For years, I’ve always had a tow vehicle ready to use at a moment’s notice. If I wanted to pick up a non-running motorcycle or a sunroof cassette for a project car I never had to think about how my loot was getting home. But last year, I sold all of my work vehicles and tried to get by just renting and borrowing trucks. It sucked so much that I can’t wait until I can put a big burly truck in my fleet again.
The pickup truck, especially the modern truck, can be a bit of a controversial figure in the car enthusiast world. Automakers are now producing trucks so ridiculously tall that they should be classified as high-rise buildings. I’m talking hoods perched so high up and sitting so far forward that it’s wise to pop on a front camera to make sure your neighbor’s cat isn’t in your massive blind spot. The bed rails and tailgate heights are also getting comically high.
Last year, I got a Ford Super Duty F-250 Power Stroke as a press loaner and honestly, it was one of the coolest modern trucks I’ve driven. But what wasn’t great was not being able to close the hood without a stool and having to use a tailgate ladder to get into the bed. Trucks are now status symbols, too, so folks who never need to use a truck for truck things are buying them as daily drivers. I don’t have a problem with the vehicle you choose to drive. But I do get why some car enthusiasts, even some in our own little community, aren’t exactly fired up about the latest Ferd F-Teenthousand.
Toward the end of 2024, I took a lesson from the great Stephen Walter Gossin about my fleet and decided to sell off everything I owned that wasn’t a dream car. Unfortunately, this meant that I sold off almost every vehicle I owned with a tow hitch. I still have a Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI, but not only does that have a low hitch weight limit, but I’m not sure I want to tempt making that complicated beast do any real work. Last year, I didn’t buy another truck or van to make up for the hole in my fleet.
Instead, I did the alternative that some enthusiasts suggested and borrowed or rented a truck every time I wanted to do truck stuff. There’s an idea out there that most people should just rent a truck when they need it. This will be cheaper than owning a truck and won’t force you to keep, daily, or maintain something with the footprint of a tank. It sounds like the best of both worlds and I was excited to try it out.
Here are a couple of our readers supporting this idea, starting with Curtis Loew on Jason’s communal truck idea:
Uhaul is easier and cheaper. I just checked my records and I did 5 trailer rentals and 3 truck rentals in the last year. My total cost was $330. I know I would spend more than that on buying, insuring and maintaining a share of some old junker truck. If you do the process online in advance you walk in the door and they hand you a key. They also have an app where you don’t even need to speak to a human to pick up or drop off.
Martin Ibert agrees:
If you really need it only three times a year, can’t you simply rent one? I mean sure, your community idea might work in some places, and it obviously kind of does already, but in many places, I’d imagine just going for a rented one is going to be easier.
I have rented a pickup every single time I needed one. Or rather, I would rent one if I ever needed one. I did rent a little truck (not a pickup) when moving together with my then-girlfriend in 1993. I have not needed a truck since then. (You can have big-arse TVs and home appliances delivered …)
Plus Nicholas Nolan commenting on a Shitbox Showdown:
I picked the Vibe against type, just because the Honda owner “needed a truck.” You don’t need a truck. No one needs a truck. And when you do need a truck, Home Depot will give you one for $20 for the day you need it. Fight me.
To be clear, I’m not picking on these readers. They’re just examples that the sentiment is there!
My Mom Comes In Clutch
For more than a year, I borrowed trucks about half of the time and rented about the other half. What dictated whether I rented or borrowed hinged entirely on whether my mom’s 2015 GMC Yukon XL Denali or my dad’s 2016 Ford Super Duty F-350 were available for me to use.
My parents live about 20 minutes away from me, so this wasn’t a huge deal. Admittedly, I also didn’t keep receipts of anything because I never thought I’d be writing about this experience.
I technically started this journey in the summer of 2023, when I wanted to get the family camper to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh. My Touareg VR6 was undersized for the job, so I needed a truck that I could borrow for a whole week without getting hosed on rental costs. Thankfully, Toyota’s PR people came to the rescue with a Tundra TRD Pro for me to use for the event.
Next came December when I wanted to buy a Suzuki RE-5 as a Christmas present to myself. My Volkswagen Touareg VR6 was injured from off-roading, so I asked my mom if I could borrow what was then her 2011 Chevy Suburban 1500 to use as a tow vehicle. She had no problems loaning it to me and I drove straight to U-Haul, rented a motorcycle trailer, picked up the Suzuki, and had an overall great time.
I remember spending about $50 in total to drive from my spot at the northern Illinois border to Milwaukee where I found the bike. That included fuel for the ‘Burban and the fee for the trailer. Things went so smoothly that I thought I could get used to not owning a big truck, SUV, or van.
I would ask for my mom’s SUV a couple of more times in early 2024 and generally, I found things not to be the most convenient, but I was able to make it work.
By this, I mean I had to coordinate with my mom to make sure someone was going to be at home when I came for her Yukon or for my dad’s Super Duty. I also had to make sure that either vehicle was legal to drive and not broken. Sadly, the Yukon spent much of 2024 in the shop having a bit of everything fixed. The SUV managed to nuke its rear differential, high-pressure fuel pump, driveshaft, powered running boards, and some other seriously pricy bits.
Unfortunately, the unreliability of the Yukon and the unavailability of my dad’s Super Duty meant that I had to get acquainted with rentals.
Renting Is Cheaper Than Owning, But…
My first need for a rental was really stupid. The owner of the storage facility where I parked my U-Haul CT13 camper wanted to knock down a barn. However, my camper was parked next to that barn, so that wasn’t going to work. The owner of the facility assigned me a new spot about 75 feet or so away from what was its position.
By this time I sold off every vehicle I had with a tow hitch. The U-Haul is also just a touch too heavy to move by hand. Great. My parents told me the Super Duty was in the shop and the Yukon had a cracked alloy wheel and was unsafe to drive. Yikes.
I don’t really have friends nearby with trucks, either, so my next option was renting. I could have gotten a truck from Home Depot. These have unlimited mileage for just $19. But the catch is that it’s $19 for 75 minutes. Yeah, that wasn’t going to work. The daily rate was $129, and I’m not paying $129 to move a trailer 75 feet.
You could also rent trucks from places like Enterprise or from local ma-and-pop rental outfits, but all of them are a bit spendy to do such a little job. That meant going back to my old friend, U-Haul. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of U-Haul, but the company’s trucks get expensive fast if your local job has you driving a decent number of miles.
Luckily, there’s a U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer right down the street from the place where I stored my CT13. These rental locations are not U-Haul facilities, but car repair shops, storage facilities, or convenience stores that do U-Haul rentals as a side thing. In my experience, the U-Haul Neighborhood Dealers are hit-and-miss. You never know if the truck you’ll be driving has a smoked wheel bearing and bald tires or the shop won’t be open at all, even if U-Haul says it should be open.
In my case, I found a $20 truck at a convenience store down the street from my CT13. Perfect, except for the fact that the cashier at the convenience store told me that only the store’s owner can do U-Haul transactions. Technically, the truck was available for U-Haul’s nifty U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 program which allows you to rent a truck entirely by phone. How it works is that you rent the truck on your phone and you get sent a code to open a lockbox with the truck’s key. On that day, the code didn’t unlock the box and nobody at U-Haul or the convenience store could help me. Sweet.
My next options were a Home Depot 17 miles and a 30-minute drive away or another U-Haul place 11 miles and a 17-minute away. I chose the U-Haul place. Upon arrival, the U-Haul “BP” pickup truck rental wasn’t there, which was a bummer, but there was a 10-foot cube truck “TM” on hand for the same $19.95. Fine, that’ll do.
I got the truck, drove 11 miles to the trailer, moved it 75 feet, and drove the truck 11 miles back to the U-Haul place. When all was said and done I burned about $52 in U-Haul fees and gas to move a trailer 75 feet. An often-circulated meme jokes about people moving an entire mobile home for $20 using a U-Haul, but the truth is that U-Haul makes you pay a dollar per mile in the small trucks and vans. Plus, you have to return the truck with as much fuel as you got it.
People also don’t talk about the time investment. I burned well over an hour of time renting the truck, signing paperwork, getting through a gate, and just driving the truck to the trailer and back to the U-Haul place. I then still had to drive back home from the U-Haul dealer. In the past when I had my own tow vehicle, I was able to move the CT13 and get back home in about an hour and a half, but the whole operation of moving a trailer about 75 feet took me close to three hours.
Frustration Sets In
The biggest car rescue I’ve ever done thus far was picking up the 1948 Plymouth Special DeLuxe from a guy with one of the coolest backstories I’ve ever heard. My original plan for this trip involved borrowing my mom’s Yukon or my dad’s Super Duty. Then, both of them flatlined and ended up in the shop simultaneously.
I then thought about flying out to Wilmington, North Carolina where Stephen Walter Gossin is and just doing a one-way truck and trailer rental back home. The quotes I got for that were well over $1,000.
Thankfully, the wonderful folks of Ford’s PR team came in to save the day by loaning me a Ford Super Duty F-250 Power Stroke to use for EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024 and to drive down to North Carolina. The whole planning process was seriously stressful. At times I was thinking I had to cancel one or both trips because I had no way to tow the family camper and no way to tow the Plymouth home. But I managed to get through my biggest auto challenge of the year without having my own truck.
Late last year, the folks of BRP loaned me a Can-Am Maverick R X RS side-by-side. I planned on buying a Ford E-350 Power Stroke van, but that fell through when I unexpectedly had to dump $7,000 into fixing my messed-up teeth. So, I went back to borrowing and renting.
This was the proverbial last straw.
First, I had to pick up the Maverick, which meant driving to my parents’ house and borrowing the Yukon. I then drove to the dealership, picked up the Maverick, and hauled it back to my lot. But I couldn’t just go back home. I had to drive back to my parents’ place and then get back into my own car before heading home. When all was said and done I burned a whole three hours once again.
This process rinsed and repeated every time I wanted to take the Maverick out and then when I had to return the Maverick to the dealer. Sadly, borrowing and renting trucks became such a hassle that I was happy to give the Maverick back just so I didn’t have to go through the whole process of borrowing or renting again. This was the first time I ever wanted to give a loaner back.
Time To Add To The Fleet
So, I’m back to the idea I’ve heard from several enthusiasts. That idea is that you’re better off renting a truck when you need it as opposed to owning one.
My biggest gripe really just revolved around time. I burned so much time and gas driving to and from U-Haul stores and to and from my parents’ house. Normally, it might take an hour and a half to go to my storage plot, move a vehicle, and then drive back home. But needing to divert to either U-Haul or to my parents’ place first easily doubles the time. Mind you, I live only minutes from both my parents and U-Haul.
Yet, there was still good news. I didn’t have to buy a truck, maintain it, or insure it. I saved a bunch of money doing this borrowing and renting thing. So, I do think the suggestion of renting and borrowing rather than owning can work. However, it seems this works best for the kinds of people who do “truck stuff” only a couple of times a year. It feels like the moment you need to haul or tow with any regularity, begging someone for their truck gets old quickly. Maybe Jason’s community truck idea is the right way around that.
In the end, I can’t wait to buy another big work vehicle. What can I say, I like big trucks and I cannot lie. After I’m done spending tens of thousands on my teeth, I want something like a Chevrolet Express 3500 with a Duramax or a Ford E-350 with a Power Stroke. David Tracy has also been showing me some sweet pickups and it’s been taking some real energy to prevent myself from buying during my healing time right now.
I enjoyed doing this sort of unintentional experiment. If you have a truck and you think you might not need it, try renting or borrowing. Maybe you’ll find that you’ll save a ton of cash. Just consider where you’ll be getting your truck because you might end up turning small jobs into things that take up your whole day. As for me, I’m going to drool over some diesels now.
Photos by Mercedes Streeter; top graphic inset image via U-Haul.
The problem I have with owning a truck (2008 Tacoma 4 door with the 5′ bed) is that nothing really fits in the bed. I know it’s not the most truck truck out there but it fits most of what I need/ed and I got a deal on it. I also have a 2024 Mazda3 hatch that I use as my work car and I can fit almost as much stuff in there as the Tacoma. It’s definitely nice when it’s something messy such as dirt/wood/etc but I have found myself driving my truck less and less to the point I’m considering getting rid of it. But its paid off and I have done a bunch of maintenance on it that its hard to let go as replacing it would be expensive and then I would have to start all over again
Really, the rent a truck/tow & trailer, as pointed, is an obvious option if you don’t end up doing it on a regular basis.
It all boil done to basic economics.
You need to do a cost/expense forecast budget line (yearly) that contains everything for both options :
I’ve made that cost analysis almost 2 decades ago in my specific case ( renting a car when needed or buying a new one, even 2nd hand ) and it’s cheaper for me to rent a car when I need it (car size being adapted to the need) than actually buying a car (and I don’t have the hassle of bothering which type: EV, PHEV or ICE, I get what I rent [ICE most of the time as I tend to go to locations where there’s no way to refill an EV)
Insurance, tabs, and repairs average about a grand a year on my 22 year old Super Duty which gets used maybe 2-3 times a month. That is well worth avoiding all those inconveniences of borrowing/renting.
I’m a gen X car guy. The majority of cars I’ve owned were manuals. About 5 years ago, I started daily driving full size trucks and damn if don’t like it. I just finished cross shopping an M3 and a Raptor. In the end, I just placed a deposit on a 2025 Raptor. New trucks are pretty good. I might even get the tires dirty.
I never thought I’d be a truck owner, but we decided to travel long-term with a travel trailer and bought a ’21 Ford F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid as a tow vehicle. It’s honestly the best, most versatile vehicle I’ve ever owned. Comfortable like a luxury car, incredibly powerful and fast, all the latest tech, and the ProPower generator feature makes it a true power tool for us. We’re not traveling now but we still own the trailer, so we need to keep the truck, but I’m happy to keep driving it as a daily driver.
I have long watched the modern 1/2 pickup morph into your grandpa’s 1975 Delta 88. Short bed trucks (6.5′) are now called “standard bed” trucks. 5.5′ beds basically look like a 40-year old Buick with the trunk lid removed. This has been remedied by the tonneau cover. These days, it is nearly impossible to buy a 1/2 ton truck with a traditional 8′ standard bed.
I don’t completely hate trucks these days, mostly because driving conditions have deteriorated and trucks have improved. Try pulling 0.7x g of lateral acceleration in any 1980’s vintage truck. Try stopping in less than 200′ from 70 mph in any of those vintage trucks. At the same time, driving has become more congested, roads have become straighter, with fewer hills. I own an MX-5, but cannot think of a corner within 200 miles of my home that would tax this car even at 90 mph. The joy of driving an enthusiast car frankly is no longer there. The last playground for the automotive enthusiast is off-road stuff, which is the purview of trucks.
I wish the van and min-van market would someday become competitive as they make far more sense than a pick-up truck (except of people towing gooseneck trailers), but overall there is very little penalty of driving a truck and a lot of benefits in today’s society.
Mercedes, you’re doing the right thing. You certainly do enough hauling to justify the purchase. Plus, think about your mom’s Yukon… It doesn’t sound like it’s very reliable anyway, then, everytime you used it, you added wear and tear. Additionally, you had to inconvenience mom, even if it was minor. You definitely need and DESERVE a nice truck of your own.
Plus, my experience with renting several U-Hauls over the years, is that you end up driving a bare bones truck that rattles and needs a good cleaning. Mechanical soundness is anyone’s guess, and comes down to luck. If you do get a bad one, you get the unique experience of dealing with a very unfriendly U-Haul clerk.
This is similar to why I had the come-to-Robot-Jesus talk with myself when I was finally going to buy a real adult car, I had to put away the wannabe fuckboy / tech bro and stay true to my van roots. I was sizing up a Model 3 or a used Model S, but in the end bought the most unfathomably based car possible: a used Dodge Grand Caravan. All of my life use cases I could think of was best served by a van.
It’s kind of like getting a basic 2WD Dodge Dakota free with purchase. Loads 4×8 ft up to about 2ft high (and 10ft if I don’t mind it as a passenger…) And I don’t have to even think about what to do when offered free metallic garbage out of someone’s shed. Habits hard to ditch from the Mitsu van. It’s rated for 3500 pounds towing, but I’d trust it with lifeboating the others for short distances. Those brakes are almost on par in size with the old E350s
On a side note, could I interest you in Spool Bus?
I loved my mini van. We drove that thing into 3 different countries, towed my utility trailer for “truck things”, towed our pop up camper and schlepped my wife, dog and kids all over the place. Sadly, it finally died with well over 200K and we replaced it with a full size SUV (because V-8 is a good thing). It’s becoming a running joke that whenever we do something with the new SUV we always mention how much easier it would be if we still had the van. RIP Van-o-White.
Don’t forget the parking issue. Not everyone has space for a huge truck. Our new place the driveway is 16 feet long and cars can not protrude into the road. My days of truck owning are past.
I’m pretty sure everybody but Mercedes put my picture up on a dart board for that comment. Which, I assure you, was mostly hyperbole. One of two cars I’ve bought brand new was an 04 Sierra 4×4 with the 5.3 and an extended cab. I was, like most drivers of trucks in America, trying to be something I am absolutely not. Every one of you guys can probably line up around the block to tell me why I’m wrong and hey, you’re right. This is an enthusiasts website. That includes truck and cars and motorcycles and minivans. So, I submit I was wrong.
But, on the other hand, we also pulled a hay bailer through an alfalfa field and then stacked 700+ bails in the back, on the hood, and on top of my mom’s 1988 Reliant wagon(custom ordered in pink with a burgundy interior from Sunnyside Dodge, donchakno), so maybe I’ve got a skewed seens of what one needs or doesn’t need a truck for.
I remember reading that article. I had mistakenly gotten the impression that she only needed a truck two or three times a year. I probably encouraged her to rent too.
The thing is, renting is enough of a pain that when I didn’t have a truck I just didn’t do truck stuff, unless it was absolutely necessary. Which is another hidden cost of relying on renting – you miss out on things because unless it’s a big enough project to justify the runaround to rent/borrow a truck you won’t do it.
I’m not saying everybody should own a truck, but I am saying the “nobody should own a truck” people are wrong.
Mercedes, I would have lent you a tow vehicle if you had asked.
I think modern half tons trucks are incredibly versatile. They can tow more than ever, can have near luxury car interiors, 4wd for bad weather, have the bed for cargo, and can get pretty respectable fuel mileage.
I have a friend with a 5.3L Silverado, and another with a 2.7L EB F150. Both 4×4 crew cabs, and they both get better highway mpg than I do with my 4Runner. I’ve ridden in the Silverado, it’s SO comfy cruising down the highway with the cooled seats on.
It’s a hot segment; they frequently get updated with the latest safety & tech so you’re not missing anything there.
I don’t *need* a pickup bed for much more than my mountainbike, but I’m thinking hard about a 2.7L F150 Crew as my next vehicle. Quicker, roomier, and more economical than my 4Runner, and with the crew cab, I bet I can even comfortably sleep in it too.
A HD, esp diesel, makes less sense to me as a DD, but even those are still super comfy. I just think diesel is overly expensive and complicated unless one spends more time towing than not.
The 2.7EBs are fantastic powerplants for trucks. I love my BiL’s 2020
I’ve read so many positive comments from owners about this engine, I’m excited to drive one. A lot of them were from former 5.0 V8 owners that said they preferred the 2.7.
Go for it! Long time F150 owner here. I think we’ve had 8 of them over the years. I’ve no experience with the 2.7L engine, but I’ve been more than happy with every Ford truck we’ve owned. My wife gets a brand new one every 4 years or so.
I think the summary here is that you find that owning a truck is worth it to you. The point is still valid that there is a tipping point for everyone where renting a vehicle and/or paying delivery fees is more economical (and convenient, in the case of deliveries) than owning a truck. The point that most people probably overestimate their “need” for a truck is valid. It seems like you saved a lot of money this year by not having to own your own truck, but the time lost was not worth it to you, personally.
I went through this after leasing/owning 3 trucks in succession to tow my racecar around. I then found myself racing someone else’s car and not needing a truck for that primary use case. I was past the biggest of my home renovations, as well, so I returned the truck at the end of the lease and I didn’t miss it at all. I didn’t mind paying the delivery fees, knowing that I was saving way more elsewhere and enjoying my daily drives in a car 1000x more than I would in a truck.
When I had a truck: I’d find myself looking for truck things to do with it.
When I didn’t have a truck, I didn’t need one.
But I don’t think I could ever live without a hatchback, roof rack, & hitch.
For the job with the small caravan, I find having a spare tow hitch ball and a ride on lawnmower does the trick….
Counterpoint: A Chevy Astro has a tow rating of 5500lbs, which is basically enough for any car trailer + car. They were available in AWD, with a locking rear diff as an option. Cheap, cheap to maintain, short enough to navigate tight trails and back up boat trailers in confined spaces. Keep your expensive trucks, I am all good over here.
When you’re feeling the lack of something so often that it becomes irritating it’s time to get that something. You have the required self-awareness and discipline to know what you really need and get it. I never fully understood just how much I needed my Suburban until I bought it, and if you buy the right thing the satisfaction and relief of having the “right tool” will go a long way.
The fun discussion I’m having with my best friend right now is that he wants a Suburban like mine. The difference is he doesn’t transport 8 people for short-haul or 6 people plus gear on road trips, he never tows a dump trailer in four-wheel drive situations, and he doesn’t do anything close to the bad/off-roading and back-country stuff I do. The killer is that everything he does need to do would be easily handled by the Acura MDX I just sold him six months ago. The MDX will haul seven people (short distances preferred for the two in the 3rd row), putting the seats down gives a generous amount of cargo space, and it’ll tow enough for a decent utility trailer since one thing the Suburban will do directly that the MDX probably won’t is haul 4×8 plywood and drywall. It also has enough 4WD capability that he can handle any dirt trails he’s likely to run and the winter weather in his area. He’s got the money to afford a decent used Suburban but he doesn’t actually need one.
Sometimes you just want what you want. I’m single with no kinds and one dog, and I absolutely love Suburbans and spend a good amount of time looking at them on marketplace. I arguably already have a vehicle that perfectly suits my lifestyle as a mountainbiking dog dad that occasionally off roads and camps (4Runner), but I dream about buying and modding a Suburban for this.
A few years ago, I went to Moab to mtb with friend and we had a Sub for a rental, I fell in love with it. I became the DD, the other guys weren’t fans of big vehicles.
Some people just love to drive pickups. Back around 2004, I had a new F150. My wife drove it one time and it became HER new F150. Ever since, I get her a new one every 4 years. I borrow hers when I need a truck! lol.. I asked her what she loves about them and she said, “It’s big, comfy, safe, has 4×4, I can pull my garden trailer” ..
Years ago I had a coworker tell me once you have a Suburban, you’ll never want to go without one.
Of course his was actually a company vehicle that effectively cost him nothing (the employees that got this perk had to pay a monthly amount to cover “personal use”, but car wash reimbursements on the weekly expense reports magically balanced that out), so his cost/benefit equation was heavily skewed.
This reminds me of my short carfree stint in DC. It was fine, and I could do most stuff I needed, but even with WMATA, car-sharing and an Enterprise office w/in walking distance, there were occasional things that were “all day with copious planning” instead of “grab the keys and be done in 1-2 hours” because of it.
I have no beef with a truck as part of a fleet if you have one. Cowboy caddies as primary vehicles is what rubs me wrong. Tailgating Ram 1500 with laser high beams is a bummer of a personality type.
Our truck is a single cab first-gen Tundra with an eight foot bed. Works great, but not better than a van, for hauling materials and pulling a trailer. It’s just hard to find a reasonably-priced 4×4 van.
You sure you want a diesel? I’d just find a decent gasser and be done with it.
I mean, I’ll also take a decent gasser. I might experiment with an Express 3500, but fixing my jacked up teeth will come first this year so who knows when I’ll actually move forward on my plans.
I drive a 2004 Express 3500 for work. Man, that thing is a boneshaker. I’ve also driven a new 2500 and nothing changed, except the suspension was a bit less brutal. Maybe get an old Ford Ranger or an older midsize truck with the big engine option, put a cap on it, and use it for whenever you need to doodle around.
Of course, the van can fit a whole-ass motorcycle inside, and the lower load floor makes that easier. Unless you wanted to do the van-life thing and build a little home inside and tow your adventure along behind it.
Agree with this, the 2500/3500 gassers get the job done with much less maintenance cost – especially compared to the DEF fluid required newer models. That gets pricey, some people paying to get it ‘deleted’ which is often illegal. My bother swears by GMT800 3500s with 6.0gas & 4L80E. Simple basic maintenance and they keep going and going, even towing a loaded dump trailer and tools. Mercedes, there’s the answer!
For infrequent use and/or short trips a gasser is the way to go.