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Renting a tow vehicle


jmack

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I'm planning a trip to Lake Powell this summer with another family. We're taking our boat and I need to rent a tow vehicle - looking at something like a Suburban or equivalent. None of the standard rental companies allow towing with their vehicles. Does anyone have experience with other solutions? Any suggestions? 

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Enterprise will let you rent a truck that can tow, but you have to bring your own drawbar.  I'm not sure if you can take it out of state, but you definitely have to return it to the same location you rented from.

I rented one from them a couple years ago when I bought my boat up in Oregon and needed to haul it locally.  Worked well.  Was a decent Silverado half ton crew cab.

Edited by UWSkier
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You could try Turo.com. It's a peer-to-peer auto rental site. If you are going from your listed location - Athens, AL - to Powell, you are looking at some significant cost for mileage alone. Bring your wallet.

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59 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Enterprise will let you rent a truck that can tow, but you have to bring your own drawbar.  I'm not sure if you can take it out of state, but you definitely have to return it to the same location you rented from.

I rented one from them a couple years ago when I bought my boat up in Oregon and needed to haul it locally.  Worked well.  Was a decent Silverado half ton crew cab.

I looked at Enterprise and the issue is we have 7 passengers going. I need a large SUV to have enough seating, and they don't rent SUV's for towing. I can rent a Suburban from their standard fleet (no towing allowed) or I can rent a crew cab pickup from their commercial program. I have a crew cab GMC that I can tow with, but need more seating.......

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53 minutes ago, BigCreek said:

You could try Turo.com. It's a peer-to-peer auto rental site. If you are going from your listed location - Athens, AL - to Powell, you are looking at some significant cost for mileage alone. Bring your wallet.

I'll give that a look. And yes, lots of miles. We're visiting Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon on the trip as well, so we're looking at over 3500 miles....

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16 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Have it shipped?

From AL to AZ, probably $1500-2000 each way depending on dates and flexibility with U-Ship.  With gas prices down, maybe a little less.

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If you have another driver besides yourself take 2 cars. Renting a sedan will be a lot cheaper than renting an SUV if you want to keep miles off your own car.

We take two cars on most of our long drives. Gives people room to spread out and seems to keep the kids from fighting as well. Well worth the few extra bucks in gas in my opinion.

Edited by vaporbluebu
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31 minutes ago, Eagleboy99 said:

Have it shipped?

Looks like around $1200-$1500 each way.

Right now, Turo rental looks like the only option besides driving 2 vehicles.

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Just now, vaporbluebu said:

If you have another driver besides yourself take 2 cars. Renting a sedan will be a lot cheaper than renting an SUV if you want to keep miles off your own car.

That's the back-up plan - just take 2 of our vehicles, but would like to get us all in one. It's going to be some long days on the road and just having one driver instead of two will make the trip easier.

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1 minute ago, UWSkier said:

Get a couple of these and a capper for the GMC.  All set!

midnightbuckets01_1024x1024.jpg?v=156906

When I was a kid we didn't need those or a capper - just climb in and hang on....

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Just now, jmack said:

When I was a kid we didn't need those or a capper - just climb in and hang on....

same here.  FWIW, it's perfectly legal to ride in a truck bed in Arizona...  :)

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I don't think a suburban or yukon would probably work from a capacity perspective anyway if you plan on loading 7 peeps in the rig (and then probably have their luggage in the boat?), at least unless you can find one to rent with the max tow package or the 6.2 (both of which I doubt would be something that rental fleets would opt for).  

  • Like 2
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4 minutes ago, shawndoggy said:

I don't think a suburban or yukon would probably work from a capacity perspective anyway if you plan on loading 7 peeps in the rig (and then probably have their luggage in the boat?), at least unless you can find one to rent with the max tow package or the 6.2 (both of which I doubt would be something that rental fleets would opt for).  

Not only that, but I don’t know how you would have room for all your gear. If you put everything in the boat you may be in danger of going over the trailers axle ratings. I know there isn’t much wiggle room in my boat trailer. 
 

I’d say your best bet is to ship it or take two vehicles.   Honestly the cost between shipping and renting a tow vehicle for an extended period of time and those high miles isn’t going to be cheap. 
 

You will also need to figure out what to do with the boat when you go to do anything outside of your Powell trip. 

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55 minutes ago, RyanB said:

Not only that, but I don’t know how you would have room for all your gear. If you put everything in the boat you may be in danger of going over the trailers axle ratings. I know there isn’t much wiggle room in my boat trailer. 
 

I’d say your best bet is to ship it or take two vehicles.   Honestly the cost between shipping and renting a tow vehicle for an extended period of time and those high miles isn’t going to be cheap. 
 

You will also need to figure out what to do with the boat when you go to do anything outside of your Powell trip. 

You guys are over thinking this.....

With a Yukon XL or a Suburban, we'll throw what luggage we can behind the 3rd row and the rest will go in the boat. Not much additional weight in the boat over normal towing. I tow with my 5.3L 1/2 ton and it does fine. Sure, a 3/4 ton diesel is better, but I'm just looking to get the job done.

As far as what to do with the boat outside of Powell?? Tow it everywhere..... All the parks are set up for RV size vehicles and I'm accustomed to towing trailers.

  • Like 2
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56 minutes ago, wedge88 said:

Flights are dirt cheap right now.  Fly two people out and drive your truck.  

2 round trip tickets are $1600

Then I'd still need another vehicle to get them to Hoover, the Grand Canyon, and to Powell

 

I need suggestions for renting a Suburban or similar vehicle for towing...... Barring that option, I'll take two vehicles of my own. Driving an extra car will only cost $300

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9 minutes ago, jmack said:

I need suggestions for renting a Suburban or similar vehicle for towing...... Barring that option, I'll take two vehicles of my own. Driving an extra car will only cost $300

I don’t think there is a “legal” option for finding a Suburban to rent that allows towing. I looked into this a while ago for a boat I bought on the east coast and couldn’t find anything. Your next best option is to just rent an SUV and hope you don’t get into an accident. Every full size I’ve ever rented has a tow package. Most half ton trucks through rental companies don’t have tow packages that I’ve seen.

Edited by vaporbluebu
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There is such a thing as AirBnB, but for cars.  www.turo.com I've found vehicles that they allow you to take on mountain terrain.  I've never looked specifically at towing, but might be an option.

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24 minutes ago, vaporbluebu said:

I don’t think there is a “legal” option for finding a Suburban to rent that allows towing. I looked into this a while ago for a boat I bought on the east coast and couldn’t find anything. Your next best option is to just rent an SUV and hope you don’t get into an accident. Every full size I’ve ever rented has a tow package. Most half ton trucks through rental companies don’t have tow packages that I’ve seen.

I've got some leads on Turo.com - individuals renting their personal vehicles. I think this will be my best option, but still looking into the towing issue. If this doesn't work out, I'll take my own truck and car. Not going to take a chance on towing with no insurance coverage.

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2 hours ago, jmack said:

Looks like around $1200-$1500 each way.

Right now, Turo rental looks like the only option besides driving 2 vehicles.

I'm guessing that any LTL carrier will be dying (no pun intended) for business soon.  In my recent use of UShip, the bids  ultimately fell to about 40% of the opening cost.  Like $2500 to 1000

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