Driving in the USA

eringobragh

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Now the Hertz Neverlost (ahem) satnav was a bit of a let-down. It's fine for getting from one urban area to another but in town it was crap for two reasons: it only has an overhead view when the 3d view that you drive 'into' and can see the coming turn is far handier, and combined with that, it zoomed in to a 1/4 mile resolution when a turn was coming up which meant that you were invariably on top of the turn before you could see the route arrow going that way.

However, sign posting and lane signs and such are vastly superior there so all in all we only took about five wrong turns and it does re-route you automatically plus we were in no major rush so no harm done there, it was a bit frustrating though.

All in all, throughly enjoyed driving there

Can relate to everything in your las post!!! Not a sbad as I thought it would be.

Know how you feel about the SAT NAV. I was over there a few weeks ago and ****in satnav warned me when i was sitting on the turn!

They drive really quick over there i was doing 75 - 80 in a 65 all the way from LA to Vegas and getting constantly overtaken. The 2.something Auto Dodge Caliber (bog standard to electric windows/central locking,etc) was pretty sluggish I mean my 1.6 Primera would be quicker

dade

i drive a lot in the us and find it a hell of a lot easier than over here, drivers tend to move over for you and give way etc. but i got nabbed last week in Arizona for doing 88 in a 65. guy gave me a ticket for it but put down 75 on it so shaved US150 off the fine

Biro

eringobragh wrote: »

Can relate to everything in your las post!!! Not a sbad as I thought it would be.

Know how you feel about the SAT NAV. I was over there a few weeks ago and ****in satnav warned me when i was sitting on the turn!

They drive really quick over there i was doing 75 - 80 in a 65 all the way from LA to Vegas and getting constantly overtaken. The 2.something Auto Dodge Caliber (bog standard to electric windows/central locking,etc) was pretty sluggish I mean my 1.6 Primera would be quicker

I think they drive slow over there. 80 is the max I saw, in both Boston and driving from Miami to Orlando. Maybe one or two at 85. Compare that with England. You're doing 90 or 95 in England and there will be plenty of cars who don't so much over take you as leave you for dust!

Biro

dade wrote: »

i drive a lot in the us and find it a hell of a lot easier than over here, drivers tend to move over for you and give way etc. but i got nabbed last week in Arizona for doing 88 in a 65. guy gave me a ticket for it but put down 75 on it so shaved US150 off the fine

I had a Corvette ZHZ for a few days, but was afraid to drive it fast because of the likelyhood of getting nailed for it! Like in your example, you may get someone like your cop who is fair, or you might see jail for doing triple figures.

Heroditas

In Oregon they really do stick to the speed limit! It was painful driving from Portland to San Fran until we crossed the state border and then suddenly everyone sped up quite a bit from 65mph to 75mph. By the time we were hitting San Fran/Oakland the traffic was going at about 85mph.

As for LA ..... utter madness. Everyone booting at 90mph on the freeways. It was great.
The drivers over there are generally courteous and are great at letting people out. Nobody really beeps each other in LA, maybe they're afraid they'll get shot! :eek:
They have an annoying habit of riding the brake over there and hitting it for no particular reason.
San Fran - everyone seems to sit on their horn while driving around. Incredibly annoying.


Neverlost is a right pain in the hole. We left our hotel in San Fran and had to guess our way to the Interstate because the Neverlost wouldn't work until it was free of the surrounding buildings. As others have mentioned, you will have gone by a turn when it alerts you to turn.

Zube

Bond-007 wrote: »

If the police stop you the first things they will ask for are Driving Licence, Registration, and proof of Insurance.

Yes, but do not dive for the glovebox to get them if stopped: wait until the nice policeman tells you to get them, or he may shoot you.

rebel.ranter

Zube wrote: »

Yes, but do not dive for the glovebox to get them if stopped: wait until the nice policeman tells you to get them, or he may shoot you.

Good point! I'm heading this Sunday.

Can't wait, hired an Audi A6 (make/model reservable with Hertz) with Never Lost included. What are the chances that the car will come with built-in Sat Nav? The reason I ask is that I rented a Passat in Spain last year with Never Lost included but the car actually had factory Sat Nav, would prefer it now from what I'm reading above.

Also, got my International Driving license, wish I hadn't bothered now!

TwoShedsJackson

rebel.ranter wrote: »

Good point! I'm heading this Sunday.

Can't wait, hired an Audi A6 (make/model reservable with Hertz) with Never Lost included. What are the chances that the car will come with built-in Sat Nav? The reason I ask is that I rented a Passat in Spain last year with Never Lost included but the car actually had factory Sat Nav, would prefer it now from what I'm reading above.

Also, got my International Driving license, wish I hadn't bothered now!

You won't know for sure until you sit into the car but knowing Hertz and companies like them it'll almost certainly be the NeverLost, which is basically just a rebranded Magellan GPS apparently. On ours it was physically attached to the dashboard and couldn't be removed from the bracket it was in, it's not a windscreen/sucker cup type thing.

This caused me a bit of worry as I was worried the car might be a bit more likely to get broken into and it was an obvious sign the car was a rental (there was no other stickers or anything), but it was fine. We were mostly in rural/small towns though so that might have had something to do with it.

Yeah you don't need the IDL, our Irish licences were fine, it seems you really only need the IDL if your licence isn't in English or doesn't have your photograph on it. But it's only a fiver or whatever so you may as well bring it as extra backup anyway

Our man in Havana

I found the neverlost to be useless in the cities. This time I took my Garmin from home and purchased the US maps. This works out very well as the cost of the maps is less than the cost of using the neverlost.

Rental cars are easily identifiable if you know what you are looking for. Hertz ones have a blue R on the windscreen. Also they have barcodes on the rear passenger doors. There is usually a sticker on the windscreen on the inside saying that the car is self insured. Driving along it was amazing how easily you could spot a rental car.