<p>Any suggestions on the BEST & most inexpensive way to get vehicle from Oahu (HI) to Washington DC/VA? I have a Volvo in HI & am thinking of getting it to S who is in DC/VA right now. Have shipped him a car to San Diego & caught train from LA to San Diego & drove it back to LA. He drove from LA to DC last summer, but it will take too long now that he’s working full time. Thanks for any help! </p>
<p>Not sure if there is any service that can get it from HI to the East Coast or if it has to be shipped to West Coast & somehow transported form there. No idea of the costs of transporting either.</p>
<p>The other option is that he’s considering just buying a car in DC, where he is. He’s checking out a few used cars with Hertz & is looking at one that is 2011 for $17K that he’s interested in.</p>
<p>First quote I just got is National Transport LLC, $895 and takes 1 week to transport car on trailer from San Diego to Washington DC. Ifit goes from HNL to DC via boat, it is $2295 and can take up to 4 weeks. I know nothing about this or any other transport service and welcome advice and experience.</p>
<p>They transport high end cars. When we met the driver on the east coast he had just picked up a Mercedes from a dealer to take back to the west coast.</p>
<p>I just shipped a car from DC to my D in LA. Cost $970. They took only 2 1/2 days from pick up to deliver to her. It was a really good experience. If you PM me, I’m happy to provide the name of the company.</p>
<p>Not as many as car companies would have us believe, and not many that I would trust my kids driving.</p>
<p>$17k quickly becomes $18k with destination charge, and $19k with sales tax, and we haven’t even started options like automatic transmission yet. I’m going thru this route and believe me, even without sales tax, $17k does not buy as much as you think. Things may exist in theory but if dealers don’t order the base models, you won’t find them.</p>
<p>Including destination charge, automatic, and some sane options, you’re probably looking at a Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Kia whatever, Chevrolet Sonic, Hyundai Accent, Fiat 500 (barely), and so on. Probably around 17 grand incl destination with very few options. </p>
<p>I’m looking for a cheapmobile for myself since my Saab is about to receive a call from its maker in 2 or 3 months, and it’s not pretty. The lead contender is the Chevrolet Sonic but buying 1st model year anything goes against my gut instinct (tried it twice, not a good idea).</p>
<p>For many cars, you can have the dealer do a factory order to get the options you want and no more. E.g. I didn’t want an automatic transmission, so I ordered with a manual transmission (cost about $1,000 less).</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you trust your kids to drive a new Versa, Accent, Yaris, Sonic, Fiesta, Fit, etc.? (especially compared to a 1993 Saab)</p>
<p>Of course, you can buy used and get under $10,000 if that is the goal.</p>
<p>manual transmissions and young drivers (that did not learn on a farm :)) don’t mix very well. Not to mention the transmissions (manual or automatic) on most cars in the list are pitiful. It takes a while to learn how to drive a stick properly and even then…</p>
<p>For some cars, factory orders are possible, but with long lead times, may not be feasible in order to get the rebates, discounts, etc de jour offered. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not work. I’ve ordered cars before, that was the Holy Grail of companies like Saturn. </p>
<p>Would I want my child driving a Yaris? not sure. Lots less metal around them than a larger car, too many gadgets/gizmos, and the car (any car in the list) does an admirable job of communicating nothing back to the driver, at least if you’re used to an excellent handling car. Hard to explain, but I would feel a lot more comfortable if my kids were driving something Civic / Corolla at least. For myself I don’t mind small but then I have 30 years of driving experience…</p>
<p>Used price cars around here are obscene unfortunately…</p>
<p>It sure seems like it’d be a lot easier and probably cheaper to just sell the car in HI and buy the exact same model (or a different one if desired) in DC. It saves a lot of hassle and potential damage to the car from shipping it so far. Unless the same exact model sells for significantly less in HI than in DC this is the best option and it’s hard to believe something like a car would sell for less in HI than on the mainland. </p>
<p>You can validate all of this by going online to autotrader and craigslist and searching for the identical make/model/year vehicle for the HI area and then for the DC area. After you discover it’s easier to do this he can decide whether to upgrade and buy something else he’d rather have.</p>
<p>Himom:<br>
Have a goddaughter who shipped car from Seattle to Hawaii (and back and back again).
Cost her slightly under $1k each time…and took less than a week.
In August, we shipped S’s car from Northern California to South Carolina for $900. Picked up here on a Thursday at noon…and arrived in SC Sunday night!</p>
<p>Seems like a young person would get the knack of driving a car with a manual transmission pretty easily. We’ll be buying a car for DD after she comes home from freshman year, and she’s interested in get a manual. She learned to drive with one. My reservation is that her friends don’t know how to drive with a stick, and there will be times this would be inconvenient. Such as sharing the driving on trips home.</p>
<p>I’ve driven manuals for 30 years, and would not buy a manual again… resale, mileage not an issue any more, and stability/traction control seem to work well these days. There are also financial implications for either decision, as well as practical considerations (read, manual in Houghton, MI - snow central - versus manual in Tuscon, AZ)</p>
<p>the posters in this thread championing manual transmissions would change their mind quickly if they were commuting everyday in the DC metro area.</p>
<p>Crash protection of any car sold new today is a lot better than that of your 1993 Saab (or many cars sold five or ten years ago).</p>
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<p>If you drive the car until it dies (as you seem to be doing), it is unlikely that the salvage value will be significantly different between a manual and automatic transmission car.</p>
<p>OK, on the topic… if the Volvo is in any condition worth saving, and because of the humongous price increase in used cars (decent ones, not ruins) I would at least look at what it costs to ship it versus selling local and buying new. Without knowing the total shipping costs and other involvements one really can’t make a decision. I would think there is a shipping company somewhere that could ship HI to East Coast… </p>
<p>On the original topic also, I would not get a rental for any kind of money - if OP’s son is working full time I would think one could afford a bit higher, get a new car in the Civic/Corolla class without much more than $17k. I looked at getting a used Mini Cooper and was dismayed to find that a 2007 Mini is around 15-16k with 60k miles, meaning it depreciated $1k/year or less. It is a good car, but not $500/year depreciation good car. Similar findings with used Civics and the like, the used car market has been quite distorted thanks to a number of factors.</p>
<p>Having spent time driving in DC/VA, and lots of time in other congested places, I would not consider a stick shift - as I said, it’s nice if you live in Flyover Country and have no traffic, but in a congested area, I’d pass.</p>