V-Flyer

It's a fair while since I've both (a) hired a car in the US and (b) had an iPod about my person so if anyone out there with experience could answer the following questions I'd be grateful..

1. Do US hire cars still come with the "cigarette lighter" style 12v sockets?

2. If I take an IPod in car charging cable that works in the UK will it also work in the US?

Thanks in advance

Paul

The answer to both questions in my experience, Paul is Yes!

I bought a double charging unit from John lewis - it has two USB leads from the cigarette lighter plug - one for TomTom satnav and the the other for iPhone / iPod - it working fine in the US on my last few visits.

Nick

Nick

Thanks. That reminds me, need to decide what to do about SatNav...it all looks straightforward, but I am still scarred from one trip driving round and round San Francisco unable to find the correct address....

Paul

I bought an in car charger last year for when driving in the US - it was a life saver and worked no problems in our hire car.

Yes, most hire cars seem to have the 12volt ciggy lighter socket still.

Have to say, on a recent trip to Chicago, my TomTom was brilliant - it got me door to door from city centre in Chicago to the correct address in Detroit (mind you it didn't remind me I was going to cross a time-zone on the journey so my 1hr padding for comfort breaks got me there by the skin of my teeth!)

Navigating several of the interstate freeway interchanges would have been IMPOSSIBLE on my own without the sat-nav. And getting back to Chicago city centre later that evening was a doddle again for the same reason. Don't leave home without it!!!

Only been in a car once with a satnav in SF, and it was a bit of a joke. I was told to not give directions as they could figure it out, until they relented

Having said that, SF is easy enough to navigate without a satnav, even if it might have occasional issues in the city, and it will likely be very useful in other places. Wouldn't hire one from the rental companies, though, not worth the price IMO. YMMV

Most decent cars now do indeed have at least the charger/Aux socket combo - have had for a while. Some even come with a USB port and will display info from your iPod/iPhone on the onboard audio system - just shuffle away