what have you found to be the easiest way to get a new ship?
I got lucky and some colonizers were asking for help so I helped them out, then just out of curiosity I lock picked to get into their ship and was able fly off without consequence.
I tried doing the same thing with other landed ships but then it just says I'm not authorized
There is a trick on that, if you go to the Ship screen from the menu there will be an option at the bottom to register and it's much cheaper there for some reason.