental agencies in the summer it’ll be tough to find a deal.
Fly up and rent a car. It doesn’t make sense to make that drive, period, up until you absolutely have to. Between the big rental companies and Turo, there has to be something relatively decent.
-don’t have exact dates
-don’t have arrival city/airport (if flying)
-don’t have location (western NY is quite broad)
-what is OP’s willingness to save a buck
I’m just saying there are so many factors that go into this, that its a crapshoot to give specific vehicles & locations.
OP - if anything, I personally would probably look into doing something like the '22 Sahara 4xe. Find one with a reasonable MSRP, try to lease (through CCAP of course) at least at MSRP or below, if possible. I would think you should be able to come close to breaking even, if not pocketing a little. Even IF I had to pay a grand or so to get out of the Jeep at the end - so be it. I would 100% rather do that. It’ll be much easier to get out of vs. a used jalopy and I got to drive a brand new Jeep for a couple of months.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Buffalo NY is the location in question.
Yes I could drive my truck from TX to NY, however I would prefer not to do that because it is my only vehicle, the drive would take 2-3 days, the gas mileage is 12mpg and at $5/gal that will add up fast. I’m leasing at a rate that I could not get even close to today, I have several thousand in equity currently and it is questionable if I would ever see that money if the truck gets totaled in a wreck (US bank). Not to mention the stress and hassle of trying to get it repaired and/or find a replacement vehicle if something were to happen. I already try to avoid driving at home unless I have to because drivers are crazy these days.
I don’t have a problem paying a regular lease/payment amount per month to rent a basic vehicle, but I checked Costco rental car for Buffalo and the cheapest I am seeing for 1.5 months duration is over $3000 for a sedan.
I did check Turo as well and I am not seeing any cars available in Buffalo. Maybe someone here is in Buffalo and would be willing to rent me something through Turo at a reasonable rate?
I don’t know if the flipping approach would work logistically with the two different states. If I buy a car in NY, how long do I have with a temp tag before it needs to be registered? I don’t have a NY license so I’m assuming I can’t register it there. Last time I bought a car in TX outside of a dealer I had to go to the tag office to get it registered, but maybe it has changed and that can be done remotely now? Is it possible to buy a car and sell it again without registering it and getting a title first? Maybe someone smarter than me in this area has some ideas. I wouldn’t be opposed to driving the car back to TX at the end of the stay and getting it registered if I could come out breakeven or at least not down $3k. I totally agree this is the most complicated option.
Check into Budget and other truck rental companies. You can get a cargo van for 30 days at $20/day plus mileage. If you won’t be putting a ton of miles on this would probably be the cheapest route.
Flexcar is in my area (Boston, Atlanta and Nashville) and for those that don’t drive a lot it’s a compelling model for those who don’t drive much) https://www.flexcar.com/ as low as $60 a week AND 39 cents a mile.
Thanks, this actually looks like a pretty decent option. Only issue is figuring out the insurance piece because the add-on plans are $$$ and apparently regular car and credit card insurance doesn’t cover moving van rentals.
Stick with the smaller cargo vans and it should be covered, but insurance can be tricky if doing anything business-related (not sure about investment property).
