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It's a warm, summer afternoon and the sky is wearing its favorite shade of blue. You're nestled in the driver's seat of a new car, one hand on the wheel and the other tapping in time to your favorite CD. The breeze drifts in through the open sunroof and tickles your skin, making you squint with pleasure from behind your sunglasses. City congestion and pollution could not be further from your mind; today, nothing exists but you, the highway and the distant horizon. The car gracefully hugs each curve in the road as you wind your way through pine forests, desert canyons or open grasslands on your way to .… well, you fill in the blank.

Whatever corner of North America you're heading to, there are many advantages to traveling by highway rather than skyway. There's nothing quite like the open road, and let's face it, you can only see so much scenery from 30,000 feet. With over 3.5 million square miles of diverse terrain in the U.S. alone, there are countless treasures that you'll never see unless you drive to them. Even bus or train travel limits your exposure to the many sites you pass en route to your final destination.

But what if you don't have a car, or don't want to add excess mileage to your car? What if you only want to drive one-way and don't want to pay the high cost of a rental? There is only one answer: drive a stranger's car for free. Sound like something your mother wouldn't approve of? Fear not, there's nothing illegal involved.

Most major U.S. and Canadian cities are serviced by one or more "drive-away" companies that make it their business to match up drivers with cars. The drivers are looking for transportation between two points and the vehicle owners need their vehicle transported between those same two points. The vehicles, which are typically late-model automatics, need to be moved due to corporate or seasonal relocations, military transfers or something similar. The owners either don't want to drive or don't have the time, and having the car driven by a stranger is substantially less expensive than shipping it.

How It Works

Drive-away companies make their money by charging a service fee to the vehicle owners, so there is usually no fee charged to drivers. That means that in return for delivering the vehicle, the driver gets free transportation. You simply provide a cash deposit (around $300 U.S.), which will be refunded once you deliver the car in good condition at the scheduled destination. Further, provided you deal with a reputable company, the vehicle is fully insured at little or no expense to you. Thus, your only expenses are fuel and incidentals along the way, which can be shared if you make the trip with a friend. Most companies even offer the first tank of gasoline for free or provide a fuel allowance.

You and the company agree on the route and mileage allowance ahead of time, and you are expected to deliver the car to its owner by the date specified in your agreement. There are penalties and possible insurance consequences if you stray from the agreement. However, it is expected that you will want to do some sightseeing along the way, and the system is designed to allow that kind of flexibility.

To travel from New York to Seattle, for example, you would likely take the I-80 to Cleveland and then transfer to the I-90. The total direct driving distance is approximately 2,900 miles. En route, you drive through some beautiful and diverse landscapes, and you can easily make diversions to places like Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park, and Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho. You can stop for an evening of blues in Chicago, watch the sun set over the magnificent Mississippi River and visit the 1,500 buffaloes that inhabit South Dakota's Custer State Park. The trip, including sightseeing, can be done very comfortably in about seven or eight days.

Perhaps you've always wanted to travel Route 66 or drive to the Canadian Rockies. Maybe this autumn you'd like to escape the northern chill and head to Miami Beach, checking out how the temperature and landscape change during a drive south along the East Coast highways. With all the snowbirds that split their time between permanent homes in the north and seasonal homes in the south, many vehicles need to be moved each year, particularly between Florida and the northeastern states or eastern Canada.

All of these are popular, long-distance road trips that many people only want to undertake in one direction. Using a drive-away car as your mode of transportation not only saves you hundreds of dollars in rental car fees, it gives you the flexibility of flying in one direction so you can see the country and save time. Now that many North American airlines are offering discounts on one-way travel, you are no longer tied to those exorbitant full fare tickets.

Apart from your suitcase and a pair of sunglasses, all you need to get on the road is a valid driver's license (you must be at least 21), a good driving record, a road map and perhaps a guidebook to direct you to the sights along the way. Joining an Auto Club before you leave is always a good idea, too.

With a little ingenuity and a healthy dose of spontaneity, you can make almost any North American road trip possible. And you won't be the only one behind the wheel of a stranger's car. In 2000 alone, Auto Driveaway Co.—one of the largest drive-away service providers—helped more than 30,000 North American travelers get behind the wheel and drive-away into the sunset.

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-Updated 05-12-01-

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