Thinking of selling my SUV to get something a little more sporty. And for the two or three times a year I make it on track renting a tow vehicle. Is anybody done so?
Towing with a rental
Thinking of selling my SUV to get something a little more sporty. And for the two or three times a year I make it on track renting a tow vehicle. Is anybody done so?
Yes. I rent 3/4 ton Ram diesel pickups from Enterprise to tow my 7X16 enclosed with a Formula Ford inside. It's fantastic. It's comfortable, has a nice sound system, all the accessories work and it pulls the trailer like it's not even there. It's not cheap, costing $500-700 for a race weekend but it's WAY cheaper than financing, insuring, maintaining and registering a $50-70K vehicle that I only need a few times each year.
DITTO!
I rent 3/4 or 1 ton Ford or Ram diesel pickup from Enterprise Commercial to tow either my 8X24 or 8X45 enclosed with one or two cars inside. It's comfortable, no maintenance, has a nice sound system, all the accessories work and it pulls the trailer like it's not even there. It's not cheap at $500-700 for a race weekend but it's less costly than buying a new(ish) diesel that I use about 10-12 times annually.
Feff
Remember - you might need to move your trailer around even if you aren't going to a race somewhere.
You might want to invest in a trailer tug for that.
I've rented a U-Haul pick up 3 times last year and really enjoyed it (the towing aspect, not the inconvenience). They have gas Silverado 1500s. It is pricey but less than paying for a truck. They're always new, no maintenance, and even with a 24 foot trailer about 5000 pounds total, the U-haul didn't show any signs of struggling. It pulled a lot better than my diesel van, and got close enough MPG that it with the price of diesel, it's cheaper to tow with the truck.
Downside is the inconvenience. If I need to take the trans to a shop or take the car to a shop or anywhere outside of a race, have to rent again. My concern is one of the times I'll need it and they'll be out for the weekend so I've been considering buying a used truck.
I've been renting from Enterprise as well lately.
Have a 2006 Tundra I normally use to tow a 20ft.
Rented a Ram 2500 one weekend and a Ford F250 the other. Considering replacing the Tundra.
Same routine for each weekend:
Ram average 12.1mpg
F250 average 11.7mpg
Tundra average 8mpg
The clerks at Enterprise tell me the F250 is requested more often.
The Ram was much better towing IMO. The F250 wanders and has no caster in the front (I test drove a new one and it was the same). Sure the F250 has more power but it wasn't needed.
Apparently a known issue with the F250 and there are a lot of after market fixes, but as soon as you modify it you are on your own.
Test drove the Ram gasser. With no load it simply has no guts.
Test drove the Silverado. That dash sucks. Big vertical panel, no visibility. Wife couldn't see.
As one reviewer said: The Chevy and GMC have the most headroom because you are sitting on the floor.
I'll probably end up buying a Ram this year.
Originally Posted by BeerBudgetRacing
4 years ago I replaced my 2500 Ram Diesel crew cab shortbox (ordered it new 14 years before, was wonderful) with a new Ford F250 crew cab short box (again, ordereed my way) with the 6.2 gas engine. I had worked the math, and I just didn't do enough towing to justify buying the diesel F250.
I love the F250 - its amazing how far trucks came over that 14 years period. If I had one criticism, it is that it has a far larger turning circle than my Ram did - I never thought to even assess that, but it can make a difference in both daily driving (think parking garages!) and towing.
Good luck, and have fun
bt
I am a little confused because I want to the enterprise website a few weeks ago and saw a note that basically said you’re not allowed to toe with any of their vehicles
It's a different site.
https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US.html
On that site it doesn't matter whether you select Business or Personal. I always select Person because I believe the rental laws are slightly different for personal v commercial.
Also, 3/4 ton and up is where the towing is allowed. 1/2 tons - no towing.
Some charge an extra $25/day for towing. On the Ram they did not charge that fee. On the F250 they did.
This is a very timely thread. Thanks guys! I started towing with a '76 E-250 van with carb'd 460...7 mpg, dropping to 5 if there was a headwind or I wanted to go faster then 55. No problem when gas cost 80-cents a gallon!
Bought a 7.3 PSD Excursion in 2003 and thought I'd died and gone to heaven. My daughter-in-law bought a 2018 F-250 6-point-something diesel, which I drive sometimes, and the difference over my Ex is as great as between the Ex and the van. Simply amazing truck, but oh criminy...$90K+ for a new Ford?
Anyway, was thinking of replacing the Ex, but it not only hauls our racing car trailers (20' stacker & 24' box) at about 11mpg, but you can put a 3' tall stack of 4x8 plywood inside the back end when needed. Decisions, decision...
Stan Clayton
Stohr Cars
I just replaced my 2003 crew cab 2500 HD Silverado. I got a 2023 double cab 2500HD Silverado 6.6 gas in the LT trim set up to tow 14,500 lbs. It cost $48K plus TTL after a few rebates. Renting seems pretty expensive if you do 4 or 5 events a year. I got $13K for my old truck so $35K out the door for a truck that will last 15 years or more seems hard to beat.
The new trucks are simply amazing compared to a 15 or 20 year old truck. My new 3/4 ton is so civilized, the ride is so superior to before and has tons of torque and much better brakes. The $10K markup and cost of diesel fuel just dont make diesels worth it unless you are towing very heavy and long distances.
A few bits of advice regarding renting trucks from Enterprise:
1) Go on the website and reserve your vehicle several weeks before your planned race weekend. Around here anyway they tend to be in high demand.
2) Make sure you receive an email confirmation AND call the office a week or two ahead of time just to make sure they have it. For our trip to Road America last fall, I neglected to do either and they didn't have a vehicle for me when I arrived. Panic ensued but luckily they were able to locate one at a nearby office, thereby averting a disaster.
3) Do a thorough walkaround with the agent before you leave the facility. I've been lucky on a few occasions to have a nearly new truck but some have a few miles on them and some of their customers apparently don't treat the trucks with the same care that I do.
4) They should provide a tow sleeve but you'll need to provide your own ball and ball mount. Make sure you remove it before returning the truck or you'll never see it again. Speaking from experience.....
5) Check with your insurance agent, be straight with him/her on what you're doing and be sure you're covered in case something bad happens.
The 10k premium at purchase yields a premium trade in. The efficiency and cost of diesel is a push with the gas and its efficiency.
I have a spreadsheet that determines the break even point for a diesel purchase.
Been a long time, but I believe you put in the cost delta, the fuel cost delta, the mpg empty, the mpg towing, estimated # of miles/yr, and est. towing percentage, and it spits out how long it takes to pay off.
That would be cool to see.
To me there are other factors you can't necessarily quantify. For example:
The comfort factor of not over stressing a vehicle. Diesels are more than double the torque in all brands.I drove a RAM with the 6.4 and to get the power the thing is screaming (and loud).
The comfort/security of exhaust braking. Going down both sides of the Grapevine without touching the brakes. Wow. A different experience.
Resale. Diesels always get a premium. Unknown up front but it's there. I believe HD Diesels are going to be sought after used vehicles in 5-10 years.
I'm sure there are others...
Those trade-offs, plus the fact that I get a kick out of keeping old stuff running, is why I'm still towing at 337K+ miles with the 1974 Chevy G30 (1-ton) van I bought new in January 1975 for $3900. Luckily, we don't have too much in the way of mountains out east, so long uphill hauls like that are relatively few. There are a few hills, like on the WV turnpike, that I have to be in 2nd gear (3-spd turbo hydramatic 350 transmission) at ~3500 RPM (50 mph), but it seems to be no worse off from doing that. I tow on the flat at ~70 MPH.
RPM vs MPH table below.
Dave Weitzenhof
I also used to rent Enterprise vans for karting, but missed race weekends due to sudden unavailability when I showed up. This got worst as places like Amazon started expanding and renting vans in bulk and you stand no chance against large fleet rentals when you show up.
When I bought a car, I looked at the trucks for rental, but decided on a purchasing a Mercedes 3500 Sprinter Van. The reason for the van versus a pickup was mainly the dual use, for karting (2 Karts in the van and without a trailer) and then towing the 24’ trailer when going to a race car weekend. It’s perfect.
The downside to the sprinter is towing capacity, but it’s been great with me for a 3,500lb empty 24’ and 1,100lb car. Love the performance, look, etc.
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