Ultimately ofcourse its a personal choice but a collective headsup would be cheerfully accepted..

I have a "12 Fit, its got 36K original miles, in good shape in and out... the thing is i know Fits normally cost between $1500-2000 more in California, maybe more for such low miles without salvage title..anyway i was thinking of shipping it from NY to CA at a cost of between $1,200-1,500 (truck transport ofrourse & depending on which "season" it is). I know there is the extra burden of getting it smogged/licensed for California..i am just now delving into it so hopefully someone with such experience can weigh in or/and others with any tried and tested tips.

The reason why i am contemplating this is because i may end up spending the same amount (with transport cost/smog/license etc) if i were to sell the Fit in NY and look for another Fit in Cali.

till soon
zero2hero
PS No i really dont want to consider driving cross-country, its not exactly a luxury car to be driven across the country IMO.

 

Maybe, any rust? California Fits won't have any! You'll need to smog it in California and get a VIN inspection at the DMV to get it registered. It's probably worth it if you intend to keep the car many years (10+).

 

Have to recuse myself from offering any advice....
Because personally I love a road trip.

 

X2. AND if you decide you'd like a newer model/California version with all the emissions crap that it requires, sell or trade it in.

 

IMO, it is worth it to hold on to your car. Low mileage is a definite plus, but the big part is that you know your car's maintenance history. That alone would give me peace of mind to either ship or drive the car across country. Perhaps a sight-seeing road trip with friends/family would ease the traveling blues?

I do not know what is required to legally transfer the car from NY to CA - I imagine there are some sort of smog-hurdles to jump through. You could check beforehand at dmv.ca.gov.

 

Thanks for the swift replies guys - I know for a fact that in Cali (bay area to be specific) Honda Fit's cost about $2000+ more for the same model/year, than it would in NY.

re: potential emissions issues, DMV site says i am to look for "manufacturer's Certificate of Origin (MCO) and the emissions label under the hood ", anyone know where exactly this is located in a Fit ?

Another reason i am tempted to ship the car is that some movers will allow you to stuff your back trunk with your some of our personal effects, which will reduce our checked luggage cost - obviously relocating means a lot of luggage (8-9 large suitcases in our case) which if we opted to drive cross-country, we could never fit in a FIT..plus how much would you really save anyway when you consider the cost of petrol/lodgings/food/ and the unforseen repair cost, then also have to pay to get our luggage shipped to CA. If we didnt have the baggage i would've made a run for it.

One other thing, anyone know where i can get that thin film of material (plastic i assume) that you see covering the hoods of cars on those transport trucks? They would usually put this material on the hoods of new cars, to protect them from sun damage..granted summer is over but it could prove useful especially if it is cheap enough.

 

No clue re: the MCO, but the emissions label is literally on the underside of the hood, next to where the air scoop resides.


I would order some of that protective film from eBay/Amazon. They have everything!

 

marmaladedad- What is it called ?

 

I have not used any specific product. It was more of a generalized guess that it can be found. Something akin to this:

 

I'm not sure if prices have increase over the last 3 years, but I found the cost to ship a car to be $1000 from DC to San Diego. Maybe if you are headed to or coming from a rural area they charge more? Mine was easy freeway access to easy freeway access. Anyway, I agree with the comment about snow. It sure is nice to own a car that has NOT been subjected to road salt and muck getting into every orifice of your car. Fits are easy to find here in California if that is what you want to stick with. This also offers an opportunity to switch to some other car/ small SUV depending on your needs. Seeing you have a 2012 with low miles, I'd keep it. In the end, I drove my car across country, staying at hotels for 4 nights. It guaranteed that I had my essentials with me in the back of my car so I didn't have to worry about waiting for the delivery folks to get my work clothes to me on time. I thought $1000 was highway robbery frankly, so if the price has gone up to $1500, I'll be driving them again on my next cross country move. Probably the cheapest way is to rent the smallest u-haul and tow your car. Having done the drive once and found it to be torture, I didn't want to add to the pain by worrying about stopping for gas and wondering how I was going to maneuver in/out of tight spaces each time I got off the road. Good luck with your decision. I know how you feel right now.

 

towing via Uhaul means its a one way trip, and one way trips with different state drop-offs of Uhaul trucks CANNOT be cheap..i'm in the heart of NYC not in the sticks, summer hauling is the most expensive, i was told after-summer hauling rates will be less than $1,500. My Fit has no salt issues, no rust. At this point my main concern is if i decide to keep the car and pay the cost of transport/smog requirements if any Vs selling it and hunting another Fit in the bay area. If i can figure out the emissions requirements i can then figure out if it is worth it $$wise in the end. So what i really need to find out is how much i will incur to make it California compliant.

 

marmaladedad - thanks for the effort but i dont believe its that material you suggested. i'll keep googling in the meantime..

 

Did you buy the Fit new and maintain it well? If so, keep it! Hard to find good clean ones used. Most are trashed and many aren't that well maintained.

Exception would be if you want to change to a totally different car. Then it makes sense to sell it and change once moved. If staying in the Fit family and your's is a good one, keep it.

 

Bought the Fit from the original owner. She was an older lady who did all maintenance at the dealership, so yea i would say it has a history of good maintanance..with such low miles though, there's basically no major work done to it, and she provided me with all the records/manuals etc. Indeed i do want to stick with a Fit for the foreseeable future..and even if i buy a second car down the line, i'd wanna keep a Fit on stand-by.

 

Well then the price of shipping a car, especially where pickup is easy (ie: city to city) has gone up in the past 3 years. I can only assume you got 5 quotes from the various companies out there. Driving a Uhaul and towing your car is very much the cheapest way to go, no matter what season it is. Having your belongings moved via a POD service (assuming you have belongings) and paying the $1500 for your car is much more expensive. As for CA compliant: $30 with a coupon for the smog check (everybody has a coupon since it is a total scam) and roughly $200 to get the sticker for your license plate. Insurance in CA is a rip off, but being from the tri state area myself, I'm sure the difference for you will be negligible. Anything else?

GAFIT: +1

 

Burntz - thanks for weighing in..i'll report back with (hopefully)revised trucking cost(s) i'm hoping it'll drop to around $1,200 but being that its NY, i wont hold my breath over it.

 

GAFIT - Especially hard in Cali. You wont find a Fit (atleast in bay area when i was looking a couple years ago) below 75K miles, and when it was lower miles, it was almost always accompanied with a salvage title. Long story short, i paid 7.5K for my Fit and it had 30K miles when i got it couple years ago - no way you could easily find that deal in the bay area, then or now IMO.

PS yea you noticed..i hardly drive it, how could you in this zoo!! roads (and drivers) are treacherous at best. At any rate, after a while you get tired of dodging the never-ending potholes..

So its back to the basics with the subway for most of my excursions.

 

still cant find what the heck they call this material truckers (or dealers) use to protect the hoods of new cars..someone's bound to know the trade name sooner or later so i am posting a photo for reference here...oops! forgot to resize,sorry for the monster photo folks.

 

The film just looks like vynil. As for the trek across country, i like the uhaul idea. Then you'd be in a large truck cabin, with your stuff in back and your fit in tow. make a week of it to see the sights.

 

https://www.calcarcover.com/product/...tion-film/1218

No experience with the product, but I believe that is what you are looking for.