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.
See, I’m right in the anti-sweet spot (the bitter spot? the turdsniffer spot?) where I’d love to have a big burly diesel truck but can’t justify it.
One of the many facets of my real estate job is construction-related, and I need to do truck things anywhere between 3-4 times a month to 3-4 times a week, depending on whether I’m doing computer work or real physical work at the moment. Most of that truck stuff is capably handled by an old ’94 Ranger, but at least a couple of times a month and sometimes twice that I genuinely need a full-size payload and 8′ bed (say I’m picking up a whole kitchen worth of cabinets from the manufacturer 150 miles away and multiple trips isn’t an option, or I need to haul a trailer with 10,000 pounds of demolition debris to the dump). I’m doing truck stuff too often to deal with the hassle and cost of renting, but not enough to go for a premium truck.
I couldn’t justify the diesel premium, but for years I made do with an old Chevy K2500 454 that I got at an auction for $800. Eventually the age caught up to it after 3 decades, driving long hauls in the SoCal summer at 100+ degrees with no AC got old, and I traded up to a ’15 GMC 2500 with the 6.0 gasser. It’s a dog compared to the Dmax and fuel costs are horrendous (not that an extra 2-3 mpg is worth much when #2 costs 30 cents more than 87 around here), but since I don’t need to daily it and it can do 90% of what a diesel would (albeit with more effort) I think the tradeoff makes sense.
For the use case described here, I’d have a hard time dropping an extra few grand on a diesel versus accepting the limitations of a gasser that will still do what needs to be done and go where needs to be gone, with the caveat that I don’t get to enjoy that shit-eating grin my old powerstroke gave me when I’d take off from a stoplight with 10k worth of trailer and motorcycles hanging off my ass and the truck would act like it didn’t even feel it…
The 454 would pass anything except a gas station. Good memories of my childhood with two of those, except the 1978 and its intermittent vaporlock issues. The 86 was trouble free except for its drinking problem.
After a head gasket and new exhaust studs, mine is still living a good life except as a backup for one of my employees rather than me…
Your experience mirrors mine in that time is the biggest killer. I put off clearing out my garage of both garbage and scrap because of the time required to:
-wire in the trailer connector to my w126 Mercedes (my only vehicle with a hitch, don’t tell Hagerty)
-go to a depot and rent the trailer
-use the trailer for both the scrapyard and dump runs
-return the trailer
The dump and scrapyard are in opposite directions from my work, so I rented the trailer for 2 days. Loaded it with scrap the evening of day one, then delivered the scrap after work day 2, looped home, loaded the dump run, delivered that, THEN returned to the depot before going home.
If my spouse wasn’t off day 2, I wouldn’t have made it to get my daughter off the bus.
Where the time went:
-20 min to the depot, 30 min to get the trailer, 30 min home (thankfully my 5 year old was very patient and loves my old mercedes) so there’s an hour and 10.
-now loading the trailer as I’m on a time crunch, another hour.
Day 2
-leave work, drive 15 minutes to the scrapyard, spend an hour doing the sorting dance, leave $235 richer
-drive 20 mins home
-spend an hour loading up the dump run
-drive 20mins to the dump
-10 mins to unload and pay ($50 cause I was under the weight for the minimum charge)
-30 mins BACK to the trailer depot
-5 min drop-off
-20 mins back home, and an exhausted me.
All of that time burnt, between work, child wrangling, and the physical labour and stress?
That’s why it took me a year to do what I used to do literally whenever I wanted with my F150.
That being said, between the trailer wiring, hitch ball, and trailer rental with insurance for 2 days, I was only out $100 . So technically $135 ahead in the end.
My first 15 years of home ownership were spent pining for a truck whilst trashing the cargo areas of various SUVs and wagons. After purchasing my current home, a fixer-upper in snow country, I told my wife unequivocally that our next vehicle would be a truck (it helped that I inherited a tiny and very fuel efficient convertible that I use as my primary summer vehicle).
Over the last 8 years, I’ve put 120k miles on my truck; hauled countless loads of lumber, tons of brick, topsoil, mulch, and various other crap; camped in the bed on several occasions; moved a metric shit ton of furniture; carried skis, bikes, snowshoes, and SUPs to various local attractions; and towed a 19’ camper all over the Intermountain west.
Trucks rule.
Idk.. that read like you proved their point? Compared to buying a big ass truck you saved thousands and thousands of dollars (tens of thousands if it’s a new super duper doody duty) and just wasted a few hours here and there… Seems like a good trade to me. If you just want a truck… buy one. But financially it still doesn’t make sense.
For a lot of folks, the time is much harder to get than the money. And money isn’t easy to get.
Most people grossly overblow the value their time.
If you want an hour of my work time it’ll cost you £100 per hour or part thereof.
If you want an hour of my sitting-in-front-of-the-TV time it’ll cost you a smile and maybe a slice of cake if there’s any heavy lifting.
If I cared about money I wouldn’t own like 19 vehicles. But working for a small site like this, the *only* free time I have is on Saturday and Sunday. So time is exponentially more valuable for me.
Another thing to note, which you just touched on is *when* that time is available. For a big household project or a camping trip, often it’s easy to plan for a truck/van/trailer. It’s the spur-of-the-moment stuff that’s harder.
If every moped/car part/hard-to-find-only-1000-imported-to-the-US-2-stroke-motorcycle that got listed on craigslist or marketplace would be still be there on Saturday when I had time to coordinate with a friend or plan a convenient rental, I wouldn’t think twice about wanting a truck. But when it’s Tuesday, and someone just listed that 2-stroke bike for REALLY cheap, and it’s only 30 minutes down the interstate, I really really wish I had a truck handy to make that pickup instead of praying Home Depot has a truck or paying $100 in mileage to U-haul.
Only having free time on Sat/Sun is probably 95% of us. The 4-day workweek is long overdue.
If you need a truck that regularly, then you need to suck it up and buy and continue to pay for a truck’s maintenance, insurance, and registration. *I* need a truck roughly never anymore. A rented utility trailer does the job when I need to haul something, and I can tow that with my BMW convertible. But I don’t ever need to haul vehicles. I did rent a Home Depot van for a day last year to do a massive kitchen pickup at IKEA – it was no more expensive than having them deliver the stuff, and much of it was not available for delivery anyway.
I used to tow a boat around for a friend, and in return he let me use the boat the twice a year I felt like going around on a boat. For that and winter beater duty, I had a succession of SUVs, first a Grand Cherokee, then a P38a Range Rover, and now a Land Rover Disco I. But my friend bought his own truck eventually, so the Land Rover mostly sits in my garage in Maine waiting for the rare occasions I am there in the winter, the occasional dump run or need to tow something on a trailer that won’t fit in it in the summer. At least Maine is a state where I can completely take the insurance off it when I am not using it, something that is not possible here in Florida. So even with stiff Maine excise tax every year, it only costs me a few hundred a year to keep the thing.
I learned to drive in my older truck, and I still have it and I was purchased by dad in ’65. However as I was planning to restore it, I needed a trailer to haul it to where it would restored. Well, I got lucky and bought one from my cousin who hauled that beaver tail from Colorado to CA using his Subaru. Empty it was right at the tow limit. I had an F250 single cab (that was weird) at the time. I bought a slide-in camper really cheap from a friend and hauling that camper home was scary. And as an active member of a art/makerspace we were planning a big move, so having a bigger truck and trailer would come in handy. I sold the F250 and bought a ’92 F350 longbed dually with camper attachments already installed. Well, the older truck hasn’t been taken anywhere to be restored, and the camper is on the F350 being used as storage. Of course the older truck has a really sketchy fixed original 2″ ball, and the trailer is 2 1/8″ so I can’t tow the trailer with it. Anyway, I will probably always have a truck.
Beautiful.
Ugg brings back painful memories of the last time I rented. I had a friend drop me off. It took 3 hours, New employee, slow system only one prep person. I would definitely pay a $100 a year registration to never have to do that again.
Plus insurance, maybe inspection, definitely maintainence, parking hassles, etc. Add all that up and an almost never three hour slog is going to look like a bargain.
Perhaps, but I put my money where my mouth is, I bought a truck in 2022 as a third standby vehicle.
Classic plates, cheap insurance, do my own maintainence.
It is about $350 a year all in but when either daily vehicle breaks it is a godsend to just grab the other keys and go.
I understand Its not for everyone.
Certainly not where it all adds up to much more than $350/year.
I think for you, as long as this next year is like last year for you, you could be justified in owning a truck, especially if you are still planning to condense your fleet. The truck could become your centralised tow pig/hauler/reliable backup vehicle.
A mid 2010’s Dodge Ram could be had for decent money and providing that it’s been cared for, it’s probably what I’d pull the trigger on right now if I needed a truck. Probably doesn’t help that I have an irrational liking for the Cummins B series, even though I have no use for one.
Irrational?
No.
Shopping for a truck in a ridiculous market, it was easy to decide not to even look at anything but diesel.
With prices higher than I was happy with, quickly decided if I had to spend that much, I wasn’t buying anything but a Cummins.
Remember the “That’s not a knife!” conversation?
Some people are unaware the proper Cummins have to be uprated to handle the weight and torque.
Only a big block gas engine is comparable at all.
The surprize for me is how much I actually enjoy driving something so capable.
I would have been happy with the utility of a non turbo, but wasn’t finding deals that fit.
No regrets.
Twenty years from now, the streets will be lined with the burned to the axles hulks of battery cars too toxic for anyone to touch, while remaining diesels growl past them, survivors running on any volatiles left.
Thank you for proving that renting a truck does not work for people who work their truck. Don’t feel any kink shame and just buy the truck when you can afford it. Get what works for you. And don’t forget to tell us about it.
Mercedes ALREADY owns a truck. That Tourag – when it works – is capable of towing over 7700 lbs. And her parents own two bigger trucks yet they are perpetually broken. Why would buying yet another moneypit truck help?
Because in the fine David Tracy tradition, she can then write more articles about how mundane normal tasks become daunting tests of fortitude and ingenuity because poor decisions were made and all the methodologies one would normally use to complete such a task are unavailable because she doesn’t have access to a single reliable vehicle, but instead juggles a fleet of perpetually broken shitboxes for our entertainment.
I hope then Cheryl (not her real name) is on board with that plan.
She knew what she was getting into when she said “I do.”
If anyone can find a loophole in “I do” it’s a lawyer.
I won’t argue that.
That is not a truck. That is a crossover.
She needs a truck because her parent’s trucks keep breaking down. Plus it’s extra writing fodder.
Per the EPA I’m pretty sure its classified as a truck:
https://www.theautopian.com/how-the-epa-decides-what-is-a-car-and-what-is-a-truck/
And its Mercedes’s parents that need a new truck. She just needs to convince them that gifting their current unreliable POS headache on her is the best thing to do. That gets them a new truck and Mercedes free writing fodder.
Does it have a bed? Then it’s not a truck.
According to the EPA my Mazda 5 is a truck. With all its seats folded flat it sure hauls like one. Given how I’ve used it to do many truck things like haul major appliances, multiple full beer kegs and construction scrap they are quite correct.
I’ll give you it’s a nice van. But just because a rental car company call a Corolla a mid size car doesn’t make it so.
Why not? As I said I use it for truck things, probably more than most people use even jacked up 4×4 diesel trucks for truck things.
Because it’s a van.
The EPA classifies it as a 2wd minivan. I don’t know where you got the idea it’s classified as a truck.
Per Figure F.1. Regulatory Car or Truck Flow Cart:
https://www.theautopian.com/how-the-epa-decides-what-is-a-car-and-what-is-a-truck/
Is the vehicle GVWR more than 10,000 lbs?
No
Is the vehicle GVWR more than 8,500 lbs?
No
Does the vehicle
No
Does the vehicle have 3rd row seating?
Yes
Does the vehicle permit expanded cargo capacity through the removal or stowing of foldable or pivoting seats to create a flat, leveled cargo surface?
Yes
Vehicle regulatory classification is a Truck
So yes the Mazda 5 – according to the EPA – is a truck.
Go to fueleconomy.gov. You know, a government web site. Look up Mazda 5, under specs. It says the actual EPA classification, not your interpretation of it. Here’s the caveat I’ll offer. Minivan may be a subset of truck. But that still makes it a van.
“Pickup trucks, vans, and minivans are all classified as light trucks under NHTSA’s regulatory definitions, while sedans, coupes, and wagons are generally classified as cars. Sport utility vehicles can fall into either category, depending on the relevant attributes of the specific vehicle.”
https://www.epa.gov/automotive-trends/about-automotive-trends-data
Not a pickup, but a truck. So no bed required
So, we’re arguing 2 different things. And thus have exposed the problem of trying to classify cars by government regulation.
The EPA classified the PT Cruiser as a truck as well, so they’re a little sus in my book.
I don’t know about the parent angle. It might be considered child abuse if they dropped either of those rigs on her. Besides, she’s looking at Vans which are right up your alley.
I disagree. It’d be so much worse to sell it to a stranger. Mercedes knows the history and with the money saved she has a budget to fix what comes. She also has a great network of knowledgeable folks to help diagnose problems, maybe even to come help wrench.
Besides this wouldn’t be her main vehicle but an occasionally used one.
What I really need to know is what engine is in the Super Duty.
Its a big, thirsty V8. Or maybe a V10.
What else do you need to know.
Details. Is it gas or diesel? If it’s gas is it the 5.4 3 valve. You don’t want that engine.
https://youtu.be/xcN_WcGr4BU?si=BGdp_s8glED-7rQB
A 2016 F-350 will either have the 6.2L gas engine, or a 6.7 Diesel. I would have no problem with the gas engine.
Thank you.
I bought an older cheaper truck because I can treat it like a farm truck, slumbering for weeks at a time until needed. This means I have a backup car, the means to haul bargain furniture, or motorcycles at a moments notice plus lumber, gardening stuff and the occasional rented camper or mini excavator. It works for me because insurance is cheap, I paid cash and do my own work. YMMV.
My son takes the same approach, while it gets lousy mileage his old Suburban handles backwoods hijinks, car parts and the occasional trailer with aplomb, and no payments
Please don’t buy more than you need.
I say this while thinking about the story here within the past year, about (quickly paraphrased from memory):
NHTSA revised its reporting method for this last year’s fatalities report, to attribute fatalities to both vehicles involved in an MVA, not just the vehicle of the dead person. (There may also have been an adjustment to reckoning re pedestrian accidents? Not sure.) The result was that the top five spots in fatalities per mile driven, not in order, were
Dodge Charger and Challenger
Ford 3 series trucks
Chevy/GMC 3 series trucks
Ram 3 series trucks.
Most of the stuff we tow is pretty light and doesn’t require a big pickup or van. I’ve hauled a small tractor, motorcycles with sidecars, and 1200 points of wood pellet fuel with a 4 by 8 trailer towed by a Transit Connect van. And I only need to tow when it won’t fit in the van, which can easily haul a motorcycle or 1200 pounds of whatever all by itself. Gets 25 MPG on cheap E85 or 29 MPG on regular, even the diesel pickups can’t beat that!
Counter-point: you should have to have a special license.
Otherwise you can ram a barricade and kill 15 people for the price of a down payment, or even just a rental.
Trucks are weapons you can occasionally use as tools. They’re like a white man with a goatee: a social signal of intended violence barely held at bay.
Signed,
a 5000lb long bed f-150 owner
This is so wrong I’m not even sure is this sarcasm?
Most large SUV’s, vans, trucks and EV’s are around 5000lbs empty, do you know the sheer amount of vehicles that fall into that category, mail trucks, pluming vehicles, contractors, landscapers, any family of 5 or more. And that is before we even get into real large vehicles, busses, moving trucks, commercial vans.
So you just made it so 40% of all drivers now need a special licence, what is the cost of that? Do they need a special test at the DMV? Now we need to hire tens of thousands more DMV workers and the economic losses of people wasting time to take the test, is there a background check involved too for these “weapons”? What disqualifies someone? Are we about to put people out of work or force someone to sell their personal vehicle? We’re talking billions in cost.
Even if you did all this the criminal/terrorist/psychopath will slip through the cracks or just steal it.
Also the barracades were down.
What is the economic cost of people needlessly driving 5000 lb+ vehicles? The gas, the wear on roads, the noise, the pedestrian deaths. If that comes out to less than “billions” I’ll write you a check this instant.
Call the plumbing vans etc commercial vehicles, which they are. CDLs exist, it’s not so crazy that there would be a lower class of CDLs. You’re responsible for the load, both in terms of weight and it being secured for safe operation of the vehicle on public roadways.
Yes. You could be a CDL-licensed psychopath or terrorist and crush a crowd with a dump truck. But there are far fewer of those people than regular angry jack offs than can rent a 5 or 7 or 9000 pound “passenger” vehicle and slam it into a crowd.
In the real world, phase it out. You don’t have to sell right now but you need a higher license or to disgorge the asset by 2030. Decide which is more important to you and plan accordingly.
I’m pretty sure semis do exponentially more damage to the road than even, say, 10,000-pound vehicles do.
And, I failed my driver’s test 4 times before passing on the 5th attempt, likely because of anxiety with a stranger in the car. So far since then I’ve been driving accident-free for 12 years and roughly 110,000 miles.
I wouldn’t wish those damn tests on anyone. I don’t know what a better form would be, but the current form isn’t it.
Yeah the difference between a 3000 lb car and a 5000 lb truck is negligible once 80,000 lb semis are using the road too.
How many fully loaded semis are using suburban roads?
Got one in the yard next to me.
Is it fully loaded?
Sometimes.
You have interesting neighbors.
With good taste in coffee.
How many suburban roads that don’t have heavy truck traffic are in bad shape?
City streets around me get repaved once every couple decades if that. And that’s in a state with a lot of freeze/thaw cycles.
Depends how well that city is run. Our suburban streets were repaved recently but for many years before that the potholes were quite bad and that’s in an area with no freeze/thaw cycles.
More than you’d think.
I’m at the end of a rural road that is narrow and began as a dirt road that got extended and eventually paved.
A surprising number of semis deliver building materials here, not sure how.
Across the road cattle come and go on big trucks.
Turning around and making 90 degree turns is pushing the limits sometimes.
YMMV. Around here its all hat and no cattle so no semis picking those up.
lol
No trailer, but there’s often a semi tractor in a suburban driveway near me. I doubt the roads are fond of the 35,000-ish pounds that represents, either, but at the same time I’m just thrilled that the amount of times it’s been there means there can’t possibly be an HOA in this area.
If you think the road isn’t fond of that weight imagine what the driveway feels.
The cost of a freeway that doesn’t have to support semis and heavier, is so much cheaper, it is practically free.
They have proposed separating heavy transport from light vehicles for cost and safety reasons.
Source
DOT engineers
Roads are pretty much completely unaffected by a 5k vehicle, they are built to withstand a 20,000lb vehicle+.
I agree on the increased gas or electricity cost, but it’s probably easier to just increase efficiency by adding hybrids or by better aerodynamics.
I can only quantify pedestrian part of your question in 1992 there were ~5500 ped deaths in the US. 27 years later it was ~6590
The US population increased 22% in the same time. Adjusting for population that’s an increase of about 50, let’s assume all of this increase is from trucks .
The CDC values a American life at $10,000,000.
That’s a cost of $500 million.
We can probably do better by truly banning phones from cars, those things are responsible for so many troubles.
I can only quantify pedestrian part of your question in 1992 there were ~5500 ped deaths in the US. 27 years later it was ~6590
In 2009 it had dropped to 4109 deaths. Coincidentally that reversed right about the time bigger, angrier trucks (and SUVs) became popular.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/02/28/u-s-pedestrian-deaths-reach-highest-level-since-1990-infographic/
Essentially all the gains of the previous 20 years have been more than wiped out by big ass angry trucks.
Most common last words by pedestrians are, “I have the right of way.”
And they’re technically correct; however this is a rare case where technically correct is NOT the best kind of correct.
Thats right around the time smartphones (distractions) started really taking hold as well. I’m sure everyone here sees people messing with phones while driving all the time. Mythbusters had a episode about that comparing to drinking and driving – was really eye opening
Perhaps a coincidence but I have a feeling 95% of that has to do with cell phones, (especially internet connected ones) becoming more popular.
Also infotainment screens in cars are much more common after 2009.
And the avergae age of the U. S. Population has gotten older since 2009.
There is no real way to seperate exactly which one contributed the most.
Sure there is. Shut off all the cell networks for a month and see what happens.
Traffic is far denser than in the past.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed just driving around during the start of the pandemic.
I had thought I was an idiot when I used to go just to be going, years ago.
If I could apex corners, even better.
It was better then.
And, as predicted, people started getting crazy.
Thanks for getting into the actuarial calculations. You put together a good breakdown.
I 1000% agree, I wish phone use laws were enforced. Literally everyday I see people completely focused on TikTok, swiping something, video calling, all while trusting they’re so good at driving they’re just going to end up wherever they go safe and sound (note that what happens to others is a non-issue in this arrangement).
I agree that semis are vastly more damaging to roadways (which is handy because, y’know, physics says the same thing) but there’s definitely an appreciable (*citation needed) impact from the high volume of passenger and light commercial vehicles becoming heavier and heavier by default.
Re: all the hideous things about trucks being a weapon, I stand by it, but admit to posting in anger. There are so many loud, angry-faced, jacked up trucks covered in gun stickers that are so bleakly anti-social that I guess I’m actually despairing of it. It’s so prevalent that even factory trucks are more than five feet high at the hood (see MH’s mini-review of the 2500). Why? Why does every single thing have to be a manifestation of “fuck you I got mine?”
I do so much despise the higher hood line on trucks, it looks bad, it reduces vision and it makes working on them hard, you shouldn’t need a stool to check your oil. I miss small trucks like the Ranger or S-10
You are right about passenger vehicles causing some road wear.
Back of the napkin math here:
Typical truck/suv pressure 35psi
Semi ~100-110 psi about 3x higher
4 wheels vs 18 4/18= 22% the amount of tires
If we strictly look at this we would expect a semi to cause about 15x more damage than a truck. However asphalt has some plasticity meaning if it’s strength is not exceeded it will bounce back. I don’t know how to quantify that though.
The more tire and more axles you have, the more the weight is distributed, and less per square inch.
But a moving truck is not a static load, so the suspension affects impact on the roadway same as a better suspension has less impact on the tow vehicle as well as the trailer.
There are complex physics involved.
I agree pickups are generally too tall, as does a friend that works on hetts and hemts, so big they require a crane to change a tire.
I prefer the sightlines on my 1998 dodge, and the lower drag and width.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_power_law
It’s much, much higher than that, unfortunately. (This doesn’t do much to back up my original point, but my original-original post was some anger at the state of things with a little bit of sand kicked over it to make sure I irritated everyone, including myself).
At any rate, thanks for not being a dick and letting me get my bad takes out into the world without too much guff.
Thanks I completely forgot about the fourth power law.
I too appreciate this conversation, there is not many websites that can have a civil discourse in the comments.
Your 5000# threshold will include a surprisingly large percentage of EVs, and yes, the psychopath will slip through the special licensing system.
I agree.
Biden banned nearly all new fuel powered vehicles before leaving office.
A final middle finger to the citizens and all useful transport!
Oh?
“Does The New EPA Regulation Ban Gas Cars?
Let’s get this out of the way. No, President Biden and the EPA are not banning gas cars.
You’ll likely seen Biden’s political rivals refer to this new EPA standard as a “gas car ban.” To be fair the administration has made no secret that the purpose of the EPA standard is to encourage electrified vehicle production, be it hybrids or BEVs.
However, Biden’s political rivals have spoken out against his agenda, of course, with the biggest criticism being that the President is removing consumer choice by forcing EVs into the market. Some political ads have even gone as far as to say Biden is banning the sale of new gas cars. Again, those ads are false.
The truth is there is no specific language in the EPA standard that mandates a ban on ICE vehicles or requires OEMs produce a certain amount of EVs. The rule strictly focuses on emissions allowed over the entire line of vehicles sold by an automaker. The easy way for OEMs to meet the new standard is to produce more PHEVs and BEVs, but they aren’t required to do so. If an automaker reduces emissions by making cleaner gas-fed vehicles, that also works.
also:
“Where the automakers are having a slight sigh of relief is that the ramp-up in the new standard is slower than in the previous one. Which allows automakers to lean more on plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) as a stopgap buying more time to increase EV production.”
https://www.motortrend.com/news/epa-rules-biden-administration-gas-car-ban/
So you can calm down now.
The edict I refer to was very recent and is said to limit normal car production to one third of those sold.
It will no doubt be reversed immediately, but it seems to prove a depraved heart in its intent.
So lets see a link.
All I can find are stories saying he signed California’s EPA waiver.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5055521-california-gas-car-ban-uncertainty/
And one right wing dog whistle opinion:
“Beginning next year, 40% of new cars sold in the U.S. will fall under Soviet-style production quotas set by government bureaus in Sacramento. The Biden administration is letting California make it a crime to sell too many of the conventional automobiles that Americans prefer. ”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/dec/26/editorial-biden-signs-last-minute-ban-gasoline-pow/
Is this what you were talking about? Because its just fearmongering.
I can’t find the original story I read, but it was from the same feed I get autopian from.
Really, why would you be surprised?
It might be a ruling affecting California compliant states only, pretty significant.
My first Italian car was California compliant because why bother with building two versions if Americans are stupid enough to go along with that idiocy?
I have followed battery technology most of my life.
I own electric bikes and they barely make sense now.
The latest push to ruin cars for another generation is why my pickup is a tier zero diesel, and if my Toyota wasn’t low mileage, I’d replace it too.
Really, why would you be surprised?
Its not surprising because this is very old news.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4544240-electric-vehicle-shift-rule-biden-administration-finalizes/
What was signed was barely warm news 9 months ago.
It might be a ruling affecting California compliant states only
it does:
“Eleven other states and Washington, D.C. — which combined with California make up more than 30 percent of the nation’s car market — have adopted California’s rule, meaning they, too, are poised for a shift away from gas cars.”
pretty significant perhaps, cutting edge news not so much.
“The latest push to ruin cars for another generation”
Pretty sure those kids will be just fine. There’s plenty else to do other than deal with smelly, stinky, noisy cars. Like fix the damage burning all that coal and oil has already done, cleaning up the lead, paying off the national debt, taking care of their elders, etc.
You forgot “useful”
We will be giving that up.
And don’t forget the social cost untested technology foists on those that can’t afford to fight back with cubic blocks of cash, or by re-engineering deadend designs as some of us learned to do.
Battery vehicles are nothing but a massive wealth transfer that will force more people into poverty.
There are multiple issues with battery vehicles, and the numbers just don’t add up.
I’m now upgrading my battery setups on my vehicles, as just that simple system is outdated and inadequate as lead batteries have been crappified. If lithium batteries are viable technology, I should be switching to those.
There is some evidence that the more explosive response of lithium batteries allow you to use smaller batteries.
Even if so, is it safe?
Besides electric bikes, I have an electric motorcycle kit, less batteries.
I got it when the nickel metal battery pack catastrophically destroyed the engineers shop that built it.
A common story really.
I’m leaning towards more odyssey pure lead batteries.
Larger primary conductors with better connectors are called for, and diodes and breakers in the heavy starter circuits.
A diesel truck that won’t start in cold weather is just a 7000 lb paperweight.
Aftermarket companies offer decent wiring kits at stunning prices.
The market seems to keep them in business.
A couple of years ago I learned that Illinois is actually one of a handful of states that requires the owners of large vehicles (over 16k pounds) to get an upgraded license in the proper weight class. It’s basically a CDL, but with the requirements for commercial drivers taken out. The exception to the rule is someone driving the largest U-Haul offering. Otherwise, even RV owners have to get a weight class endorsement.
I’ve been wanting to get one since I learned about it. Sure, dad (a former heavy trucker) taught me everything I know, but I want to prove it, legally. But, Illinois has a barrier in that you cannot drive the test vehicle to the test to get the license you need to drive the test vehicle. The test vehicle also has to fit into the desired class. So, I can’t rent a U-Haul for the Class A test. I’d need to bring a semi and a trailer.
I’m hoping to cash in on a favor this year and make it happen! Of course, you’ll read what it’s like.
Get your CDL! Every March there’s a big “Work Truck Show” in Indianapolis and if you’ve got a CDL you can test drive the trucks! And when you need a moving truck, just call International, Daimler, etc.. but you’ll have to talk them down to something smaller than a semi-tractor…
Are you kidding? The annual physicals, schooling, etc. required (at least here in PA) is enormous between a CDL and a non-commercial class A license.
I’d love to get a non-commercial class A just for the hell of it, since that doesn’t require the physicals or formal schooling, but it’d still require me to find a tutor with a vehicle in said classification.
Minnesota lets you get around the DOT Physicals by claiming “agricultural exempt” status.
A potential risk is an insurance company asking for medical confirmation.
I’m about to take a class and get the motorcycle endorsement, as that will get me a discount on auto insurance, and inspires confidence in insurers.
A Class F commercial endorsement is easy to get if you can pass tests, and was enough to allow me to drive a flatbed wrecker.
I think the rental truck and RV businesses are the reason there are some exceptions in licensing for personal use.
A semi trailer used for personal use has a lot of exceptions.
Same federal rule exempts semis transporting bodies!
Didn’t know that was a thing!
I recently got commercial insurance for an over the road cargo truck with a 26 foot box.
It wasn’t easy, but with restrictions it was very cheap and did not require a CDL.
I could not allow anyone else to drive and it covered personal use only. It was also stated value only.
Uhaul ripped me off big-time last time I rented.
NOT a bargain!
Oooh, what a great write up that would be! I’ve been interested for years but never taken the leap, despite being nudged by some of our own lovely commentors (as a measure to help with employability in the face of a turbulent tech sector).
What a weird rule, can you get someone else with a CDL to drive you and the TV to the test facility?
It’s just because if someone is driving it there, they don’t have that license yet so they are breaking the law…all it is, is that they have to have those policies in place otherwise it contradicts already existing traffic laws
Nah. Special license, like a CDL? That jerk Daryl Brooks did the same type of evil in an old Ford Escape a couple years back mowing down people in the Waukesha Christmas parade.
It’s probably time to just make murder a crime.
Definitely if you can swing it, owning a truck for truck things is a great convenience. The whole reason I own my 2000 Ranger electric is we bought a house, and I knew I’d need a truck for picking up big materials or bringing demo’d stuff to the dump. I also didn’t want to deal with the hassle of a lot of extra maintenance and was looking at maybe converting a truck but then found the Ranger Electric and it’s been perfect for my needs.
Sounds like you need something bigger for all the hauling, maybe a F150 Powerboost or Ramcharger would make more sense than a diesel, though sounds like you’re wanting at least a superduty size for occasional camper towing.
The feeling of having a vehicle that can do almost anything at a moments notice, available to you all the time, is priceless.
My only advice is to skip the diesel power and get something gas. You write enough stories about issues with unreliable vehicles, don’t compound the issue by breaking down in a modern diesel while towing in the middle of nowhere. Gas trucks have become very capable and are much cheaper to run, even with the lower MPG.
Didn’t see this before I wrote my whole screed about settling for a gasser but yes, co-sign.
Mercedes HAS such a vehicle, the Toureg. It’s tow rated for 7700+ lbs. And her parents who live 20 minutes away own TWO big ass trucks that never seem to be running when she needs them.
The feeling of having a vehicle that can do almost anything at a moments notice, available to you all the time, is priceless..unless it is broken when you need it. Then its just a big, heavy financial anchor. Which might well be the next chapter in this saga.
That is why my advice, as always, is to ditch diesel, ditch VW, and get something she can count on.
Nothing is going to be perfect all the time, but it’s all about increasing ones odds.
Better to convince her parents to get tow rigs they can count on or else they’ll be the ones constantly borrowing hers. If they can gift her one and she can use the proceeds from the Diesel and VW culling for DIY repairs so much the better.
A diesel truck would be a content-generator and a haul vehicle (except when it’s broken, obviously). A reliable gasoline truck is boring. Strangely enough, the examples she cites of her parents’ trucks does not exactly paint a shining picture of reliability for modern trucks. Fragged differentials and busted driveshafts? Either they’re being ridden real hard, or the much vaunted ‘reliability’ of heavy body-on-frame vehicles isn’t quite up to par. Especially since this is the type of stuff that Detroit has been building for decades.
Imagine if Mercedes only had a fleet of reliable Toyota and Honda ‘Holy Grails’.
“My neglected Camry started up and ran fine after sitting for months” lacks pizazz for a story. Same with “Cheryl’s Civic went over 200,000 miles on the highway with basic maintenance”.
Nobody would read about David restoring a Corolla. The people demanded the most thrashed Jeeps for adventuring.
I’m happy to live vicariously through others.
I noticed this too, but all the examples seemed like they were A) from the Yukon, and B) indicative of a hard life. Besides the diff and driveshaft you mentioned, a busted wheel too?
As for me, I’d rather read more stuff like the Can Am review or the rescue of the ’48 Plymouth, either of which require a working truck, than another article about another broken down diesel, but perhaps others disagree.
In fairness to the Super Duty and the Yukon, my parents don’t do much research before buying a vehicle. They just walk into a dealership and ask for something that can tow 8,000 pounds. I’ve long offered to be their eyes and ears for these purchases, but they always buy while I’m out on a trip or doing something else. So I end up seeing them after the fact and usually I end up wincing.
The Super Duty had low mileage, but someone jacked up the steering trying to do a cheap lift. It took a lot of tossing out crap aftermarket parts with OEM stuff and then getting it all aligned before the truck finally drove like it should.
The Yukon was just roughed up in its previous life. Lots of rust and body damage from who knows what kind of abuse, so I’m not surprised about the other failures. But that is an improvement over the Expedition EL that they had until about 2020. That one was so rough it burned down on the highway. The black spot can still be found etched into the shoulder on I-355 today.
I have no doubt if my parents paid attention to this stuff they’d end up with better cars.
That makes a ton of sense then. Obviously anything can be “unreliable” if it’s neglected or abused.
“In fairness to the Super Duty and the Yukon, my parents don’t do much research before buying a vehicle. They just walk into a dealership and ask for something that can tow 8,000 pounds”
In fairness to your parents this criticism is coming from someone who does all the research and buys weird German time bombs anyway.
That ticking ain’t just a sticky lifter…..
Yes. I have a bunch of friends with diesel trucks both old and new and they all break down and are costly to run. Diesel is expensive, you have to buy DEF, there’s always some problems with the emissions. I have a buddy with a 7.3 and another with and LBZ which are supposedly so good and they have nothing but problems. I love trucks and diesels but I’d never ever own one.
Modern gas engines are incredibly good, and modern diesels continue to get worse, for the most part. The gap in capability has come down a lot and the gap in maintainability has grown significantly.
I say this as a former (the stupid broken truck is finally gone as of a few days ago) diesel owner who liked it up until everything on the truck, including the engine, started to fall apart. I went gas for the replacement and so far I’m not really missing the diesel. I may once I start towing long distances and have to stop every couple hundred miles to fill up, but otherwise the new truck drives better and should have less long-term issues than the old one.
Welcome to the dark side!
If you have a boat or camper, are into home improvement, or have a property with a lot of trees, you need a truck. It doesn’t have to be a brand new bro-dozer or cost a small fortune, but “need a truck” comes up so often it just makes sense to have one on hand.
We’re moving to a 5 acre property next year, so I’m actually shopping for a small tractor.
Basically, it’s lifestyle choices, but if you’ve chosen a particular lifestyle, you need the right equipment.
Mercedes, you need a truck. Or maybe a small box van big enough to carry a Smart or two, as long as it can also pull a trailer.
I own a truck and it’s a very useful thing. However I don’t want it to rust into the ground so for 4 months out of the year, I don’t drive it and I get by fine with my cars. Generally I need the truck for working on my property and I don’t work on my property in the winter. That said, I’m building a house on that property right now and it would be handy once in a while. I wish my truck weren’t a rare old truck that I care about some days.
Really, you’re just the exception that proves the rule.
Some people make lifestyle choices where owning a truck makes sense. You happen to be one of those people. You have numerous things that need a truck to move around, and have hobbies that often require a truck.
For nearly everyone else, even most of the people I know that own a truck, they really only need one 5-10 times in their LIFE.
But even for you, the time wasted in logistics probably does not add up to the time you will spend on maintaining whatever tow vehicle you get. Especially if you consider the time = money of the money for the truck.
And, you need to borrow trucks anyway to check them out as part of your career so it’s not even really time wasted except on the Uhaul.
I agree completely. Mercedes clearly has many times when they could come in handy, but I bet many (not all, but many) truck drivers are focusing on hypotheticals or once-a-year events.
I’ve always had sportscars then for a while there I had a Tacoma and now I’m back in a sportscar and honestly I never miss the Taco more than I do in the Home Depot parking lot.
I had an older truck (close to 20 year old full size) that was good to great and very handy. Cheap to buy, own and maintain. But I found I was using it more than anticipated. So that got me to thinking I need a newer truck since I did occasionally do longer distance things and issues like comfort, safety, reliability etc were nagging so I got a brand new full size truck. It was great. But…then I started to really notice the insurance bill, the payment even though it was at 0% and I had the cash in the bank, the fact that the fuel mileage wasn’t much better than the old truck never mind what the sticker said it should be, and I finished the major longer distance projects…And a fullsize truck in town just kind of sucks no matter what people say. So then the new truck went away.
Now there’s no truck. Just a midsize older wagon that I realized I can actually tie random 4×8 sheets of drywall and plywood to the roofrack and drive locally. A 36×60 bathtub fits in the back with the lifegate closed. I’ve rented from Home Depot (yeah it’s not $20 for the WHOLE DAY like that one commenter said, it’s 75 minutes, then it goes up a lot) and need to rent something next week from UHaul for a dump run for large stuff that won’t go in the wagon and needs to go before the neighbors start complaining…
In the end there is no one size fits all option. You’re gonna pay in money or time or inconvenience. We’re half-heartedly looking around for a small old truck that can be minimally insured and sit in the extra side parking spot but grossly overloaded those few times a year when it’s handy. But I already know it’ll nickel dime me with a battery here, tires there, and whatever else…
And no, no trailer desired. A whole ‘nother waste of time once you add in attaching, detaching, checking lights, bearings, dealing with crappy tires, etc. Most trailers are just an RV without the living arrangement, i.e. total garbage that seem to require more maintenance than the car they’re attached to.
A station wagon with a trailer hitch is hard to beat unless you need to tow really big things. And even then I managed to tow a Series Land Rover on a U-haul car hauler trailer home with a Volvo 745 when the truck I borrowed to do that task crapped out on the way. And the sad thing is that the Volvo handled that load better than the craptastic GMC SUV did (the one based on the S-10, can’t remember what the POS’s are called). It’s good to have actual suspension and brakes in your tow vehicle…
I used to own a Harbor Freight utility trailer and used the heck out of it, co-owned it with my best friend. But these days I just rent one when I need it for $20.
I’d actually love to find a nice mid-80’s Buick Electra full-size wagon to keep around just for “pickup truck” duty, but the cost is too much for how much I’d actually use it. But I have a soft spot for those Plywood Pleasure Palaces of my mis-spent youth.
I’ve done the rent/borrow thing for 6+ months between Jeeps to tow my boat, camper, or motos. Often the rental contracts at Enterprise (and the rest) stipulate no towing and most of their trucks don’t have hitches or wiring. Enterprise Truck Rental units can tow but those locations are harder to come by.
I do still rent U-Haul trailers regularly to tow my motorcycles, get lumber or yard materials, etc. Even with a Ram 1500 now in the fleet.
IMO if you own a trailer or anything that can’t be moved except by towing, then owning something that you can tow it with (like a truck) is absolutely justified, perhaps even mandatory.
Did you see the article earlier about how manual, 4×4 trucks (and especially diesels) are shooting up in price? You might want to shop around, but I bet renting starts looking good again.
Automatics are plentiful and cheaper.
I mean, I don’t think anyone faults people for owning trucks if the trucks get used frequently for towing/hauling, like 2-3 times a month or more. Like it doesn’t make sense to own a giant camper, and not have a truck to tow it with. Although I suppose one could argue that it doesn’t really make sense to own a giant camper either…
I think it should be mentioned that I feel a lot of things you wanted to tow could have easily been pulled by your Touareg. Seems a bit whacky to have an SUV “tow vehicle” that you don’t tow with.
I wouldn’t trust a modern vw to make it to the corner under its own weight, much less towing. My FIL, an air cooled VW specialist, agrees. He can’t see how a car company could go from fantastic to crap that badly
Is it really any different than the droves of people who own Porsches or Corvette ZR1s and never take them to the track? I bought it because it was a dream vehicle. The V10 TDI is pretty much the worst choice if your goal is getting work done reliably. 🙂
Also, the Touareg has a tongue weight limit of 770 pounds, so it can’t safely tow any of the family campers (I sold the U-Haul camper). I’m looking for an all-in-one sort of solution here, hence the 1-ton vans. One of those will tow everything in my fleet and anything my parents own.
“Is it really any different than the droves of people who own Porsches or Corvette ZR1s and never take them to the track.”
Yes, yes it is.
How many people own Porsches or Corvette ZR1s and rent/borrow other Porsches or Corvette ZR1s at the track? I’m pretty sure that is vanishingly few people.
You own a tow vehicle, why not use it to tow? Especially to move a small camper 75 feet?
I didn’t buy it to tow things. Do dream cars need to be used as they were designed? I use cars how I want to. I off-road Smarts and don’t use my fragile dream car as a work vehicle. Silly, I know.
The Touareg parks in a climate controlled unit with 5 other cars and 3 motorcycles. Sadly, the arrangement sucks where whichever vehicle is parked in the rear requires every other vehicle to be moved to get it out. On that day the unlucky vehicle was the Treg. So I chose the rental.
Some readers have complained about story length so I’m trying not to include every single possible detail in a story anymore.
I can’t wait until I own a house.
Maybe I’m getting lost in the churn which is not surprising since there are so many similar vehicles bought and sold. Which Touareg are you talking about here?
The Touareg parks in a climate controlled unit with 5 other cars and 3 motorcycles. Sadly, the arrangement sucks where whichever vehicle is parked in the rear requires every other vehicle to be moved to get it out. On that day the unlucky vehicle was the Treg. So I chose the rental.
My comment assumed at that time you still had the crash damaged off roading V6 you used to tow that camper home. I’d be afraid of firing up that finest German unobtanium V10 too. It would help to briefly list the vehicles you still have so we can all be one the same page.
Silly, I know.
I’m sorry to say yes it is given your modest finances and living situation. 6+ cars and 3 motorcycles is a lot for a two person household, especially one with access to press and family vehicles.
I sold the VR6 back in March, so the only one I have left is the V10.
Other than the celebrated Hertz Mustang*, is renting out race cars even a thing? If so, I had no idea. Outside of racing schools, I don’t see how this could be a viable business model. The “you break it you bought it” clause would have to be pretty ironclad.
* Which you were contractually obligated NOT to race, at least for Hertz’s second go around with the concept.
No idea. I don’t race.
While not racecars, you can rent sports cars and exotics at some tracks. There’s an ad that shows up on Facebook every summer telling me I can rent a Lamborghini at some Chicago track.
Sounds like fun, and the only way I’d ever get to drive a vehicle like that. I think I’ll stick with my Miata though – I’m afraid driving an exotic would be like trying meth: quite an experience, but the start of an expensive and ruinous addiction. For me, the only winning move is not to play.
When I went to my first SCCA Club Racing school, my instructor gave me some sage advice: Don’t bring it to the track unless you can afford to leave it there. This is why is why I endurance-race a neon but only drive my Porsche on the street!
Yep
Personally, I’m on the rent or borrow side. That being said, you are right. Some people need trucks. You would use it for truck stuff enough to justify it. My father in law uses his extensively fir hauling greasy car parts. My dad, fire wood. My stepfather, he is a farmer. So I guess I’m modifying my stance. Get a truck if ya want. Me personally, I’ll stay with my subcompact.
Edit: I’m going about this wrong. EVERYONE should own a truck… except me. That way I have options when I need to bum a ride, or a haul.
Mercedes already has a truck capable of doing most of those jobs.