to tow a car or not

thank you all for your in put, I guess if we buy the motorhome, i'll be looking for a car. hate to give up my truck, again thank you all for your time

We don't camp, but we do travel. Started out with a small class C and no toad. Was a pain unhooking and hooking utilities every time we wanted to leave the campground. Then we got a Class A and tried renting a car. Even though Enterprise says that they will pick you up and drop you off - it was very difficult to get them to do it, and talk about long rides with other people being delivered other places, when they did:R!!! And usually the good rental deals were only from airports and not local agencies. So we were in the market for a new car for the wife, and we looked for a toad and not a work car for her. So her little work car doubles as our Toad, a 2009, manual transmission, Ford Focus SE:W.

So today, the only way we will rent a car is if both the motorhome and toad are broken down!!!

We went without for a few years then set up my wife's Explorer as a toad. Used it that way for 10 yrs. We replaced her Explorer with a Lincoln and set it up, used it a few times. She decided that was too big of a boat and got an Escape which is not towable. We are back to no toad for the last year. The cost of setting up a vehicle as a toad will pay for a LOT of rental cars. Hertz local and Enterprise will both come to you. We usually make a reservation in advance and they are prompt and on time for pickup. We have dropped the car off on the way out of town with the RV. Done this 3 times now without any problems and the rates are pretty cheap if you shop online a bit. Average of $30 a day so far. Its also FAR easier to get in and out of cramped gasoline stations without a toad attached and reverse is an option.

I have kept our hitch and the brake buddy for now in case we change our mind but I think we will remain toadless for a few years and just rent once in a while. I rent cars on business trips quite often so dealing with Hertz and Enterprise is pretty easy.

Every time I decided to not bring the Jeep, I regretted it.

We don't tow at present, and it hasn't been a problem for the three seasons we've been out there. We can't dolly-tow our '03 Kia Sedona because it weighs 4800 pounds and a dolly for a car that heavy would be expensive and would push us way over the hitch limit of 5000 pounds. It would be over $3K to modify the Sedona for flat towing, and I'm reluctant to spend that much on a car with 100,000 miles on it that's worth about $1500 on a good day!

We aren't "stay for a week" people. It's rare for us to spend two nights at the same CG, so we do our sightseeing and grocery shopping while we're en-route somewhere.

When the Kia gets too old and unreliable, we'll be looking for a lighter car that is flat-towable, either already modified or without the need for modifications, but it will have to be a wagon with room for two Labradors. Since DW can't drive a stick-shift, it will have to have an automatic transmission.

Incidentally, does anyone know if the Saturn LW300 wagon (auto transmission)is flat-towable without mods as the S-series Saturns are? Since it's based on a Vauxhall/Opel design (maybe even imported from Germany and re-badged) I'm not sure.

C350amg wrote:
Well everybody his own thing. We are new to RV and have a short class A 32' with no intention ever to tow something. /snip/

Yep, and the OP is NEW to Class A RV too. When we were green, we also tried the renting thing. Enterprise will deliver but they charge up the gazoo if you can't return it and they have to come pick it up. It's also not really convenient waiting for them to do so. Plus, the extra time waiting for all the paperwork etc. Try renting for a bit, you'll soon be shopping for a toad. You might want to sell the truck and get yourself something smaller and more economical. You might even luck out and find one already set up to tow. IMHO, there's just too many times when the toad is handy and necessary while at a campground. Shopping, sightseeing, dinner out and casinos come to mind....:B...Dennis

We tow on a tow dolly-they are cheap-easy to set up -Used ones are on craigslist always-dolly works for both of our vehicles since we are not about to buy new vehicles-I watch Nascar race The wife cleans up on all sales in closest town-Go with the tow dolly if it don't work you will probably get most of your money back

I've towed, not towed and rented a car when I got there! What works for me is towing with a smaller car 38+ MPG! If you have the engine in your coach to pull a truck and the correct hitch rating go for it!

We went without towing for two trips. On the first trip, we rented a car. It was a pain. The second destination didn't have rentals anywhere nearby. Unhooking and driving the motorhome to the store, then setting up again was no fun. We haven't gone without a tow vehicle since.

On our last trip, we got within 100 miles of home when the motorhome had to be towed. It was easy to drive the Jeep home instead of being stuck in a hotel with a dog and a cat.

It's so much more convenient to tow, even if you get a clunker that's towable. Our first was an old Jeep Cherokee that was just a dedicated toad. Later I updated to a new Grand Cherokee that I drive all the time.

You can tow a truck!