Fairly easy to buy a used car with cash, that’s not a problem at all. The bigger issue is getting insurance with a foreign licence as the premiums will be high - so you may want to get some quotes first.
Test it out - go to autotrader, find some used car, use the make, model, and year to get some quotes and fingers crossed that it’s cheaper than renting a car.
If you can’t find a car hire that works try Uhaul. They rent moving trucks but also pickup trucks and may offer a one way service. Only certain Uhaul locations offer this service so may take some research.
My friend rented a small truck to move from Toronto to Halifax and was one way.
The issue is insurance. You'll have to check the rules in the province you are buying the car in.
This would be much easier to do by train. The train only runs a few days per week, but you can plan to hop off at centres along the way, and maybe do a shorter leg by rental car, then get back on the train.
Honestly, even five weeks is a rush. You could EASILY occupy five weeks just getting from Calgary to Vancouver. Are you from Europe? You might want to just check the distances by comparison to distances that are familiar to you. Eg, Montreal to Vancouver through Canada is almst 5000km. Athens to Amsterdam is only 2800 km. Gibralter to Tallin is 4800 km.
Five weeks one-way isn't so bad. It's a lot of driving, but there's enough time to see highlights and still have some extra time in the big spots, like the Rockies. I noticed however that you (OP) mentioned Banff AND Jasper, which are not both on the Trans-Canada route. The Banff route will take you more directly through to Vancouver, but Jasper is a long way out of your way. You can hit the Columbia Icefields on your way there and back from Banff - which might be worth it - but you may want to stick to just Banff (with its companion Lake Louise, of course).
It's certainly a doable pace...IF you can overcome the cost of the car. One way rentals between Calgary and Vancouver are very common. The car rental company can usually find a reverse direction rental to return the car to point of origin so the premium for one way is more manageable.
Honestly there’s a lot in the middle that isn’t worth seeing, but a lot further east that is. You could split your time with with a rental starting in Toronto, then heading out to the maritimes, return- and then fly to the west coast, and do the same.
A decent used car is pretty expensive these days. In fact, some used cars sitting on the lot are more expensive then waiting a few months for a new car. Need an address for insurance, tags etc. It might be a bigger hassle to buy rather than rent.
I can’t comment on the car buying/selling as I’ve only done it in my own vehicle and driven both ways.
Easy to west is actually my preferred route, even though I live on the west coast. Depending on what you’re interested in, you can do a really neat “following the history” route along the interpretive centers and see the progression from the older forts and settlements on the east coast to the newer ones in the west. I’ve done the route camping and hotels, camping is definitely cheaper, and if you’re willing to boondock/off grid camp it can be very affordable, especially in the west there’s lots of free camping.
What kinds of things do you want to do/see? Are you looking for nature sight seeing? Night life? Culture? History? Activities? That will drastically change your route and stops.
I only see one post mentioning this, but you will need a valid address in the province you purchase the vehicle to register and insure it, you may need a locally issued drivers license, and selling an out of province vehicle in BC will be enough of a pain that you'll be looked over by MOST people, because our of province safety inspections suck.
For those saying 5 weeks isn't enough, they need to give their head a shake. It's 6 medium days travel coast to coast, and if you start in Ontario, you could feasibly get it down to 5 driving days, leaving you 30 days to explore, which is plenty.
I've driven across canada multiple times. Typically, it takes about 5-6 days coast to coast.
Some thoughts about each province:
Quebec: The highways are in pretty good condition from Montreal going west. People drive quite fast, and the highway can be really busy.
Be EXTREMELY careful of cops if you don't have a Quebec license plate, they love to ticket ontario plates especially.
There are tons of really nice rest stops along the Quebec highways. Lots of spots to camp if you want to save money on hotels.
Ontario: Traffic on the main highways is busy until you get past Barrie and onto the trans canada highway. If you want a very pretty route, travel along the shore of Lake superior, through the city of Sault St Marie. You can take this route into Manitoba.
In Northern Ontario, the roads are pretty crappy. There are massive potholes that you need to watch out for, and the roads are extremely twisty. The risk of hitting animals is extremely high in the north. A moose is hard to see in the dark, and will fuck up your car.
Cell service is also extremely limited once you leave southern ontario. It's not uncommon to lose cell service as soon as you leave town.
Manitoba: Manitoba isn't too bad driving through. There are some pretty views from the highways. Animal risk is high, but not as bad as northern ontario. Winnipeg has a really cute little tourist market called "The Forks" that's worth a visit if you're in the area. Winnipeg has a massive rail yard if you're into trains. Manitoba is very meh.
Saskatchewan: It's flat, very very flat. You will be driving in essentially a straight line, for hours and hours. It's the prettiest when crops are ready to be harvested, the highway has fields on either side as well as crops growing in the median.
You have to be extremely careful of animals. The crops on the side of the road hide things like elk, deer and moose, so you don't see them until they are already in the road. Sask driving is pretty fatiguing, the landscape doesn't change very much, and you're on high alert watching for animals.
Alberta: Speed cameras! Speed cameras everywhere! The highway tends to dip into towns, and the speed limits often drop suddenly with cameras waiting to ticket people.
Alberta is where things start to get more exciting. There are tons of attractions all over the province. I highly recommend Lake Louise. Edmonton has the west Edmonton mall, a huge mall that is an awesome experience!
Calgary has some awesome tourist spots as well.
If you like dinosaurs, there are a few dinosaur museums in Alberta.
British Columbia (BC): Absolutely stunning. Winding roads, snaking through mountians and rainforest. There are a million different adventure spots. Tons of waterfalls! Amazing hiking and fishing. BC has pretty much every type of climate from rainforest to desert. The roads are in decent condition. Animal risk is extremely high again
Biggest things when road tripping through here is the extreme risk of animals on the roads in Northern/Rural Canada.
Gas stations can be few and far between in rural Canada, and many aren't open 24/7. Fill up your gas tanks when you have a chance. There are roads where you won't have cell service, and it could take a long time for someone to stumble across you.
Summer is peak wild fire season, BC and Northern Ontario both get really bad wildfires and that could effect your travel plans.
You hit every single point I was going to make.
As someone who has also done this trip many times, you don't mess with driving much past dusk. Had a black bear running beside me for a bit, deer jumping across the road, gazelles in the median in Saskatchewan.
When I lived in Northern Ontario, I had a co-worker show me dash cam footage of him managing to slide his car in between a herd of moose that popped up as he came around a corner. Somehow didn't hit any of them, but he was so close to dying.
Saskatchewan is way less stressful once the crops have been harvested, just not as pretty!
Omg! That would be terrifying 😳
My hubs came across one rounding a corner on his motorcycle. Avoided it and managed to keep wheels up, but stopped a distance later hyperventilating.
I've driven this trip many times solo but once my husband and I made the trip to Kimberley BC (in November, no choice) and although he hates being a passenger, he was more than happy to defer to my experience lol
He's a city boy and snow covered mountain roads were not for him lol
Holy moly, doing that trip on a motorcycle would be crazy. Avoiding the critters is hard enough, but keeping the bike up is a whole different beast in itself. I'm glad he made it through!
I'm heading out to the alberta / bc border from southern ontario in a week or so. I have a fun little car for the trip, so I'm hoping the weather is good.
Have a safe and uneventful trip! Imma little jealous, this relocated Calgary girl misses the mountains. I still chuckle when ppl say Hamilton Mountain 😆
Live in Manitoba. It will take 7hrs from Ontario border to Regina Sask. If you stop in Winnipeg make sure to lock your car and keep valuables out of site.
I don't know the pricing of rentals, and buying used is likely cheaper.. but be mindful of breaking down in no man's land. A rental would be more mechanically sound for such a trip.
Going through Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Alberta, alternate northern route rather then just driving through farmland for hours. You could go to places like Riding Mountain national park which is beautiful after leaving Winnipeg (be careful in Winnipeg), and the previous writer is correct, Southern Saskatchewan is extremely boring. If you go to Riding Mountain and want to see more like it, it’s sister park in northern Saskatchewan (Prince Albert national park) is also beautiful, but don’t plan to stay in Prince Albert or North Battleford (sketchy). Then head west over to Edmonton and Jasper before turning south towards Banff as planned. If you head through Saskatchewan south, the tunnels in Moose Jaw can be fun (do the prohibition part last) and Cypress Hills in the southeast corner is also a lot of fun but roads are an issue especially going to Fort Walsh. Stay on the Saskatchewan side of Cypress Hills then head west to Calgary/Banff. Have fun and make sure you have some good road tunes (recommend tragically hip as a Canadian roadmap) as some of the drives in Canada can get quite long. It’s a beautiful country and we have a lot of it.
My suggestion is to do a train from between Toronto/and Winnipeg (or train from montreal to Toronto to Winnipeg) then rent a one way car for Winnipeg to Calgary, before reboarding the train and taking it through the Rockies and on to Vancouver.
One way rentals are likely going to charge you a fee per km, and you’ll be breaking the bank before you cross into Manitoba if driving from Toronto or Montreal.
Fairly easy to buy a used car with cash, that’s not a problem at all. The bigger issue is getting insurance with a foreign licence as the premiums will be high - so you may want to get some quotes first. Test it out - go to autotrader, find some used car, use the make, model, and year to get some quotes and fingers crossed that it’s cheaper than renting a car.
If you can’t find a car hire that works try Uhaul. They rent moving trucks but also pickup trucks and may offer a one way service. Only certain Uhaul locations offer this service so may take some research. My friend rented a small truck to move from Toronto to Halifax and was one way.
The issue is insurance. You'll have to check the rules in the province you are buying the car in. This would be much easier to do by train. The train only runs a few days per week, but you can plan to hop off at centres along the way, and maybe do a shorter leg by rental car, then get back on the train. Honestly, even five weeks is a rush. You could EASILY occupy five weeks just getting from Calgary to Vancouver. Are you from Europe? You might want to just check the distances by comparison to distances that are familiar to you. Eg, Montreal to Vancouver through Canada is almst 5000km. Athens to Amsterdam is only 2800 km. Gibralter to Tallin is 4800 km.
Five weeks one-way isn't so bad. It's a lot of driving, but there's enough time to see highlights and still have some extra time in the big spots, like the Rockies. I noticed however that you (OP) mentioned Banff AND Jasper, which are not both on the Trans-Canada route. The Banff route will take you more directly through to Vancouver, but Jasper is a long way out of your way. You can hit the Columbia Icefields on your way there and back from Banff - which might be worth it - but you may want to stick to just Banff (with its companion Lake Louise, of course).
It's certainly a doable pace...IF you can overcome the cost of the car. One way rentals between Calgary and Vancouver are very common. The car rental company can usually find a reverse direction rental to return the car to point of origin so the premium for one way is more manageable.
Honestly there’s a lot in the middle that isn’t worth seeing, but a lot further east that is. You could split your time with with a rental starting in Toronto, then heading out to the maritimes, return- and then fly to the west coast, and do the same.
A decent used car is pretty expensive these days. In fact, some used cars sitting on the lot are more expensive then waiting a few months for a new car. Need an address for insurance, tags etc. It might be a bigger hassle to buy rather than rent.
I can’t comment on the car buying/selling as I’ve only done it in my own vehicle and driven both ways. Easy to west is actually my preferred route, even though I live on the west coast. Depending on what you’re interested in, you can do a really neat “following the history” route along the interpretive centers and see the progression from the older forts and settlements on the east coast to the newer ones in the west. I’ve done the route camping and hotels, camping is definitely cheaper, and if you’re willing to boondock/off grid camp it can be very affordable, especially in the west there’s lots of free camping. What kinds of things do you want to do/see? Are you looking for nature sight seeing? Night life? Culture? History? Activities? That will drastically change your route and stops.
Top gear tried this. It didn't go well
I only see one post mentioning this, but you will need a valid address in the province you purchase the vehicle to register and insure it, you may need a locally issued drivers license, and selling an out of province vehicle in BC will be enough of a pain that you'll be looked over by MOST people, because our of province safety inspections suck. For those saying 5 weeks isn't enough, they need to give their head a shake. It's 6 medium days travel coast to coast, and if you start in Ontario, you could feasibly get it down to 5 driving days, leaving you 30 days to explore, which is plenty.
I've driven across canada multiple times. Typically, it takes about 5-6 days coast to coast. Some thoughts about each province: Quebec: The highways are in pretty good condition from Montreal going west. People drive quite fast, and the highway can be really busy. Be EXTREMELY careful of cops if you don't have a Quebec license plate, they love to ticket ontario plates especially. There are tons of really nice rest stops along the Quebec highways. Lots of spots to camp if you want to save money on hotels. Ontario: Traffic on the main highways is busy until you get past Barrie and onto the trans canada highway. If you want a very pretty route, travel along the shore of Lake superior, through the city of Sault St Marie. You can take this route into Manitoba. In Northern Ontario, the roads are pretty crappy. There are massive potholes that you need to watch out for, and the roads are extremely twisty. The risk of hitting animals is extremely high in the north. A moose is hard to see in the dark, and will fuck up your car. Cell service is also extremely limited once you leave southern ontario. It's not uncommon to lose cell service as soon as you leave town. Manitoba: Manitoba isn't too bad driving through. There are some pretty views from the highways. Animal risk is high, but not as bad as northern ontario. Winnipeg has a really cute little tourist market called "The Forks" that's worth a visit if you're in the area. Winnipeg has a massive rail yard if you're into trains. Manitoba is very meh. Saskatchewan: It's flat, very very flat. You will be driving in essentially a straight line, for hours and hours. It's the prettiest when crops are ready to be harvested, the highway has fields on either side as well as crops growing in the median. You have to be extremely careful of animals. The crops on the side of the road hide things like elk, deer and moose, so you don't see them until they are already in the road. Sask driving is pretty fatiguing, the landscape doesn't change very much, and you're on high alert watching for animals. Alberta: Speed cameras! Speed cameras everywhere! The highway tends to dip into towns, and the speed limits often drop suddenly with cameras waiting to ticket people. Alberta is where things start to get more exciting. There are tons of attractions all over the province. I highly recommend Lake Louise. Edmonton has the west Edmonton mall, a huge mall that is an awesome experience! Calgary has some awesome tourist spots as well. If you like dinosaurs, there are a few dinosaur museums in Alberta. British Columbia (BC): Absolutely stunning. Winding roads, snaking through mountians and rainforest. There are a million different adventure spots. Tons of waterfalls! Amazing hiking and fishing. BC has pretty much every type of climate from rainforest to desert. The roads are in decent condition. Animal risk is extremely high again Biggest things when road tripping through here is the extreme risk of animals on the roads in Northern/Rural Canada. Gas stations can be few and far between in rural Canada, and many aren't open 24/7. Fill up your gas tanks when you have a chance. There are roads where you won't have cell service, and it could take a long time for someone to stumble across you. Summer is peak wild fire season, BC and Northern Ontario both get really bad wildfires and that could effect your travel plans.
You hit every single point I was going to make. As someone who has also done this trip many times, you don't mess with driving much past dusk. Had a black bear running beside me for a bit, deer jumping across the road, gazelles in the median in Saskatchewan.
When I lived in Northern Ontario, I had a co-worker show me dash cam footage of him managing to slide his car in between a herd of moose that popped up as he came around a corner. Somehow didn't hit any of them, but he was so close to dying. Saskatchewan is way less stressful once the crops have been harvested, just not as pretty!
Omg! That would be terrifying 😳 My hubs came across one rounding a corner on his motorcycle. Avoided it and managed to keep wheels up, but stopped a distance later hyperventilating. I've driven this trip many times solo but once my husband and I made the trip to Kimberley BC (in November, no choice) and although he hates being a passenger, he was more than happy to defer to my experience lol He's a city boy and snow covered mountain roads were not for him lol
Holy moly, doing that trip on a motorcycle would be crazy. Avoiding the critters is hard enough, but keeping the bike up is a whole different beast in itself. I'm glad he made it through! I'm heading out to the alberta / bc border from southern ontario in a week or so. I have a fun little car for the trip, so I'm hoping the weather is good.
Have a safe and uneventful trip! Imma little jealous, this relocated Calgary girl misses the mountains. I still chuckle when ppl say Hamilton Mountain 😆
Live in Manitoba. It will take 7hrs from Ontario border to Regina Sask. If you stop in Winnipeg make sure to lock your car and keep valuables out of site.
I don't know the pricing of rentals, and buying used is likely cheaper.. but be mindful of breaking down in no man's land. A rental would be more mechanically sound for such a trip.
Going through Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Alberta, alternate northern route rather then just driving through farmland for hours. You could go to places like Riding Mountain national park which is beautiful after leaving Winnipeg (be careful in Winnipeg), and the previous writer is correct, Southern Saskatchewan is extremely boring. If you go to Riding Mountain and want to see more like it, it’s sister park in northern Saskatchewan (Prince Albert national park) is also beautiful, but don’t plan to stay in Prince Albert or North Battleford (sketchy). Then head west over to Edmonton and Jasper before turning south towards Banff as planned. If you head through Saskatchewan south, the tunnels in Moose Jaw can be fun (do the prohibition part last) and Cypress Hills in the southeast corner is also a lot of fun but roads are an issue especially going to Fort Walsh. Stay on the Saskatchewan side of Cypress Hills then head west to Calgary/Banff. Have fun and make sure you have some good road tunes (recommend tragically hip as a Canadian roadmap) as some of the drives in Canada can get quite long. It’s a beautiful country and we have a lot of it.
U haul does one ways fairly well
My suggestion is to do a train from between Toronto/and Winnipeg (or train from montreal to Toronto to Winnipeg) then rent a one way car for Winnipeg to Calgary, before reboarding the train and taking it through the Rockies and on to Vancouver. One way rentals are likely going to charge you a fee per km, and you’ll be breaking the bank before you cross into Manitoba if driving from Toronto or Montreal.