Temporary tow vehicle
 

I am temporarily without my tow vehicle and looking for ideas until I can purchase a new truck. Looking to take a 300 mile roundtrip with my 230 (figure 5500-6000 lbs). My list is pretty short....

1) borrow from friend - feel like this is a lot to ask, especially with the distance over a couple days
2) rent from uhaul or similar company - rental cost isn't that bad, but mileage charges hurt

I've looked into renting from Hertz, Enterprise, etc., however most seem to "forbid" towing.

Appreciate any ideas?

rent from rental car co. or uhaul if all else fails.

Invite a friend with a truck. Problem solved....
Rental companies do prohibit towing, but I am sure if you just rent a Tahoe it will have unlimited miles and they would never know..... Might check with your insurance to see that they would still cover you if you have an accident. I am sure they will.....

I've noticed that most rental trucks in my area will have a lock in the hitch but the SUV's will not.. Just go with, what they don't know wont hurt them! LOL

Hertz commercial divsion rents cehicles you can tow with. They just make you rent a 3/4 or 1 ton. When my truck got hit and was in the shop, they tried to give me a little F150, and I told them I needed to tow so they gave me a F250 from their "commercial" division. Nice thing was it was a giant POS gasser (even brand new was a gutless turd), that made me love my duramax 1000x more when I got it back.

sometimes if they know you're planning on towing they will only rent to you as a business, just from my experience

Enterprise commercial division rents 3/4 ton truck you can tow with. Just returned a Ram 2500 diesel, it was a beast.

just towed a 40' travel trailer with a rental from enterprise commercial for the second time. Been great both times. I don't know exact pricing since my father handled the rental but they seemed to have the best deal. BUT it had to be rented through a business and he did it through my mom and uncles company which I work for so I had to tow the trailer with the rental truck while he towed the boat with my truck. The driver must be on the company that rents the trucks insurance. This time we got a '12 ford f250 powerstroke and last time was a '10 or '11 ram 2500 cummins.

Also my uncle got in a bind last summer and rented an f150 from u haul to tow his travel trailer. Had no issue with towing. He informed them he was towing and they made sure he got a truck with a hitch receiver.

thanks for all the ideas. i just need to find a good rental company to work with on a temp basis. agree with, if it has a hitch, they should never know. and as suggested, i will check with insurance. thanks again!

I found myself in a very similar situation a few summers ago. I found many of the Toyota dealers rent out their trucks at MUCH better prices.

Just a thought...

good idea. i will call.

Just for one trip or for a while until you get whatever you really want? Personally I'd just buy a beater '80-'97 Ford (they're all the same and are very simple reliable trucks) and sell it whenever I got whatever I really wanted. Shame since cash for clinkers all the good $500 trucks are gone (used to be able to get nice rust free trucks with no major issues for $500-$1000) and price for a beater is 2x - 3x that now.

Renting to tow sounds like a pain and probably expensive especially for long distance or longer time and there may be insurance issues or extra costs. I hate asking people for things though so I'd just buy a cheap truck and be done with it.

This would probably be my top choice as most in your area for cheap seem to be 2wd. $1500 and good to go with maybe a new pair of shackles ($30-$40), looks rough but cab corners appear solid. If it needs some other minor stuff like brake lines it's cheap and easy and a selling point when that time comes.. See if he'll take less without the plow setup or you can sell the plow for $500+. If you kept it a few years just throw a better bed on it and $500 Maaco special same color as your boat and it'll look good enough for a tow pig.
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Not a good idea imho. Taking a cheap truck on a maiden voyage towing that far? I could see you spending more money in the tow back than the actual truck. I'd just rent and suck it up on the price.Has Murphy's Law written all over it