<p>I’d call the AAA of Southern CA for CA DMV info. They are very nice and helpful and don’t care where your AAA membership is from. It’s a LOT easier getting thru to them than the CA DMV (having tried both several times).</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion re AAA. My H had gone to our local AAA office and they gave him the phone number and contact info for the DMV. I will try your way.</p>
<p>My D, who lives in the area, has AAA, had texted me recently that being able to do all the DMV stuff at AAA rather than through the normal bureaucracy, was worth the price the membership (that I pay 
)</p>
<p>Anyway in CA the AAA seems to be a fantastic resource when it comes to vehicle registration issues, so that should help! </p>
<p>Thanks for another heads up on AAA. I will be calling them as soon as I think the office will be open.</p>
<p>Another subject that I know very little about and need some advice: how do you rent an apartment with no visible means of support? I told my H that we will probably have to co-sign the lease which he wasn’t happy about initially but understands might be necessary. S does have about $40,000 remaining in his 529 and about that much in a brokerage account but will not be able to work during school. AFI made that pretty clear during his Skype interview which seemed to focus more on his ability to get these details worked out in such a short period of time than on his academic credentials/work experience. We are prepared to pay his expenses since his undergraduate years cost us much less than we had planned but H is worried about legal tangles and is thinking of contacting a lawyer.</p>
<p>You might want to wait and cross that bridge when you come to it. If the roommate is the one on the lease, your son might not need to be on the lease at all. </p>
<p>OTOH, I co-signed (via fax or electronically) two leases for D while she was in college, and her first lease after college since it started several weeks before her job did. It wasn’t traumatic in any of the cases, and it did provide an opportunity to go through the lease with her, paragraph by paragraph, so we could talk obligations and rights. </p>
<p>I hope he can do everything through AAA with the car. If not, big hint – make an appointment with the DMV. We had to go to the DMV to transfer the car title after MIL died, and that appointment saved our bacon – we waited a total of about 20 minutes; the walk-in line was well over two hours long, complete with multiple vendors selling ice cream, horhchata and burritos, and buskers with various acts. </p>
<p>Ready or not, he is on his way to California. When the school was open on Monday we were able to get a list of motels in the area that were reasonable. I made reservations at a Super 8 motel until September 1 hoping that he will find a roommate and apartment by then. Several of the possibilities on Craig’s list start then. He had one that sounded good but the guys want him to come by before they talk further and there are a few incoming students from AFI who are also looking. </p>
<p>The car situation is on hold until we have more information. I am still being bombarded with emails and phone calls from brokers trying to ship his car. Unfortunately, none of them can guarantee that it will arrive when you want it and since S will more than likely be in class, I don’t think the shipping will work. I have a wedding in Colorado Oct 5th and I am thinking about driving there and then on to LA. By google, it appears to be only 3 hours out of the way. My H isn’t crazy about the idea but he hasn’t rejected it outright. I thought I could drive to the wedding and have him fly to CO and drive the rest of the way with me. We could stay in either LA or with his friends 2 hours south and then fly home. H’s Afib might have returned which makes planning impossible until we see if is just minor due to stress or a major medical issue. At least the Afib somewhat explains why H has been so hostile to me recently; he was hiding the health issue but was obviously worried that it was starting again. </p>
<p>Can your son rent a car with a weekly rate until he gets his own vehicle? Either that or explore the zip car option.</p>
<p>I think that you might find it’s simply better for son to buy a used vehicle in California, rather than trying to ship a car across country. Right after my son graduated from college he got a job on the opposite coast – he had to fly out within a week or so. He left his old clunker with me, bought a car in the town where he was working. I used Craigslist to sell the old car and sent him the money. </p>
<p>If you have the money consider buying him an affordable new car in LA.
The dealer will provide all routine fluid changes, keep it in good shape with timely visits and provide a loaner if it needs to stay the night.
Get the extended warranty, driving in LA is rough on cars.
Breaking down on a LA highway is awful and extremely dangerous.</p>
<p>You are making a serious investment in his education and this is another good investment.
IMHO</p>
<p>I am a graduate student who lives in LA. I attend UCLA, but I live in Hollywood about two miles from your son’s school.</p>
<p>Although CC is an excellent source of information for these topics, the posters in this thread are probably not intimately familiar with this specific neighborhood, nor with the exact situation in LA right now, so I thought I’d mention a few things.</p>
<p>First, it is not true that you need a car to get around in LA, nor that the public transportation system is particularly bad. Your son is going to be working and living in a very dense and highly central part of LA that has excellent connection to transit. The school is located about a 5 minute walk from a Red Line subway station. The Red Line is fast, efficient, and probably the single most convenient way to get around the Hollywood-Downtown corridor. A combination of subway and bus will give your son easy access to most of the LA basin. Personally, I take the bus to UCLA almost daily. Negative stereotypes about LA’s public transit are mostly a remainder from decades past, combined with a generally negative attitude about transit overall, especially among the upper-middle class. Your son will certainly be using transit in LA. The earlier he learns the system, the better.</p>
<p>Second, the area your son will likely be located in is actually very walkable. Plugging in your son’s school’s address on Walkscore gives a score of 80. This is a great score, but lower than it could be because the school is on the southern tip of Griffifth park (something like the central park of LA). Where your son will likely live will have an even higher score. Even so, AFI is also 2 blocks from a Ralphs, the main grocery chain here, and about 20 restaurants/shops/etc…</p>
<p>I speak from my personal experience - I have no trouble getting around the entire city without a car, and I generally prefer not to drive. I’m also not the only one. A huge number of graduate students in my program also don’t drive. This may also be a generational thing; people my age often don’t consider driving a necessity.</p>
<p>That said, the reason to get a car, however, is to go explore fun areas that are more spread out: the mountains, the desert, Malibu, Vegas, San Diego, etc… So it’s certainly not a bad idea to have a car, it’s just not a critical need like others are making it seem on this thread. You should definitely not panic if your son doesn’t have a car in the first month or two.</p>
<p>In terms of housing, he’ll probably need to get a roommate, which is fine. Craigstlist is a good source to check things, but the most popular housing website here is westsiderentals. If you want to expedite your search, you’ll probably need to get an account there for about $60. Padmapper is another nice tool you can use. He should also talk to the school; they’ll likely have resources as well.</p>
<p>If the Red Line is anything like the Blue Line, then another advantage is that it’s very inexpensive! That system is among the cheapest public transportation options I’ve seen in the U.S. I was impressed. </p>
<p>Would it be possible for your son to use something like ZipCar instead of having his own car? Given the cost of a car–payments, maintenance, insurance, parking (does it come with apartments in LA? or is it extra?)–if he has public transportation or can bike or walk to school, Zipcar or similar might work for him.</p>
<p>Thanks, tetrahedr0n . ., that information is reassuring. S grew up in a city and was given a free bus pass to get to high school. He didn’t take his drivers’ test until he was 18; it was simpler to ride the bus. He had a car during his last two years of undergrad and has gotten very used to having a car available. I hope that you are right and he can go back to using public transit. He might need a car for some of the film shooting but if zip car is available that might be a better solution than getting his car out to him. I can’t even discuss it with my husband right now. Until his heart is back in rhythm, H will win all arguments because I don’t want to create more stress.</p>
<p>He landed in LA, with his bags and is checked into the motel. A good friend from undergrad picked him up at the airport. I think they are planning to go out later after S has a nap. He sent me a text and I noticed that he had changed his city on FB. Classes start on Monday. He is a pretty adaptable young man so I think he will do fine. </p>
<p>My nephew went to school at Pamona and just used SmartCars for his 4 years of undergrad. His folks figure it was a huge savings over insurance, gas, shipping car, etc. </p>
<p>After reading the comments last night, I looked at the Zipcar site. I will have to research it further to see if the reality lives up to the promises. He could pay for a lot of Zipcar usage with the approximate $1500 that it would cost to ship a car. And, we would not have to worry about the car passing a California inspection.</p>
<p>The main issue would be the proximity of his house or apartment to a zipcar lot. The people I know who use zipcar (or some similar companies) are very happy – but I think it works best for those who don’t have to walk far to get to the lot. So it is something he will probably be able to assess better once he finds a place to live and settles in. </p>
<p>Please take Tetrahedr0n’s post seriously. (see #28)</p>
<p>Lifestyles in LA County have changed as far as the belief that owning a car is mandatory for daily life.</p>
<p>Public transportation in the LA area has dramatically improved and getting better. Also, if your son is in good enough shape, suggest he bicycle. The weather & quality of streets practically make it an obvious option.</p>
<p>I know the west side best… West of UCLA, & south to LAX. I know this area in great detail from decades ago and return yearly. As a returnee, when I’m visiting family and friends, I need a car because I’m criss-crossing all of Southern and Northern California.</p>
<p>However, if I could manage on a daily basis in WLA traveling within a 5-10 miles radius with a simple routine, I’d “need” to own a car only because of old habits. Have your son look carefully at a map of the light rail system and the different bus lines, both Santa Monica Blue Bus and LA’s RTD, perhaps there are other modes of public transport that I don’t know because old habits fade slowly.</p>
<p>Also, AFI is in an interesting neighborhood. I hope you’ll visit and he takes you on a walking tour. Best wishes to him in his studies and in enjoying the area.</p>
<p>We have decided to get his car to him some way and possibly rent a car until we can drive or ship his. During orientation, they were told that it is not a good idea to walk alone at night. Yesterday, he had screenings until after 9 pm. Once they start filming, he will have to get to locations with equipment.</p>
<p>The apartment hunting is not going well mainly due to his lack of time. “Boot camp” lasts six weeks and his only scheduled day off appears to be Labor Day. I hope that he is exaggerating a bit but I did read in his orientation packet that they would film Saturdays through Tuesdays. He thinks that he might have some time this weekend and is going to try to get his UCLA friend to take him to rent a car. Having a car might help the apartment process. I have been looking at Craig’s List, Westside rentals, and USAA’s site(our car insurance company also has a home locator service because of so many military moves) to try to help him. I don’t know enough about the area so I am probably missing some possibilities. The school had a roommate locator site but because of his extremely late acceptance, most have gotten settled. He is still talking to people though, so something might turn up.</p>
<p>The first two days were pretty overwhelming but he called tonight on his walk back to the motel and sounded enthusiastic about the work so far. Most of the students are older than he with rather impressive work experience. I keep reminding him that he got accepted same as they did so the school thought he was just as good. I will feel much better when he has a more permanent place to stay.</p>
<p>
Could somebody share her/his experience about how long it takes to ship a car by an auto shipper coast-to-coast?</p>
<p>Many auto shippers advertise that it takes 7 to 10 days from coast to coast. Somehow I find it hard to believe. 7-10 days may be the transit time for carrier’s truck.</p>
<p>What is your estimate, from the day when they pick up your car till you actually receive the car at the destination. 20 days door-to-door? (assuming it is a door-to-door service rather than a terminal-to-terminal service.)</p>
<p>Our last experience was that the car stayed at the some city close to the origin for over one week! Also, it stayed at the terminal near our destination city for 2 days.</p>
<p>my son’s car has been back and forth from CA to Mass 4x. It has always arrived in 2 weeks. The only problem he encountered was the last trip, when they delayed pick-up. Son’s roommate drove it to pick-up spot, as son had left day before. </p>
<p>Just found out that he can’t rent a car at this time. Lessons learned through this are adding up. One important lesson is to apply for a major credit card as soon as you are eligible. USAA has a college start card that he could have applied for when he started undergraduate school. Lesson two: sometimes it makes more sense to call in to your bank instead of trying to apply online. Instead of applying for the college start card, he went to the college products page and applied for a regular card. By the time he realized his mistake and called USAA, they couldn’t stop the process. He will have to wait for the rejection and then start over. He had also applied for a secured card so he had too many apps in process. Without the major credit card and with a Pennsylvania drivers license, no car rental. His extremely limited free time is not helping with the apartment search. He thinks that he physically needs to go to the apartments because so far phone calls and emails have been too late. </p>
<p>It has only been one week and the problems are just temporary but it is hard for me not to stress out. He is an adult now (today is his 23rd birthday) and I can’t fix it. On the bright side, he still seems pretty happy with school which is more important than this temporary homelessness.</p>