My DS just got an internship interview at a town about 1 hour away from his college. He doesn’t have a car and we are far away. He is 20. 2 of the 3 car rental agencies in his college town rent only to 21 and over. The third, a car dealership has not returned my calls.
He is checking with friends but I think borrowing a car for this distance is a big ask, plus it will be Easter break and many students will be away.
I found a bus that will go from campus to the regional airport (private airport, no commercial service) in the interview town but that is 15 or so miles from the interview site.
He needs to get from Boone NC to Hickory NC and back.
skype?
have him Uber or Lyft it- both ways.
problem solved
My son has done longish distance interviews via Skype. In one case he told them he just couldn’t get away. If you go that route, make sure he tries it out well before the interview to get the kinks out.
Uber or Lyft. The only problem is that those can be unreliable depending on where you’re at.
Have him check with career services at the college, one of my sons college has a car rental program for this exact situation.
Also,if he can get to the town by bus he can try what my other son did once for an interview. He took a train to the town and then walked into the nearest pizza parlor and ordered a pizza to be dilievered to the company he had the interview at and then ask the driver for a ride. He got a ride, lunch and a job offer (and the interviewed drove him back to train station).
Or uber or lyft. My guess is he will find a friend or be able to pay another student on campus for a ride.
How will he deal with this issue if he gets the job?
Is Zip Car an option? They don’t have the age requirement of other rental companies.
+1 to Zip Car or one of the services like it.
Seems Uber is in Boone since January of this year. http://theappalachianonline.com/2017/01/17/uber-comes-boone/
That article says there is another rideshare thing called “Beeping”?
Zipcar appears to exist at App State: http://www.zipcar.com/universities/appalachian-state-university
…and finally, student services often has cars students can use for a fee.
Keep asking friends. My daughter doesn’t have a car but never has trouble finding a friend to drive her. She pays the friends $20 or so for a ride to the airport, which is an hour away.
Zipcar is great, but I think it takes a few days to get set up. My kid used it to get to another school to take a subject test GRE last year, and now rents them occasionally for other errands.
Uber or Lyft if available are quick to set up.
My nephew used zip car all thru college. Our kids got rides from friends or caught buses or light rail. They also caught supershuttle. The idea of using pizza delivery is creative and sounds like a possible solution as well. I agree that career center may have more suggestions.
Zip car doesn’t appear to have any cars in Boone. Their website says try later and shows locations several hours away.
Lyft doesn’t exist in Boone either.
Uber does. Very recent. My son feels they won’t go as far as Hickory. Their estimated cost is $70 one way. Would the driver wait? Would he just go in and hope for a return availability? $150 seems a lot of money for an interview. Wish I knew what his chances were?
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Beeping is a local thing around town not that distance.
I will tell him to check with career services.
This is for a summer internship. We have a car at home he could take. Or we could invest in another used car.
Here is an option I proposed. My DH and DD are visiting Charlotte Sunday and Monday. They could drive 2 cars. My DS could get a bus to Charlotte, meet them and take a car back to school. He would keep this car and drive it home in a month when school is over. My two high school kids would have to share a car for 3 to 4 weeks. My son is concerned that he cannot find a safe legal parking spot for a month.
He is trying to work something out with a friend. This is over a 4 day Easter break. Most students went home. He didn’t due to distance. 6 hours one way. A 12 hour trip to pick him up. On the plus side he won’t miss class for the interview and has lots of time for tedious transportation.
I like the pizza idea. There is a bus to the Hickory airport.
Thanks all.
If he brings a car for a few weeks (which I see isn’t a bad idea) he can call parking services and see if they can get him a prorated pass.
Lots of kids will bring a car after Easter break, it helps to bring their stuff home.
Good luck to him.
The folks setting up his interview should be his first phone call. They are likely unaware that he has no transportation, and would be mortified to learn that he is jumping through hoops.
There could be an employee who lives three miles away who commutes every day who would be happy to drive him. The company could have taxi vouchers available to any employee who needs (mine does) and would be happy to pay for his ride both to and from. The company could have a ride share van which does airport pick ups and they’d be happy to send it for him- either to the airport or directly to campus.
But he needs to ask ASAP.
Most companies would truly be horrified that a kid has to deal with this and they will find a solution for him. Or agree to a Skype interview.
My D just did several skype interviews for summer internships. When I saw your post I thought it was for a post graduation job and maybe the company would want to meet him in person. For a summer internship it seems really likely they would agree to a skype interview if they knew transportation to the interview was an issue.
At my DD’s school Enterprise has a Car Share program that any of the college students can use.
How would your son get to the internship if he got it?
I think the company offering the internship is more likely to wonder why a kid with no transport and unable to arrange transport would apply for a job needing transport.
Why not ask a friend with a car and offer to pay them 50 bucks? Cheaper than uber.