<p>Hey Guys, </p>
<p>I'm a current freshman from California. I would really like to have a car at Duke at some point. I was wondering what people do with their cars who are from far away over long breaks like summer and winter. I really don't want to have to drive between California and North Carolina more than once. Is there some place you can pay for parking that's secure and not super expensive or something? Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m afraid there is no designated lot or parking service that I know of to take care of cars other than perhaps the airport (which works fine over winter break, but not so well over summer). Most people I know have friends or family in the area that will watch over a caror they live within a few hours drive. I’d consider whether you’d find it worth it to bring it to bring a car all the way from California especially as a freshman. While cars are helpful, they are not necessary to get around. </p>
<p>I’m from the West coast a well, and I’m not planning to have a car on campus until my senior year. Some seniors buy a car in Durham, use it for the year, and then drive it to wherever they move to after graduation. Also most seniors live off-campus in apartments, where they can just leave the car at the apartment.</p>
<p>I second what Chie said about not bringing a car until your senior year. None of my west coast friends brought cars until their senior year just because it was such a hassle to when summer rolled around. Everything you need is pretty much on campus, and you’ll certainly have friends with cars who will take you to Target/the mall/the airport when breaks roll around, but, like I said, you never really NEED to get further than walking distance off campus. You can walk to Brightleaf Square/Ninth Street if you want to go out to dinner (I always enjoyed studying at Madhatters and Francescas on Broad Street/Ninth Street for a change of scenery), you can walk to Whole Foods, etc etc. Plus Duke also has Zip Cars, so if you REALLY need to get somewhere and can’t find a friend available, you can rent one of those for an hour or so.</p>
<p>That said, I understand the desire to want a car on campus. I had one for 3 years and if anything it was convenient, but for the most part, just for getting home when breaks rolled around (since I lived in NC). If you have a trustworthy friend, you could leave it when them (I’ve done this before, and my car was returned to me in one piece:)). Also, it’s worth mentioning that your Blue Zone pass (when you live on West Campus) doesn’t expire until August, BUT the problem lies in that you never know when you have to “remove you car from the Blue Zone” for events that might occur at Duke over the summer, so you probably wouldn’t want to leave your car there unattended all summer because there’s a chance it might get towed and you’d never know. You can definitely leave your car on campus over Winter Break, and most of my friends from places like Florida/the Northeast would do this.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, I agree with Chie in that you might want to think about not bringing a car at all…because it might turn out to be more of a hassle than its worth.</p>
<p>One of my good friends (from montana) brought his car his freshman year.
What he did over the summer was instead of getting a storage unit, he piled all his stuff in his car and then paid to store it over the summer (monthly fee) at a storage unit place.</p>
<p>I know I’ve wanted a car, but I get by without one, mostly because other people are kind enough to let me use theirs. So mind you if you do have a car you will be asked to have it borrowed, but if you don’t you will more than likely ask the same question to some one with a car. Its all a matter of convenience, like loveduke said.</p>
<p>My son’s friends from Chicago, Michigan, California…no car till junior/senior years. They all got an apt senior year off campus…not uncommon in the final year. </p>
<p>There really is no need for a car till you are employed in the summers and employment is seldom in Durham. You will be busy deciding if you need transportation in places you are interning…that is the real question.</p>
<p>Seconding Faline’s post. Our son did not take his car until senior year…for many reasons. Yes, somethings would have been easier with a car, but his friends were really great about including him in grocery runs and the like. Then, when he had a car senior year, he was able to return the favor and help his friends who didn’t have cars. It worked out just fine.</p>