November 16, 2006
From the desk of Jane Galt:Bleg
So it looks like I'm going to be rotating through our Washington office this winter, which is exciting . . . DC will be only the fifth city I've ever lived in . . . but raises a new difficulty: I don't have a car. Nor do I wish to acquire one for the long term, since I'll be moving back to New York sometime in the spring. This raises a problem, since even short-term lease assumptions are longer than I want to have a car for.
I'm therefore looking for someone who:
a) wants to rent, for the short term, their car to someone who drives like a grandmother and has never been in an accident. Seriously. Ask anyone who's ever driven with me; they will tell you long tales of my maddening caution
or
b) (more likely) sell me a piece of crap that will run for six months. I don't care what it looks like as long as it is reliable, gets more than four miles a gallon, and fits my legs. It has to cost less than $3500, that being the cost of a long term rental from Avis. If you know someone with a very short term lease that ythey would like me to make the payments on, that is another option. I'm planning to commute via metro; the car is only for social outings, shopping, and occasionally returning to New York.
If anyone has a line on such a vehicle, please let me know.
Update I'm moving in with my sister, who lives in the burbs 10 miles from the nearest metro stop; while car sharing is a lovely notion, it won't work for me. I have to be able to get to and from shopping, the train, etc.
Posted by Jane Galt at November 16, 2006 4:01 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksJane:
You might want to check if car sharing. I'm told it's much cheaper than renting. With insurance, it's got to be cheaper than buying. The only drawback is you have to reserve the car 24 hrs. in advance. Here's a link for the DC area
http://www.commuterpage.com/carshare.htm
Jim
Have you looked into Flexcar?
http://www.flexcar.com/
Jane:
You might want to check if car sharing. I'm told it's much cheaper than renting. With insurance, it's got to be cheaper than buying. The only drawback is you have to reserve the car 24 hrs. in advance. Here's a link for the DC area
http://www.commuterpage.com/carshare.htm
Jim
JG,
There's a web-based service along the lines of :"Assume my payments"
this: http://www.takemypayments.com/
may be it.
allows one to acquire the vehicle and attendant lease payments, some of which are for short duration.
could be worth checking into.
This puts you about 2 hours from Charlottesville. I'll plan on photographing you holding my AK-47 for your MySpace page sometime in the early spring.
Of course, the pull will be a tad short for you; heck, it's too short for me.
Welcome to the neighborhood.
Have you considered stealing a car? It is quite a popular option here.
Shouldn't the Economist pick up the tab? I'm assuming you will on assignment for that illustrious magazine.
Otherwise: try rent a wreck!
You are moving in with you sister in the burbs 10 miles from the nearest metro?! Aren't you in your twenties or something? Shouldn't you be shacking up in an appartment near Dupont circle? Don't tell me that you save everything the Economist pays you while living in your sister's basement!
You could also try craigslist. We sold our car on there for $500 because it needed a new radiator and it wasn't worth it since we live in Chicago and don't need two cars, so we just wanted any money for it. And someone bought it who liked working on cars and thought he got a great deal. It's hit or miss, but could work.
It may be worth your while to buy a non-junker used car of a model that holds value well (like a Honda Civic), then sell it when you move out. A quick check on Edmunds.com indicates that a 2003 Civic would probably lose about $500 in value over the course of five months. The downside being that you'd either have to allow around $750 in dealer profits each transaction, or you'd have to deal with the hassle of selling as a private party. And either way you'd have 5 months of interest payments. But even so it'd probably be a fair bit cheaper than the $3500 long term rental rate.
Washington has lots of traffic circles ("roundabouts" in Brit-speak), so don't drive *too* cautiously, or you'll get hit from behind...
Maniakes has the right idea. Lots of military folks do this (in fact you might want to check out the lemon lots on nearby bases). Buy a car for $3,000, sell it 3 years later for $2,000. This works even better if you can find someone to sell it for you after you move on.
I have a 1994 Nissan Altima that aint pretty but runs fine, gets better than 20 mpg and everything works. i would have driven it for another year or so if my girlfriend wasnt embarassed to ride around in it with the dents. new tire and brakes, you can have it for $1000. if it doesnt pass inspection, I'll refund your money.
email me if interested, I live near reagan national.
good luck
How far away would you be willing to pick up this car?
Say ... Texas?
I've lived in the area 5 years, and I would suggest that living 10 miles from the metro is not a good idea. I suppose you will probably need a car for your work, but please reconsider your living arrangements. Probably the best thing to do is to go ahead with your plan, but leave open the possibility that you will need to move somewhere more centrally located in order to avoid spending your life in traffic.
My Aunt lives in DC and has a spare car. If you don't mind tooling around DC in a little red miata in the middle of winter (and it has a standard transmission) I can ask her about it.
How many times would you have to fold Jane Galt to get her into a Miata? :D
Another car sharing choice is ZipCar. http://www.zipcar.com/
For travel to NYC, Amtrak is a useful alternative to driving if you aren't carrying a lot of cargo.
I95 is no place for someone with your driving style. Driving I95 is "the survival of the fastest".
Amtrak is a far better alternative. However, pick up any food you feel compelled to eat during your trip at Union Station before boarding the train.
If you decide to try the Miata, please have your sister take video so we can all share the experience.
I'd go with Miniakes' approach, or the rental. MEH's may work if the previous user didn't abuse the car (since they were going to give it up) (although abuse may not manifest itself in 6 months).
Vehicular reliability is *my* form of maddening caution. :-)
RGT
I second Maniakes' solution, with the caution that selling a used car in a private-party transaction is a major PITA.
A typical telephone conversation:
Caller: I'm callin' 'bout the car you got for sale, how much you sellin' it for?
You: It says right in the ad, the price is $10,000.
Caller: Oh. I ain't got no money.
An economist *has* to investigate Zipcar and the ilk.
The idea of converting a large fixed cost (of a car plus insurance plus parking) into a single daily cost (with a profit margin to the lessor) is just too appealing to miss.
Contrast to buying a 4-5 year old vehicle and selling it at the end of the period.
(remove at to reply by email)
Buying a clunker is a great choice **IF** (and only if) you have enough mechanical savvy to keep it running and to spot little problems before they turn into big problems.
If your car fails unexpectedly at night in the wrong parts of DC, you are putting your life on the line.
If you'll be living in Montgomery County MD, check:
www.montgomerycountymd.gov/commute
10 miles from the nearest metro? if that is in VA and you plan to commute from there, you will need to car pool to get into DC. I-66 is HOV (yes, all lanes) during morning and evening rush hours, or take the back roads which can be very very slow. In anycase, traffic is killing in the dc area. So, don't drive, take a cab for the occassional outings and I would realllly recommend living in the city, or atleast close to a metro. Regan national has frequent shuttles to NYC, or you can always catch an amtrak. Buying a cheap car that breaks down can be a nightmare in some parts of DC and MD.
On the "buy a junker" plan--are you in an emmissions-test county, or not? If not, it's very very easy--any newspaper has plenty of $2000 cars that will run for 6 months.
As others have said, for under $3500, you should have your choice of cars that will run fine for 6 months.
Plenty of cars in the 1-2k range like that.
(For lots of leg room, I suggest perhaps a 20 year old Mercedes. Tons of 123 and 124 bodies around (280E, 300D, 300E), built like tanks, mileage in most cases in the 20s, and all the leg room in the world.
And one in decent user shape should be available well under 3k. Even less if you don't care if the AC works, or if it's ugly lookin'.)
10 Miles outside of DC? Come on, spring for a little pad in Dupont and experience the city! Of course I understand it probably makes more sense hanging with your sister in the burbs from a financial perspective, but it is a very different experience. Culturally, like living in Connecticut and commuting to New York.
As a NOVA native I sincerely hope you'll NOT be in crappy, junky old MD (Of course, any Marylander worth their salt feels about VA they way I feel about MD). That the MD and VA suburbs appear indistinguishable from one another is irrelevant.
Even less if you don't care if the AC works, or if it's ugly lookin
I've lived in both MD and VA. Six months from now, she'll care if the AC works. In the summer, it's pretty common for the temperature to be in the 80s with very high humidity.
buy a clunker? isn't the car for commuting? huge mistake. go with the avis deal. you need reliability. and $3500 is cheap for the "1-800 get me out of here" option if you break down.
Talking Head said: In anycase, traffic is killing in the dc area.
So why they don't reduce the size of government then?
It's easy to buy used online.
For over 6 footers; Mercury Grand Marquis or Ford Crown Victorias are usually cheap. And you can pose as a policewoman at the same time.
GMR
It's not, by and large, a government employment problem.
It's the general growth and sprawl in the DC area.
A lot of the government jobs are in the center, and there is a good metro.
But out on the Beltway has seen massive growth in employment, and a commensurate sprawl of living accomodation.
Sprawl creates traffic, far more than density. That is one of the axioms of urban traffic planning.
GMR / Valuethinker,
The "size of government" is not exclusively a function of direct government employment; rather, it is the sum of direct government employment and government contractor employment. The government is largely in the District and along the west edge of the Potomac. The contractors are further out.
I almost agree with GMR; reduce the scope of government involvement in the economy. The size of government and also of government contractors would follow ("would" because it ain't gonna' happen).
There are some low cost car rental places in VA, not the big chains but small outfits. I recall seeing one near where Rt. 29 crosses 66, north of Seven Corners, but don't recall the name.
[Note for other commenters--I think the point is having to drive to a Metro parking lot, rather than driving into town. I'd quite agree that the latter is a pain. And it's gotten much worse than when I had to do it occcasionally 10 years ago.
Jane,
I have a 2001 Honda Civic sitting unused in DC until end of June. It needs some repairs, but is in good shape otherwise. Let me know if you're interested.
Ted
I recommend auto trader. There were only 1000 or so matches for under-$3500 vehicles within 50 miles of Arlington, VA, though. Possibly that link won't work, so go to autotrader.com and tell it what you want.
Here's a Buick Roadmaster; I bet that has plenty of legroom.
As for the Miata; I have a friend who is 6'4" that drove around an RX-7 for years. Those had plenty of legroom.
I agree with Whit Stevens, Virginia is junky, but Maryland can be a bit of shock to newcomers when they feel the initial tax-bite.
Don't forget to add in all the taxes. I'm aware of the personal property tax for Virginia. Maryland will require a vehicle inspection, emissions inspection, 5% title tax of blue book value even if you're bringing the car with you from out of state, before you get to tags, which you'll have to pay for a two-year period upfront. You should be able to get a refund on the 2nd year when you leave/sell.
If you're in Maryland more than 30 days and don't qualify for a military exemption, you can't leave your vehicle registered out-of-state w/o risking having to pay the above taxes plus a fine. Maryland even has a snitch program encouraging Marylanders to turn in neighbors with out-of-state plates.
Get a bike. By spring you'll be in the best shape of your life.
I do a twenty mile a day commute and it has changed my life. Not really that difficult. About 45 minutes each way.
judson: it might not be a good idea for an asthmatic to exercise that much in what passes for air around there.
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