Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

[jtexas]

Planning to go fishing this Saturday, but yesterday I got rear-ended on the way home from work. Put the truck in the shop today -- when the body shop guy called Enterprise, he told 'em I wanted something I could tow with, they told him it wasn't allowed. Anyways, now I got this brand new F150 in the driveway, and nowhere in the rental contract is towing mentioned, and I even read the small print. Naturally, I didn't ask the Enterprise people for permission.

I'm inclined to put a ball on the bumper & go fishing, but I was wondering if anybody else ever wound up in this situation and what ya'll did.

Anybody know where the 4-flat connector is on a stock F150?

 

[bhammer]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

How big of boat do you have? I'd be concered about using the bumper to tow as they are not rated to take the load or toung weight. If it isn't said in the contract, I'd go for it.

 

[ne7800]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

If the truck dosen't have a towing package than it probaly dosen't have a 4 pin plug you would have to add one

 

[tdunakey2951]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

Anybody know where the 4-flat connector is on a stock F150?

You need an adapter my truck has the circle plug in thing which im guessing that truck does to if you go to U-Haul they will either just give you one or let you borrow it

 

[mrainey889]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

You might want to check with your auto insurance people. I have seperate vehicle and boat insurance, like everyone else I hope, however my boat insurance does nothing except when my boat is on the water. When towing, if something were to go wrong, it is my vehicle insurance that would cover the damage, not my boat insurance.

Case in point, where I work I can occasionally borrow a vehicle from the motor pool. I asked about using one of the SUVs or vans to tow my boat occasionally (like when I have a large group) and was told there would be no issue in regards to company policy, but my boat would not in any way be covered by my office's insurance.

Just my two cents,
Mike

 

[woosterken]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

go to an auto parts store,I got one at auto zone
under the truck you unplug the wire harness and the 4 flat has a "T" on the end just plug the truck plugs in it and your good to go.
but what are you going to do about the mark on the bumper that the ball will leave?
the bumper on my F150 is stamped 350/3500 lbs.

woosterken

 

[jtexas]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

towing weight is light enough -- I normally tow on the explorer bumper -- but insurance, that's sho nuff an issue alright, thanks for the heads up, have to see what the man says about that.

I have been thinkin' bout the marks on the bumper -- might have to come up with something. I don't care if they find out later that I towed with their vehicle -- they never told me not to, and it ain't prohibited by the contract -- just don't want 'em to charge me for damage.

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

I'd use it just as I would use my regular truck, it's the responsibility of the insurance company to provide you with a comparable vehicle while yours is out of commission. If the truck does not have towing hook ups, the proper thing to do is to take it back to whom ever it's rented from and demand a vehicle that does have it.

I went though that some years ago, the rental agency told me that their trucks weren't meant for towing. After some screaming at my insurance company, they supplied me with a vehicle with the proper set up.
Its not your fault your out of your vehicle and they are liable for making sure you have a vehicle that suits your needs.

If they won't, I'd make it known who and where so we can all avoid them in the future.
(I had a dealer try to give me a sub compact for a loaner in place of a new Chevy 2500 that had a brand new engine failure, they brought it out to me on the side of the road expecting me to accept it and I guess for it to handle the 1100lb piece of equipment I was carrying as well. After some screaming on the phone, they rented me a Dodge Dakota, which I basically destroyed after they told me it was fine for that kind of weight. After all was said and done, they paid for a proper commercial rental after the Dodge's trans failed about 90 miles down the road).

My current insurance policy has a clause in it stating that any rental vehicle supplied will be for the duration that my vehicle is disabled and is to be an equal or better vehicle. This is to prevent them from giving me a Toyota to drive if anything was to happen to my Town Car. The added cost was very little. Most rental companies if not being pressured by an insurance company will also ask if you have a preference to make or model.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

'preciate the responses...if anybody's wondering, this is the most basic F150 ever, probably the last car ever built without power windows & door locks, but the bumper's rated at 5,000 lbs and the 4-flat is affixed to the bumper. Coincidence? I think not!

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

towing weight is light enough -- I normally tow on the explorer bumper -- but insurance, that's sho nuff an issue alright, thanks for the heads up, have to see what the man says about that.

I have been thinkin' bout the marks on the bumper -- might have to come up with something. I don't care if they find out later that I towed with their vehicle -- they never told me not to, and it ain't prohibited by the contract -- just don't want 'em to charge me for damage.

Bumper hitch = bad...

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

When you need to rent a vehicle to tow with, just rent a Uhaul truck. They all have 2" balls on them. I've done it a lot.

The 24' and 26' big vans can pretty much tow anything you can tow, especially if they're empty. But the little 10' van still has the ball on it. They're also wired for trailer lights.

 

[Andy in NY]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

That wouldn't be the most economical way... at $20+ per day...
Well, I guess that depends on how often you plan to go out, and you would have to play ahead.

 

[EricR]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

Why of course this reminds me of a story!!

In '91 I was working at a Mercruiser/OMC dealer. I had just done an oil change and stuff on a 19' Donzi Regazza, a go fast looking cruiser with a small cuddy.

It was on a twin axle trailer and I'd guess the rig was 4-5000 lbs, had the 350 alpha one drive.

Three big guys show up in a rented Lumina APV van, with the Avis or whatever sticker on it. Under the bumper is a fresh U haul hitch. They asked if anyone wanted the hitch when they were done as they had to pull it off before returning the rig!

They'd rented the van, took it to U haul and got a small reciever hitch on it. Dang thing about burried the bumper when they dropped the Donzi on it. Van probably had the 3.1 and not the 3.8 of the later vans.

They were loaded down with gear for a week in the lower Florida Keys, and were toting this thing down there from just north of Ft Lauderdale where we were.

I wonder if the trans fried to this day!

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

That wouldn't be the most economical way... at $20+ per day...
Well, I guess that depends on how often you plan to go out, and you would have to play ahead.

Well, it wouldn't be practical for a long-term solution, but the Uhaul option is always there for specific situations, like to do a one-time haul of something too big for your tow vehicle, or if your vehicle is in the shop for a couple of days.

I've used the 24' Uhauls to pull some big, heavy loads that I'll never have a vehicle capable of towing. With an 18,000 lb. max GVW and a hitch that looks like a Class V, they'll tow just about anything with a hitch. Not fast, but they'll get there.

Best of all, it's not your vehicle doing the work. That alone is worth the rental fee and mileage charges to me.

I've seen several posts here about transporting some heavy boat and trailer from folks without a vehicle rated for that. The answer is Uhaul.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

That ^^^^was my first thought...................my only other suggestion would be to contact your insurance company to make suer your covered.

 

[ebry710]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

I was driving down the highway yesterday in real slow traffic and I saw a Hertz pickup truck towing a beautiful 19' boat. I ask the driver if they worked there or rented it and she said they rented it.

Remember next time, use of a rental vehicle is a "don't ask don't tell" situation. Only ask your friendly insurance agent for a quote. If they don't want you to use a pickup truck to tow, they probable shouldn't have ordered one with a tow hitch. They could just have put a lock plug in the hole with a sign saying "do not use this truck for what it is designed for".

 

[reelfishin]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

When you need to rent a vehicle to tow with, just rent a Uhaul truck. They all have 2" balls on them. I've done it a lot.

The 24' and 26' big vans can pretty much tow anything you can tow, especially if they're empty. But the little 10' van still has the ball on it. They're also wired for trailer lights.

The U haul trucks around here are rented with a lock over the ball to prevent you from towing with them unless you rent a trailer as well from them, and at that, they only rent the larger trucks with trailers.
They don't want you towing an unknown trailer with their trucks. I'm also not real fond of the four wire two connector method they use to connect their trailer lights. I went to rent a small enclosed trailer here a while back, they wanted to cut into my wiring harness and put two pigtail leads on each tail light on my truck. I couldn't figure out why they didn't just have an adapter to go to a standard trailer plug? I went elsewhere as they weren't splicing anything on my truck.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Rental car -- to tow or not to tow?

well, it's a mute point now. fishing was crap today, by the way. The bumper was too high, the trailer isn't level but I went for it anyway.

Broke the dang winch strap loading -- if it's not one thing it's another.