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

[Ron_Butler]

Some great suggestions already given. I would say that it really depends upon the type of destinations and areas you like to stay at. Sounds like you want water access.

If you want to spend time in national parks, many of them are a long distance from car rental areas. I only throw that in because we use NP campgrounds whenever we can. Not sure how close a car rental agency is to Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, etc.!! :B

[dieharder]

Depending on rentals can be a tricky affair, depending on where you are going. You would think a popular destination like Orlando would have plenty of vehicles available... not so. Despite making reservations months ahead of time with Enterprise, we got to Orlando (Davenport specifically) for our 4 day stop, called Enterprise to come pick me up... no car was available, despite the reservation. 2 out of 4 days, no car. Let me tell you, groceries were quite a hike away from the campground.

[Hikerdogs]

wa8yxm wrote:
I just spent the weekend in a very sweet Rental JEEP (had 12 miles on it when they handed me the keys, 333 when I gave 'em back) Cost me 350 bucks.

(That is the weekly rate, including insurance since Nationwide will not extend the Motor Home's policy to cover it.. at least not yet)

So, you now have the math 2000 to set a care up for towing /350 per week or long weekend (It would have been less save Enterprise was closed on Monday) and you have less than six trips to recover cost of towing mods. Add in a bit because most Motor homes burn more gas when towing (The towed I had "Spoiled" the air flow just enough to balance the added weight) and six weeks to recover.. Without insurance make it 10.

We had a similar experience a couple weeks ago. We don't have the new motorhome set up to tow yet so we had to rent. Hertz was $450.00 for 5 days. Avis was $350.00 for the same time period. We found a car dealer that rented cars and rented a 2007 Ford for $200.00. The closest rental location was over 30 miles from our destination so we also had to work that into the schedule.

[wa8yxm]

I just spent the weekend in a very sweet Rental JEEP (had 12 miles on it when they handed me the keys, 333 when I gave 'em back) Cost me 350 bucks.

(That is the weekly rate, including insurance since Nationwide will not extend the Motor Home's policy to cover it.. at least not yet)

So, you now have the math 2000 to set a care up for towing /350 per week or long weekend (It would have been less save Enterprise was closed on Monday) and you have less than six trips to recover cost of towing mods. Add in a bit because most Motor homes burn more gas when towing (The towed I had "Spoiled" the air flow just enough to balance the added weight) and six weeks to recover.. Without insurance make it 10.

[Wrong_Lane]

We tried renting a few times. It may not make sense but it bugged me beyond description to have to fork over the extra hundred or so, for a car rental, in the middle of a trip. It seemed that there was always something that would be better to spend the money on (beer, food, amusement parks).

It cost me about the equivilent of 15 rental weekends to pay for a dolly and equipment but personally I was happier with the one time expenditure as opposed to the car rental which seemed like death by a thousand knives.

Now if a boat was important to me I would likely put up with the rental costs and enjoy myself on the water.

[crasster]

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

[wildtoad]

If you will mostly go where you don't need a car, then renting is a good option for those times that you do. I have been places where there is no rental agency, and only one cab for the whole town. We do not tow, but if we stay within the state (SC is not that big) the wife will typically follow in her car.

If you decide to tow then you have the issue of 4 down, trailer, or tow dolly and all methods have their pros and cons.

[mfox20]

I use mine about the same as the OP. Most of the time we travel to the same few destinations where renting has been easy with Enterprise. They come the campgrounds and pick us up and return us when we are done. I usually pull a cargo trailer with a golf cart on those trips as well.

So renting has worked well for us so far. Usually spend about $80.00 to $120.00 for 3 or 4 days of rental.

I recently purchased a new Honda CR-V that will become the toad later when we travel more frequently to new destinations.

Michael

[Effy]

It sounds like from your question you'd rather pull your boat and rent a car. Otherwise you tow your car and have no boat. If you rent a car you have both. I don't have a boat so the decision was easy. Tow it. I would much rather have my own car that I know has not been smoked in, can be packed with stuff and is an extra vehicle in case I get stranded. Not to mention it's free aside from the initial cost of setting it up. At a rental of $50/day (guessing but I'd need a larger vehicle), I'd only have to rent 4 weeks to equal the cost of my dolly.

[JimM68]

Our motorhome never moves without the wrangler toad behind.
The boat for sure could add some questions though. I like boats, would not have to choose between a boat and the wrangler.

[Trackrig]

I think it comes down to how much hassel is it to be without a toad maybe more than the cost. How far from your camping spot do you have to go to get the car and then take it back? How do you get to the car rental place - drive your MH? Do they have parking for it? How much time will that take to get the car and then return it. What if you're all set up and then you're out of bread or propane? Everyone is different. Try it a few times without. Enterprise seems to work fairly well if you camp near towns. You can always start pulling a toad if it doesn't work out.Bill

[the_bear_II]

Eventhough we have a 5th wheel and have the truck to use for getting around, there are times when we rent a car for sight seeing and other trips. It saves having to drive one of our cars separately to the campground.

I would calculate how often you might need to rent a car and then do a cost comparison to see where the break evan point might be. Keep in mind eventhough you may tow the car there will still be some maintenance costs to consider..tire and brake wear on the car as it is towed.

[rgatijnet1]

I guess it depends on where you plan on traveling. If it is near an area where car rentals are handy, then rent. I assume that you plan on using your coach to launch your boat, which may be a hassle to leave the RV Park, launch the boat, and then come back later on and hook up at the park again.

[KazooTom]

In my case it would cost somewhere north of $2000 to set up our car to tow. So far we have been successful in renting at our destination. Our preference has been Enterprise as they regularly do pick up and drop off. That saves us having to deal with trying to maneuver our motorhome in their lot.

If we were traveling for longer periods of time towing would probably be a more logical option for us.