Towing with a rental truck?

[The Other Guy 97]

Most rental companies say not to tow anything except their trailers with their trucks.

If I break the rules and tow a small boat cross country what are the likely repercussions? Are they going to have me arrested? Setup me and take the truck leaving me stranded? Charge me huge fees? Not let me rent from them again? Bailiff whack his pee pee?

 

[freewheelin]

At a minimum I would think you would be liable and outside of any insurance coverage were something to go wrong (malfunction, breakage, or worst of all accident).

 

[Morgan Crewed]

Go to Enterprise Rental Truck. 

I have ZERO problems renting a diesel truck from them - done it several times.  And when I rent from them they know upfront that I will be towing  my trailer and what I am towing.  My trailer is 22' in length, two axles and holds my 4200 lb. 1941 Packard convertible sedan.  Price is very fair too.

 

[The Other Guy 97]

I tried enterprise, they don't have any one way cross county trucks. Driving 3000 miles back to return the truck is not a likely choice.

 

[ryley]

when I talked to UHAUL they knew I would be towing my own trailer and had no problem with it. This was 4 years ago though.

 

[Firefly-DC]

U-Haul has no problem towing boats or other things if you tell them first.  I tow mine (2500 lb boat and trailer) twice a year locally with an F150.  if you are going long distance they may require a larger truck.  When towing from DC to MA they required that I use a 20ft truck to tow that distance.

get their insurance and no repercussions

 

[Laurent]

Go to Enterprise Rental Truck. 

I have ZERO problems renting a diesel truck from them - done it several times.  And when I rent from them they know upfront that I will be towing  my trailer and what I am towing.  My trailer is 22' in length, two axles and holds my 4200 lb. 1941 Packard convertible sedan.  Price is very fair too.

I tried enterprise, they don't have any one way cross county trucks. Driving 3000 miles back to return the truck is not a likely choice.

We had good success with Enterprise as well; Texas (Houston) to Florida (Fort Myers) and back. We told them upfront we were going to tow a sailboat. But it was a return trip. We drove there "empty" and picked up our boat and trailer to drive back home. I do not know if they do it one way; I thought they did...

 

[Keysrock35]

Uhaul is no problem. Ryder is another option. As is Penske. 

 

[Marcjsmith]

When I was looking at a boat in Florida,  uhaul was the only company with reasonable prices for a one way rental for towing.  It was 3/4 van chassis with a box, so no pickup, which mean for real crappy vision,  but it would have been a much better option than the ICW in February 

 

[sail69]

Make sure the permission is in the rental agreement.  I would go so far as to stipulate the details of the tow.  Trailer specs etc...

 

[Roller Skates]

How big is the boat? Cheaper to stick it inside the box?

 

[kent_island_sailor]

U-Haul has no problem towing boats or other things if you tell them first.  I tow mine (2500 lb boat and trailer) twice a year locally with an F150.  if you are going long distance they may require a larger truck.  When towing from DC to MA they required that I use a 20ft truck to tow that distance.

get their insurance and no repercussions

If you use a U-Haul box truck, get anything you can remove off the boat and stuff it inside the truck

 

[kent_island_sailor]

Buy a capable truck and sell it afterwards 

Registration, insurance, sales tax, inspection, etc. - You will need to sell the truck for about 10% more than you bought it for to break even with this idea. On the Shore people buy the rustiest clapped-out POS trucks they can find and put either historic or farm tags on them. No inspection needed and no one knows if the brakes work, but if they work too well it probably would shred the dry-rotted tires

*also note if U-Haul #1 dies in mid trip, you will keep going with U-Haul #2. Your own truck, not so much.

 

[Swimsailor]

Did you try this?

https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US/promotions/promo_towing.html?cm_mmc=EnterpriseWebsite-_-help.support-_-towingfaq-_-en_US

 

[blurocketsmate]

Have you put it up for bids on uShip? It's certainly easier, and I would bet cheaper. The more time you have, the more the bids will come down.

 

[mcsailor0303]

U-Haul worked great for our short distance towing a #9500 lb boat.  We had to go with the bigger truck for the towing capacity.  Heads up that the ball that is mounted to the bumper is a 2", so if you need to use the larger 2 5/16" you'll need to use the receiver which is off center.  It was a little weird, especially towing it across a narrow bridge... :wacko:

 

[kent_island_sailor]

Have you put it up for bids on uShip? It's certainly easier, and I would bet cheaper. The more time you have, the more the bids will come down.

Wasn't there an epic thread along these lines involving Rocky?

 

[inneedofadvice]

U-Haul has no problem towing boats or other things if you tell them first.  I tow mine (2500 lb boat and trailer) twice a year locally with an F150.  if you are going long distance they may require a larger truck.  When towing from DC to MA they required that I use a 20ft truck to tow that distance.

get their insurance and no repercussions

As a former uhaul dealer, there insurance is a scam. Notify your own insurance company and pay by credit card. 

 

[shaggy]

Have you put it up for bids on uShip? It's certainly easier, and I would bet cheaper. The more time you have, the more the bids will come down.

Saw the prices coast to coast.  Was pretty reasonable...  Donno if I would want one of the dipshits on TV moving it for me though, but I digress...