Any ideas on Renting a tow vehicle to bring Escape home?

blakebt · 03-02-2017, 06:31 AM

Looking to fly into Washington and need a rental vehicle to bring our Escape home. This would be instead of driving from NH to WA with our own vehicle. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone done this before? Appreciate any ideas.

padlin · 03-02-2017, 06:41 AM

Might try calling Uhaul or Penske, I've seen Uhauls towing cars.

Jim Bennett · 03-02-2017, 06:59 AM

One issue I had when I needed to rent a truck to tow a trailer a couple years ago while mine was in the shop, was none of the local ones allowed towing, so definitely make certain they are aware that this is what you are going to do. I finally found one company that would, but they were very pricey.

cpaharley2008 · 03-02-2017, 07:29 AM

I looked into that before deciding on having 2 of my trailers delivered. There is a penalty for a one way rental, if you do find a pickup truck, you will not have a trailer brake nor a hitch set up and their big trucks that can tow get horrible gas mileage. It is well worth the drive or have it delivered, the cost in Canadian dollars can be divided up among 2-3 other owners on the same shipment. Also none of the Uhaul trailers have electric brakes, just surge brakes, so you will need to have a brake controller installed which probably will not be allowed.

rubicon327 · 03-02-2017, 08:10 AM

Enterprise now allows towing with some of their pickups, but I imagine they are going to have a problem with one-way. Plus it would need an integrated brake controller or one installed. I would call them.

www.enterprisetrucks.com/content/truckrental_base/en_US/promotions/promo_towing.html?icid=USTrucks-_-Personal.Content-_-2towing

Bobbie54 · 03-02-2017, 10:03 AM

U-Haul rents pickups with hitches, but I don't think they have brake controllers and they might be local only. (I checked into it when bringing my 15 home but ended up borrowing a friend's truck.)

Rossue · 03-02-2017, 10:22 AM

I have done one-way rentals with Enterprise and others with a $50 drop-fee. For the brake controller, if none of their trucks have integrated controller(which would be strange if they let you tow) then get a Prodigy RF.

AKCamper · 03-02-2017, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blakebt

Looking to fly into Washington and need a rental vehicle to bring our Escape home. This would be instead of driving from NH to WA with our own vehicle. Does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone done this before? Appreciate any ideas.

Wow forums are great. I just did this last summer when we had engine trouble with our Dodge. I rented a u-haul in Bellingham and installed a brake controller in a campground the day before I picked it up. I took a wiring harness that I purchased from e-trailer and mounted the brake controller under the dash. I used to be a mechanic so that helped. U-haul pickups have a four prong plug in the rear, but they are wired for a controller. The tail / brake lights just plugged into the harness I purchased and I took a harness for the brake controller for a Chevy and a Ford since U-haul has both vehicles. I did a lot of research on where the controller plugs are so I was well equipped. I asked u-haul if I could tow a trailer with there vehicle and they said no problem when I made the reservation, but I did not mention hooking up a brake controller. It cost about $1000 to rent the U-haul for three weeks. We put about 2500 miles on the Chevy 1500 and it handled our 19 Escape with ease. Send me a PM if you want any further info. If you don't feel comfortable installing the controller I would check with the company Escape uses and see if they would install the plug and controller if you have all the parts. I just mounted the RV plug to a piece of 1x4 and zip tied it to the bottom of the bumper.

Dave Walter · 03-02-2017, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossue

I have done one-way rentals with Enterprise and others with a $50 drop-fee. For the brake controller, if none of their trucks have integrated controller(which would be strange if they let you tow) then get a Prodigy RF.

In order to operate, the Prodigy RF requires that the tow vehicle have a 12V charging wire running to the 7 pin connector. Many (most) vehicles do not have the charging wire, so the RF may not work with a random rental truck.

AKCamper · 03-02-2017, 11:52 AM

After thinking about it and checking the mileage (3200 miles each way) I think I might ask myself if it were time to purchase a new vehicle. You could buy a new tow vehicle on the West Coast and have it set up to tow. This might not be an option if you already have a new vehicle or are tapped out from purchasing the trailer. Just another option.

AKCamper · 03-02-2017, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ice-breaker

In order to operate, the Prodigy RF requires that the tow vehicle have a 12V charging wire running to the 7 pin connector. Many (most) vehicles do not have the charging wire, so the RF may not work with a random rental truck.

I looked at the vehicles at a friends u-haul where I live and I believe that U-haul has the tow package on them, but removes the 7 prong plug and has a four prong installed. The vehicles I looked at were wired and even had the fuses installed for both the charging wire and the brake controller. You just either have to wire them from the front of the truck or tap into the wires by the plug. I do think you may have to pay a premium to do a one way rental, in fact I just checked the u-haul site and it shows a pickup not available for your move. they may not want a pickup dropped off that far away. We just did a pickup and return to the same location.

Thane · 03-02-2017, 04:11 PM

I suggest you see if Budget is available. I needed to get my van and family home from a breakdown and rented two moving vans, one to pull the van and one for half the family. The cost was low as they expect the moving trucks to be one way rentals.

I pulled one of their trailers. I don't know if they would allow a travel trailer to be pulled.

blakebt · 03-02-2017, 08:29 PM

Thanks everyone! We wanted to see if there would be anyway to do this but it seems very complicated. We might just have it delivered to Indiana and pick it up there.

**rbryan4** · 03-02-2017, 09:10 PM

It's not very complicated, being a one way rental. But, it is very expensive. I've rented vehicles one way many times, but that was on business and my company footed the bill. Good thing too, since the last one I did (Dallas to San Antonio) cost almost $200 for a 5 hour trip, and that was in a small car.

blakebt · 03-03-2017, 07:08 AM

Do you know of a rental company that has vehicles that allows you to tow a trailer one way? We can't seem to find one that allows towing. That is one reason we find it complicated.

cpaharley2008 · 03-03-2017, 09:21 AM

I believe Robert was referring to cars having one way rentals and so do trucks, to a limit.

smac2 · 03-03-2017, 10:13 AM

We live in Canada. Looked at using a rental vehicle to pick up boat purchased in the USA. Could not find a rental outlet that would allow us to pull a trailer across the CAN/USA border. Stated liability insurance purposes. Which \i do not understand as UHaul trailers cross the border all the time.

Again, just by two cents...
Shannon

AKCamper · 03-03-2017, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blakebt

Do you know of a rental company that has vehicles that allows you to tow a trailer one way? We can't seem to find one that allows towing. That is one reason we find it complicated.

U-haul rents a truck that would tow your trailer and does one way rentals, but it is a 10 foot box unit and I am sure it does not have a brake controller. I don't believe Escape will let you pick up your trailer without a brake controller installed. I looked on the U-haul website and a small box unit would cost $907 and give you ten days and 3,765 miles (you could add miles if you needed). The only problem would be the brake controller. It might be a little tricky backing up a trailer with a 10 foot box unit, but if you are good and have a good co-pilot to guide you it would not be too hard. Hey, towing with one would keep the bugs off the front of the trailer too.

rubicon327 · 03-03-2017, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKCamper

U-haul rents a truck that would tow your trailer and does one way rentals, but it is a 10 foot box unit and I am sure it does not have a brake controller. I don't believe Escape will let you pick up your trailer without a brake controller installed. I looked on the U-haul website and a small box unit would cost $907 and give you ten days and 3,765 miles (you could add miles if you needed). The only problem would be the brake controller. It might be a little tricky backing up a trailer with a 10 foot box unit, but if you are good and have a good co-pilot to guide you it would not be too hard. Hey, towing with one would keep the bugs off the front of the trailer too.

The smallest Uhaul box truck is listed at 12 mpg on a good day without a trailer. Wouldn't want to see that fuel bill.

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