THE CAR

So, the hire car.  This turned out to be far more expensive than I originally thought.  I assumed that when Jessica was 21 the insurance would be the same as an older driver but unfortunately drivers aged 21 to 24 are classified as young drivers and the insurance is fairly astronomical.  You are also charged quite heavily for hiring a car in one State and then dropping it off in another State (especially a State that is on the other side of the Continent).  After spending many hours online looking at all the different car hire companies I found that National were the cheapest for both young drivers and the one way drop off fee. They charge a standard $250 for dropping in a different State and $525 for the Young Driver Insurance package (for 3 weeks).

We already had a SatNav with European maps on it so I just downloaded the USA maps at a cost of around £24 from TomTom as this was a lot cheaper option than hiring a SatNav from the hire company (at around $13 a day).  If you do not need to collect your car from the airport it is also a good idea to shop around the different National depots in the area you are starting from. The price of the car itself can differ by up to £100 per week depending on whether you collect it from the centre of Manhattan, one of the large airports like JFK or a smaller depot just outside the city limits. We did not want a car whilst in New York City so decided to pick the car up from a depot just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. Remember to get a car with a decent amount of luggage space if you are on a road trip and also a decent level of comfort as you are likely to be spending many hours in it. We of course considered a convertible for the style factor, but decided overall for reliability,efficiency,cost and comfort, it was not worth it. So we chose a standard size car: a Chrysler 200 or similar which should have plenty of room for the two of us plus bags.