Should i BUY a car?

Ok after i earn some money, should i buy a car and then sell it when i leave?, it is gonna make me a much easier the outgoing of commons.. ( Gym , walmart, Clubs, Work, Meet New Places in off-day, etc... ) of course an used and cheap car... Is it Really Worth?

 

i wouldnt bother mate - theres a bus that takes you to work/wal mart etc and if you go to clubs you will have a drink (i assume) so you will have to make your own way home anyway (unless you intend on drink driving .... not cool.)
The only thing a car would be good for is day trips to the beach and stuff - but again there must be public buses or something that you could get???
Its up to you i guess tho!

 

id just rent a car for any long trips and us the buses/taxis for everything else

 

Yeah, renting is key. At the interviews they told us Disney had a bus to take you to the beach. Is that true, or was I mistaken when I heard that?

 

there might be one that takes you on special outings but in the 3 months i was there i never heard of a bus put on by disney to take you to the beach... blizzard beach maybe

 

Keep the following in mind when thinking the bus system is good (I'm driving back for my 2nd program as well).

1. The Wal Mart bus runs at most 6 days a week. 4 days in the evening, 2 days in the morning, and dosn't run on sundays. Also if it's a Florida Mall month, you loose another Wal Mart day. It's tough to get to Wal Mart if your work schedule has you working when the bus runs.

2. If you're going to be spending a lot of time on Disney property, some of those busses are frequent some are not. MK and Epcot run about every 20 min, however at the end of the night, the Epcot bus is PACKED (keep in mind most of us here will work Epcot. Almost all CRs and some CPs). I've been turned away from busses because the drivers don't want to take anyone standing, and I've seen full busses leave behind people. Other buses such as the one to DTD/PI run once an hour, although it seems like they're putting more busses in for the rides home. It's up to you but I found myself bugging co-workers for rides home from Epcot, and trying to find rides to get food. Also don't forget if a bus breaks down they pretty much replace it with a van. Which is really fun if it's the Wal mart bus or the Downtown Disney bus. Lets not even forget that the Magic Kingdom bus has no scheduled stops or pickups from the Commons (have to take a bus to Chatham/Vista or walk to Chatham)

While the busses are generally good, and basically free (if we pay for them it's out of our rent), after my short 5-6 month program, I decided I was done with them and as I said will be driving down for my next program, and I would reccomend if a car is affordable for you, you may definatly want to consider it.

Granted this is my opinion, but honestly the busses aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Oh and I did see signs up for sparodic trips to the beach. You had to pay for those though.

 

a car does make life so much easier but dont forget the expense,
after the rent comes out of your wages you aint left with much at all, only enough for a few groceries and a night out, with all the extra hours you'd HAVE to work to be able to afford to buy a car and keep it running would it really be worth it?
I was only there for 2 months and yeah i got sick of the buses but you just get used to it, you can get pretty much everywhere on public transport anyway.
If your living at the commons then the premium outlets are a 5 min walk away (you can get a lot of normal public transport from there) and Republix (and subway, mcd's walgreens and a few others) are just a 10 min walk away.

If i was taking a lot of money over there with me, id definatly get a car, otherwise not a chance, its just not worth it.

 

get a car man! i had a jeep cheroke, i loved it! although, i could afford to buy it and run it, depends on your budget, but a car means you can go wherever, whenever. the buses are crap.

 

I was there for thirteen months and there was, perhaps, three or four beach trips. The bus would leave housing at about 7:30, drive to Cocoa Beach, and then return around ..... not sure... 5:00? It cost about $10 to go on the trip.

If you decide renting cars will cover the odd day trip, look into getting a credit car with a car insurance option on it!!! Most people didn't bother getting insurance when renting. Having been the passanger in a rental car (minor) accident, I got it. So if you can, get a credit card with that option! you might also be able to find out that will cover you for medical insurance for a short period.

~ Jen

 

I highly recommend buying a car if you will be workign in f&b as you will have the money for it. Alot of people sell their cars at the end of their year in the commons so keep an eye out for posters as you can get a good deal on one. If you drive to florida you will have to change over your plates and registration(rule of pricemanagement) that can cost you quite alot. I drove down knowing that my car would be goign home in just 3 moths and had to fight price management on their rule....somehow a stupid pricemanagement worker didnt know the difference between the registration and gave me a parking decal.( i wasnt about to change the ownership from my parents name to mine if i did it would = higher inurance and about $3000-4000 to change registration (taxes for importing)

If you rent , which is a great idea! make sure you rent with Budget at Double Tree by DTD, they rent to under 25 years old, the canadians at 19-20 could rent as well with no underage rate added. Daily rate was $30. and for a week it was $150. and budget will pick you up at the commons and drop you off at the commons when you return the car. When i was there we drove around Mustang Convertibles, and wicked SUV's.

 

hell yeah! i go for the Convertible Option!! i will get the money for rent, the convertible, i just need the GIRL!! lol!

 

I didn't have a car when I was doing the program and I didn't really miss it. Buses take you everywhere you need to go and you can go to WalMart on your days off ( since it usually is a day trip lol ) and buy loads of stuff. If you do end up needing anything else before the next trip you can get it at Walgreens or Publix. If you want to go to the beach you can rent a car or get together with a friend that has a car. I don't think it's worth it to have a car there, but it's everyone's own choice. I lived in Fort Lauderdale the last year and a half and there I really needed a car. Although it was running alright for the first year I still had a lot of problems with it and the insurance is very expensive, too. I knew two other friends with cars who also had problems all the time. If you understand a lot about cars ( unlike me lol ) and have the money you should go for it, if you work in merch ( like I did ) and are clueless about cars don't get one, you won't need it that much.

Julia

 

I think no car is a good option, think of all the crap you're gonna eat, walking around a bit wouldn't hurt,lol, although i do think a car would be a good option for shopping etc, but tbh you can get cheap rentals, like others above have mentioned, i know cars over there are considerably cheaper than they are over here!

 

Definitely! Like I said you don't really need one. You will have more luxury when you got one, but it's not essential. I rather spent the money on other things....there is not much to do around Orlando and if you do have some days off rent a car with friends and split the cost, it's really not that bad. And with all the social activities in the Commons you won't have much time to drive around lol

Julia

 

Yeah how much is car rental, like $40-50 bucks a day very most? I think if i'm that bothered i'll grab a friend with a car, but i don't think its financially beneficial to buy a car over there, i never saw that many around the commons truth be told!

 

Yeah it's usually between $25 and $40 a day and then comes the insurance on top of it. There are some cheap places to rent from though, some even had discounts for Disney employees back in the day. You should ask your fellow CM's once you are out there. I rented a car a couple of times with some friends so it's no big deal. Just make sure you bring a credit card!

Julia

 

Yeah i've had cars rented through CM friends before and they've always been pretty cheap, got some good deals, i wanna go for a convertible next time i rent Did have the credit card problem, i had the entire $600 in cash but they wanted a cc obviously in case of problems, so i've learnt my lesson!

 

I didn't bring a cc when I lived in Florida now since I had a full time job there and thought I would just get a cc once I am there but unfortunately it turned out to be a huge problem because I didn't have any history with the bank there. I was soooo mad! Living in the States without a cc is definitely not a good idea!

Julia

 

When I went to Orlando for the week last week I rented with Thrifty - as a CM (I blagged it ) they give you an enormous discount, especially if you are under 25 as underage driver (and additional driver) fees are waived, which will save you $25 a day.

BUT - it's good value but not cheap. The base price for our Economy rental (a Dodge Caliber, was wicked ) was $130 but once they added on basic insurance and sales tax it came to $366 That isn't a lot for a rental car but it's a lot of money for a student!! So I would say OK for one off trips (e.g. to Miami or the Keys) but it gets pricey if you do it regularly.

My experience was - the buses were good for anything Disney but if you wanted to go ANYwhere else (and I'm including Wal-Mart in this) you either need a car or somebody with a car. I got 100s of lifts with my American friends I lived in the same building with in Vista.

I just applied to do the 6-month ICP-Academic (eeeek!) and if I get on it I will seriously consider selling my car in the UK and getting an old banger to drive around with in Florida. But that's just me

 

You can avoid the insurance when i asked, but i guess its still worth taking it out. I've always found tax addons to be a bit of a bitch tbh, ppl think the us is cheap but taxes not included do have to be taken into account!

What kinda prices can you get a reasonable runaround for these days over there?