Renting a car here in the US has become a nightmare.
We rented with budget a couple years ago and they gave us 2 broken cars, charged us too much, and charged us $1,000 in smoking fees. We’ve never smoked cigarettes. We had to dispute it with BBB and our bank to get the money back.
And then there’s a whole thing with Hertz reporting cars stolen even when they’ve been returned.
And I’ve heard nightmare stories from family about enterprise.
We used to do road trips and rented frequently, even did Zipcar a decade ago. I don’t know what’s happened in the past few years but it’s now pretty risky to use a rental company these days.
So yeah…avoid renting a car is what I recommend.
I live in a city with public transportation or I get rides from family (or I just walk).
PhD who lives in the US here, and is desperate to get out—
The cons do not outweigh the benefits, if coming from Europe.
Not even close.
And no, I don’t think anywhere is a utopia so I don’t think Europe is some perfect place.
To address your concerns:
We don’t have a -short- amount of maternity leave here. We have -no- maternity leave here (as a country). You are considered lucky if you have a job that pays that as a benefit and even if so, I think it’s usually through disability and at a paycheck reduction. Some states may vary here. I’ve never had to use it personally but that was how it was explained in company benefits to me.
We don’t have high -crime rates- in the way you might be thinking. I don’t necessarily walk around feeling like I’m gonna be robbed or something like that, and I live in one of the biggest cities here. We have a very specific, unique problem of gun violence. So I am afraid that I will be shot going to the movies, bowling alleys, concerts, and public events. I also don’t know how parents and kids are coping with all the school shootings we have here. And it’s not gangs: it’s political. Crime rate” doesn’t really capture that.
Our health care is, I think, fine…if you have a PhD and work for a university or company then you’ll probably have decent insurance. The problem is health insurance. But if you ever need to use it for anything serious you still risk going into massive medical debt. Insurance here is also unique and they find lovely ways to choose parts of your medical care as exempt from coverage. My favorite was when I needed surgery and insurance didn’t cover the use of the surgical room. We had to pay the full cost and it didn’t even count towards my deductible. How nice! But the surgery went well.
And even with a good employer plan, one of my prescriptions was $350. For eye drops. And we have long wait times for specialists. It’s a really messed up system.
It’s so annoying that people hyper focus on high taxes of other countries. You get something for that. Taxes here aren’t that low and just trying to live a basic existence here puts you in debt.
The cost of school, health insurance, housing, and transportation, and food (which is really expensive here) add up.
Speaking of transportation, You will need to own a car. Even cities are car centric here. Maybe if you live in New York City, you won’t? That’s probably it. Our cars here are gigantic monstrosities, no real small cars here anymore. $20k seems like the new minimum for a decent used car these days.
Hmmm let’s see what else…
If you want to live anywhere decent, we have an affordable housing crisis here. There is also limited inventory in nice places to live.
Climate change has made living in many parts of the country miserable- either on hire, flooding, or too hot.
Public transportation is okay in a few cities, but only in small sections within a city. Our interstate train travel is a joke. If that’s something you’ve enjoyed in Europe you will be so, disappointed.
Ah! And in Europe you have consumer protections that you’ve likely gotten used to. Here, companies don’t have to offer warranties, refunds, or guarantee their products at all.
Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.