Cheapest Move ?

[Kent McLean]

Scott Hinckley wrote:
> At 04:37 PM 4/22/2004, Kent McLean wrote:
>  >drive - it's way cheaper than flying.
> 
> It's only cheaper if you have to ship your car rather than replace it.
> 
> Typical cross country move, say NY to Seattle is about 3000 miles. 
> Figuring gas, wear& tear, insurance, etc at a VERY conservative $0.20/mi 
> (IRS uses $0.35/mi) that would be $600 ($1050 at IRS rates). Now, even 
> driving long hours it is likely to take you at least 4 days to get here, 
> so 3 over-night stops. Assuming you can eat on only $20/day and stay for 
> only $15/night (don't know where you will find a campground that cheap) 
> that is an additional $125, so now we are up to $725, probably more 
> realistically you'll end up at nearly $1000. If anything goes wrong on 
> the way it will up that cost.
> All that is without even counting any value in your time for the 4 days 
> you spent driving.
> 
> A one-way advance-booked flight for that same trip (Just looked it up on 
> Alaska Airline's site) can be had for $230.
> 
> All that said, I'll take the drive every time if I can afford to take 2+ 
> weeks to do it.

She's going to Flagstaff. Travelocity 1-way from NYC ranges from $363
to $924.

Driving: 3000 miles / 20 mpg * $1.75/gal = $262.
Oil change: $30
tires, insurance, w&t: 	sunk cost. They're already paid for,
	even if she doesn't drive the car.
depreciation: it's a 10 year old car -- it can't depreciate any
	more. :-)
Meals:  unless you don't eat for 4 days after you arrive by plane,
	meals shouldn't be a factor.
hotel: 	camping is cheap. Wal-Mart lets RVers park overnight for
	free; pitch your tent there. And I bet if she asked the
	list, people would step forward and offer to put her up.
time value: again, depends on what you do with the 4 days you saved.
	If you fly, then do nothing for 4 days, it's a wash. If you
	work those 4 days, well, I'd rather be driving across country
	than working. Heck, keep a journal of your cross country trip
	and sell it to a travel magazine -- you'll make money.

Yeah, the IRS allows $0.35/mile. It's an allowance. Lots of people
make money driving older cars because of it. People driving new
luxury cars lose money.

Your flying calculation leaves out how you get to/from the airport.
If you have friends at both ends of the trip, it's free (but you
owe them a favor). Or it could be $100 in cab rides, depending on
how far you live from the airport.

Oh, and the wild card: if she travels with her boyfriend,
airfare doubles; car expenses don't.

If someone gave me $300 to get across country, I could probably
do it in a car. I'm not convinced I could do it in a plane.

Out of curiosity, I checked fares from www.greyhond.com. $109 !!
7-day advance ticket NYC to Flagstaff. Wow! That's *dirt* cheap.

Kent