car rental vs towing

[backroads___]

We use our rv for short trips (week or two) 3or 4 times a year.Should I invest in a tow setup or just rent a vehicle at my destination? I would rather pull my boat. Anyone doing this? could realy use some input. Thanks in advance for your help..JB

[FuzzyKnight]

I tow period. Look at it this way if you have a problem on the road without a toad you have to wait for someone to come help. With a toad just hop in and go get what you need. Also if you need to rent then you have to drive your coach into to areas that may or may not be big rig friendly then when your are done you have to do it again.
Towing a boat may be nice but unless you go in to the river it would be hard to use in an emergency.

[GabJam]

We rent when we travel, we only take a few trips far from home per year. We go to Disney every other year and I’m thinking mpg would be even worse if towing. I also use only Enterprise, the pick up/drop off feature is great, and they seem to be everywhere, also tell them who you work for, if it is a large company you get the corporate rate, that’s what I do. If we were retired and went out whenever and wherever then I would get the set up, but that just me.
Happy Trails

[rgatijnet1]

Having your own vehicle with you at all times just opens up a lot of sights for you to see. We usually travel with no definite destination in mind. If we see something along the way, we stop. If it looks like a nice area, we may stay a few days or more. On a typical trip we will put 8000+ miles on our coach and another 3-4000 miles on our toad. Some of the places we went with the toad were not accessible with the RV. The mileage for the toad is 28 MPG so it also makes financial sense to have the toad available for side trips where a rental is not possible.

[Nowitall]

I just spent several weeks on the road and rented twice rather than tow. I will tow next time. The rental cost was an unnecessary expense, imho.

[mustang652]

We've done it a couple of ways over the years. We spent our first 17 years with a Toyota Dolphin so the long trips were done with using the Dolphin for transportation when arriving at our location. On short trips, like Mt Charleston and Bolder Beach, DW would follow in her car. We did do a rental once while in the U.P. of Michigan in a larger Class C and did not regret renting as we had not purchased a dolly at that time. We now have a Class A gaser and a tow dolly and still, if it's a short trip, 100 miles or under, DW drives her Focus, longer trips we put it on the dolly. Just drug it from Vegas to Houston and back and couldn't be more pleased with the RV's performance or the tow. I haven't really been able to discern any real difference in fuel consumption.

[afrescopXx]

The first two trips we made earlier this year in our new MH included a car rental at the destination. The first trip was only about 300 miles so no big deal, we rented the car when we got to the campground. The second trip was from San Antonio to Lake Worth, FL. We had a plan to stop and eat our main meal at truck stops around 1 pm each day going and coming back. We would check into a campground around 3:30 and eat a later dinner in the MH. When we got to our FL destination Hertz Local Edition picked us up and we had a rental for that week. We came to the conclusion that having a toad was a better choice so, in March, we bought a new Ford C Max. Baseplate, tow bar and Patriot brake system came to about $3,200 installed. We could have rented a lot of cars for the price of the C Max and tow bar but safety and convenience are worth it.

[bsinmich]

We were going to rent a car in Suburban Atlanta. I had a reservation at Enterprise but they couldn't pick me up. I scrounged a ride there. There was no car available and I was left stranded. I had to take a cab back to the CG. NO rentals for us.

[demoon]

My weekend rentals are $9.99/day off season and $19.99/day prime season and I just rented for a week on the Outer Banks for $177. With two nearly new, non-towable four down cars, that is the route we go for the time being. That will change in the future, and we will either dolly or trade cars. Of course I also will need brakes because we are only 20K and I would never try it without.

[moparmaga2]

Total Cost to set up my Jeep for towing was about $1000.

I don't have any kind of tow braking system as my motorhome weighs 43,000 lbs going down the road. I can't tell any difference with the Jeep behind me or not behind me.

My motorhome, weighing what it does, gets the same fuel mileage with or without the Jeep. There is no difference adding 4000 lbs to 43,000 lbs. At a certain point, its just heavy.

Using the math provided here at $350 for a weekend rental, it would take 2.8 weekends per year to break even.

I use my motorhome WAY more than that. In fact, if someone were to use their motorhome that little, I would suggest a RENTAL Motorhome would be a better proposition.

[bobkatmsu]

crasster wrote:
I prefer to tow because if there is a break down between nowhere and small town usa, there is a way to get around.

X2. We travel a lot at night and it is nice to have that security blanket of another option in case of a problem.

[tatest]

Your choice. I don't use a car at all on trips, only when using the motorhome in a fixed location as a temporary home away from home.

[gone2dadesert]

I'd rather tow a vehicle, then rent a boat (or other watercraft) at the river, lake, or ocean ... You can't drive a boat to any land locked destination, if you have an emergency enroute.

[wny_pat1]

I tried renting when we first got a Class A. It did not take long to see the advantages of towing!!! Enterprise says that will bring the car to you - NOT, I had to pick up every time and have dw drive the rental to where we were camped. Enterprise says that will return you to your site after you drop the can off - maybe, but you will have to wait for a free salesman and if there are more customers to be returned, you will be at the end of the route, maybe a two hour ride back to your site. Went thru the above scenario on several trips and finally said we would switch to towing the wife's work car, which we still tow. And finally, the salesmen get all huffy if you are camped in a local state park, telling you about all the damage that happens to rental cars that go into those places!!

[JAXFL]

Have been to may places that do not have rental agents close by. Also it is handy to have a toad if you have a breakdown. One road it the long 23 miles down to Cedar Key in Florida... no place to rent a car, another was in Helen Ga the closest rental car is 30 miles away, then there is Gamble Rogers State Park Flager Beach in Florida that is about 5 miles to any town or resturant. It is best to have the toad and not worry about it. Use it as your daily ride when not traveling.