I'm flying into Salt Lake City on 2nd August for a 4 month climbing/road trip. Will have about $2000 to buy a vehicle. What could I expect to get for my money? Should I buy private or from a dealer? Do I need to register the vehicle? How? What about insurance? Any advice welcome. It's really difficult to get this sort of info in the UK.

-- Marc Bellingall (heanorgate@rmplc.co.uk), March 16, 1999

Answers

I live in salt lake city, and am sure that you would have no problem finding a beater for under 2 G. Definately insure the thing (no one likes an uninsured driver), registration, well, that is up to you. It will need plates, or temp plates. As far as dealer or private, that is up to you. If you want the numbers of some used car dealers in town I can hook you up with that, just post a request under this question and I will send it to you (sometimes my -mail is not so reliable). For two grand you can probably get a pretyty descent vehicle. depending on what you want. Toyota minivan, Subaru wagon? All are feasible, probably all with high miles though. Roads are long and straight in Utah. Anyway, where are you going climbing? Utah is hot as hell in August, and if you were thinking of doing desert routes/towers you may want to reconsider. Utah is Africa hot then. Anyway hope this helps, post another mail if you have specific questions. Cheers!

FEELIO

-- Feelio Babar (Circleheadsarebomber@hotmail.com), March 16, 1999.

Feelio, Thanks for the information. We're heading up to City of Rocks once we have vehicle and I'd like to visit Devils Towerin August too. I know it's pretty hot but we're trying to cram alot into 4 months. Aiming for the valley in October and would like to visit Zion and maybe some desert towers too. Who knows what will happen once we're on the road. I've only been to the States once before; Toulumne, Needles, Tahoe, Owens River so there's plenty of fine routes left to climb. We're probarbly looking for a small van so if you have any info on dealers or where to find private ads that would be great. Also do you know if we can register a vehicle without an address? Thanks for the help, Marc Bellingall

-- Marc Bellingall (heanorgate@rmplc.co.uk), March 24, 1999.