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.
We have a farm truck, used for farm stuff. Hauling hay, gravel, shavings, feed, towing a horse trailer a few times a year (ironically for other people with horses who’s trucks where unavailable). Putting about 2k miles/year on it for the last 10 years.
I know exactly how much we’ve spent on gas/insurance/services I was uncomfy doing/etc and can say…. we could have gotten away with rentals. That said, I don’t regreat the purchase. It was used, and not a StAtUs sYmBol so the fact that it’s old doesn’t really impact it’s utility nor has the lack of carplay caused any meltdowns.
Showing up at a horse show using a u-haul…. haven’t seen that one before but it would be hilarious.
Same here. I’ve had a spare vehicle about as long as I’ve been out of college, which comes in handy here and there…and why not make it be a truck?
Before we got our truck and trailer, we ran into the problem that a) you could rent a truck but you couldn’t tow a 3rd party trailer, and b) you could rent a horse trailer, but only if you owned the tow vehicle.
Spent nearly $10k rebuilding our farm truck’s engine last year, she better dang well last as long as we have horses.
The Touareg V10 couldn’t handle moving the trailer?
You’re definitely a use case thats more in line with having a truck on hand. Once you own a trailer, or keep it at a storage yard where you could be asked to move it at a moments notice, you probably can’t get away with just renting as needed.
I miss having a pickup, but the last time I really needed it was to buy some new doors for our house, and picking up a van from UHaul wasn’t a huge deal as its 2 blocks away.
My 05 Dodge 2500 and 18′ car trailer with winch are usually available in your area (I’m near Round Lake) just let me know.
My needs for a pickup are intermittent. Some years I’m buying cars and parts and hauling stuff all over, other years not much happens and my minivan or other cars serve most of my needs. I don’t like the thought of daily driving a 3/4 ton truck so I’ve always got something small to run around in and the truck only comes out when there is work to be done or I need a back up vehicle.
Buy what you want. But to the same person I say don’t go around telling me that you “need it” to tow a motorcycle or small trailer a couple times a year and not expect me to laugh at you. Just say that you really like driving a truck, then I’ll give you a high five or something.
This is America… buy what you want and what makes you happy (within your budget).
I hate relying on others to borrow/rent stuff, so I have always had a truck. Now the truck is my daily. I use the capacity of my little Maverick regularly, which makes me feel better about the meh MPGs. Do I want to upgrade to an F150 someday? You betcha! If money were no object, you bet I would have something ridiculous like an AEV Sierra 2500 or a Raptor R.
This is america, ‘within your budget’ need not apply.
The truck controversy is a thing because it represents both the best of North American excess and the worst of excess in North America.
Let it be said: Trucks are awesome…when they are used as trucks. They’re supremely capable of jobs that really can’t be done by much else. There’s no waste in a truck doing a ‘trucky’ job. Haul a trailer out to a campsite for a week of the outdoors? Great! A bed full of stuff for a home project? Awesome! An off-road vehicle used off-road! Cool!
Similarly, a sports car being enjoyed isn’t wasteful either. Carving corners, blasting down a country road. Every mile a smile!
If there’s an appalling thing to late-era North American culture, it’s waste for the sake of waste. No work done, no enjoyment had. Fast-fashion clothes hung in a closet never to be worn until they’re tossed in a landfill. Holy Grails left to rust into uselessness, never to experience another mile rolling under their own power until time and the elements destroy them so that no enjoyment or use can be had by anyone.
In truck terms, a truck used nearly exclusively a very expensive family sedan falls closer to the appalling end of North American cultural tendencies. Waste for the sake of, then the audacity to complain that fuel prices and vehicle costs are expensive, with no self-reflection on our own culpability in the madness. Like clothes never worn, a family pet left tied outside and ignored by all. The wave of COVID-era animals hitting shelters, given up because they actually required more effort because living beings aren’t just cute toys.
So, a reflection on what the hell we actually (1) need, (2) truly want, and (3) put the effort in to enjoy what we have might be in order. I just wonder if we’re capable of that, though.
I would counter that Americans buy cars based on what they can do, and not what they actually need them for. How many folks actually need an awd crossover, where a Civic can suffice?
They also buy bigger because it makes them feel safer. Smaller cars are seen as death traps, even if crash tests don’t agree.
I’ve also started thinking that we’re indulged in driving faster then is reasonable. I can only imagine the fuel savings & reduced accidents if cars could only cruise comfortably around 50 mph. It would feel so slow, but do we really live in a world where we need to go faster then that?
My 35 minute commute would be MISERABLE at 50 mph. There is a whole lot of nothing between my house and my job. Most people in this country probably have a similar story.
Even I can’t drive <55. As a thought exercise though, I think it remains true that increased speed is a want-not a necessity.
Tell that to the nice folks in Texas or Montana and watch their faces contort.
I’m contrarian enough to do it just for kicks;P
How do you think folks in flyover country would respond to only being allowed to drive tractors everywhere?
As a Texan I resemble this remark.
I can’t believe anyone still believes the myth of a magical speed.
Autobahn critics helped disprove that, once and for all.
And proved that pollution doesn’t have to increase with speed.
I have an aerodynamic car with a lot of power.
Gas mileage doesn’t really change until 120 mph when it gets down force.
Can you elaborate? My comments were based on the understanding that drag increases with the square of speed. As a result, the energy required per unit of distance to overcome aerodynamic drag increases in proportion to vehicle speed…
I can, but it gets complex very quickly.
The drag rule you cite is nominally true, all things being equal, which they never are unless you’re testing the same vehicle, like using a coast down tests with different changes.
A lot of aero drag is very counterintuitive.
Then you get into power and power curves and efficiency curves.
Most engines are most efficient under load, plus efficiency peaks are not always where people think.
The car I mentioned is the aero body T-bird tuned by Ford for Daytona.
Big, but very slippery.
Tall rear gearing.
408 race tuned engine, very efficient, so the engine isn’t really under load under 100 mph.
Gets around 25 mpg in almost all conditions.
I think that applies past 100 mph, but I don’t have enough open road to test that.
Rate of acceleration is increasing past 100.
There is a noticeable increase in drag at 120 mph, and the car stabilizes considerably.
I had a 1.3 litre Fiat with a power and efficiency peak at 5000 rpm, and no overdrive.
So it got better mileage at higher speeds.
The spark advance was very carefully tuned, an often overlooked improvement.
I clocked 45 mpg in the mountains once on premium at 80 mph.
Hypermiler forums get into a lot of this stuff.
Tuning for power and tuning for efficiency are often the same thing.
Extra power means higher speeds may not be loading up your empty tow vehicle enough.
My Cummins is uprated so peak mileage empty is faster than I am going to drive.
18-19 mpg is typical.
Has done better, at slow enough speeds, does worse.
My year dodge is the most efficient pickup body re air drag.
Were 4500-5000 lb land yacht cars of the 60s-70s any different than a modern truck in spirit?
Commenters act like these trucks are something new, when a century of automotive history has shown us that Americans value space and comfort in their vehicles above almost anything else.
You can’t buy a V8 BOF sedan to commute in anymore, so people buy the closest thing.
I agree that the pickup truck is the modern interpretation of a 1960s/1970s sedan in spirit. And similarly, the excess of that era culminated in events that led to their downfall and economic pain for their manufacturers and country at large. I worry about the trajectory we are on today with the same mentality.
I genuinely have no problem with things that are used for enjoyment or utility. We all have our things, and the best part of humanity is genuine enthusiasm for all sorts of things (see: this website).
It’s waste for the sake of that I have trouble with. How our insatiable want for ‘more’ seemingly trumps the want for ‘better’, and how that reflects on us as people.
I get that my post comes off as sanctimonious, but there’s a lot about our culture that I find more challenging as I age. The sickly sweetness of candy was a lot more enjoyable as a child, the adult version of me is much more content with a well-made, well-rounded, sensibly portioned meal. Preferably with good company.
However, I’ll digress on the topic. Cheers!
I don’t disagree with the spirit of your post, I think people just have different conceptions of when ‘better’ becomes ‘more’ or vice versa.
I find a full size truck to be ‘better’ than many other choices for how I like to drive, what I use it for, how long I expect it to last, and so on. Others might not see the value and that’s OK.
THANK YOU! I’ve been saying this for years.
Never understood luxury pickups until I rented an F150 King Ranch (circa 2019). Hot dang. I fell in love. They are the new personal luxury coupes… that can tow 10000 lbs.
Comfortable? Yup.
Big Trunk? 100%
Huge? Yes.
Fast? Fast enough!
Economical? Nope!
All hail the luxury trucks.
Thats exactly how I explain the truck thing to many of my work colleagues outside the US. They’re in the same spirit as the old barges.
Also, most of them wish they could have a crew cab full size truck but it simply does not exist or overly expensive/impractical in those countries. Everybody like trucks.
Well, yes – you used trucks more times in 2024 than I have in 47 years on earth. Everyone should own the things that meet their actual needs.
I think a lot of people like to project their personal experience onto others when suggesting what another person “needs”
I have friends that live in the city, and havent had or used a truck in years, because they truly don’t own anything or have any hobbies that require the use of a truck. When you live within 20 miles or so of a decent sized town, just about anything you can think of can be delivered easily. They, of course, think anyone that has a truck is dumb, because all they ever really see trucks doing is driving over curbs at Starbucks.
On my end, I heat my house with firewood, haul deer a few dozen miles away to process at a friend’s house, I have a couple dirt bikes, a pontoon boat, and between general upkeep of a log house, and supplying and maintaining a decent garden, and a few buddies and family members that need to borrow it now and then, and being used to haul broken down cars, my truck seems to get used for something at least once a week that my wife’s van would get ruined trying to do.
The caveat here, though, is while my truck hauls over 1000 lbs, tows every bit of 6000 lbs regularly, gets driven up muddy trails, and generally lives a life of a truck in a truck commercial, it’s not a 30 foot long, 9 foot tall, $70,000 monstrosity-
It’s a 1997 Half ton GMC that’s about the size of a current-gen Ranger.
It was $2500, it’s reliable as a hammer, and my 6 year old can climb into the bed without a ladder. The only real downside is that it drinks fuel like a Motorhome.
If trucks were still mostly 4500lb 90’s half tons with bench seats and ball cooler vents as the big creature comfort, I don’t think you’d have so many people lighting pitchforks on the internet and telling other people how they should live their life.
“If trucks were still mostly 4500lb 90’s half tons with bench seats and ball cooler vents as the big creature comfort, I don’t think you’d have so many people lighting pitchforks on the internet and telling other people how they should live their life.”
This – and also you wouldn’t have so many people who don’t need trucks using them as everyday vehicles because they think it makes them look rugged.
This. I work at a GMC dealership and you’d be shocked how many people look at our Canyon and wish it was smaller. What they’re really saying though is “shorter” Not every thing has to have 18″ of ground clearance! Most people just want a bed and some decent towing capability but it’s hard to sell a $70k truck that’s shorter than the others
I miss how easy it was to reach over the side of the bed to grab something! On new trucks I pretty much have to climb into the bed to get something that has slid towards the front.
We have a 67 GMC truck in our showroom and I always remark about how easy it is to get things in and out of its bed
I bought a telescoping boat hook with rubber pads.
“If trucks were still mostly 4500lb 90’s half tons”
Except they kind of are.
The F150, thanks to the aluminum body, weighs in around 4500-4800 range for the extended and crew cab. A regular cab is just over 4000lb.
Im averaging 24mpg in my 2.7 eco boost Lariat, better than our previous Subaru forester and Volvo wagon- both ~2.5 4 cylinders. The truck is somehow twice as powerful and 3x more capable than either. My friend lives further north, and has been averaging 30mpg with his diesel Silverado.
Trucks have just gotten so good, the 4 door versions are basically just more efficient, more capable versions of the medium to large sedans and station wagons American families owned 20 years ago.
The reality is a nice truck replaces two vehicles for many people.
True, and even though I’m a Mopar guy, that 2.7 motor is what I recommend to just about anyone that wants a perfect blend of power, mileage, and reliability. They knocked it out of the park with that engine.
Ford has done a wonderful job, honestly. The maverick/Ranger/F150 line is kind of a perfect truck for every need strategy.
A shortbed extended cab F150 with a 2.7 and a bench seat up front is probably the most functional and perfect half ton to exist in the modern world, and they should be applauded for it.
I would love a truck, but it’s impossible to find what I want, which is a 2 Door truck with a 6 foot bed. I have a short garage, and there is no way I am even thinking about putting an Aircraft Carrier length 4 door pick up in the garage. I also don’t like the mileage. For the rare times I need a truck, I do the Uhaul rental. There’s a place about 1.5 miles from my house, and usually I don’t drive it more than 15 miles.
Does the Tacoma come in 2 door / 6 foot trim?
They have an “Access” cab which is like a door and an half on both sides.
I just sold one of those, a ’98 Chevy C1500. You just need an old man truck from the 90s or 00s.
Seems to me with all the down time on your parents full-sized SUV and SuperDuty that owning a large tow vehicle is not all it’s cracked up to be either.
I wonder how the narrative for the inconvenience & time wasted due to all that down time sounds?
Thank you for this article, there is far too many now that share the sentiment that people with a truck should have to justify their decision by towing something everyday or hauling all the time or else it is a waste. Renting may be cheaper but it is a pain even if you only need a truck a handful of times a year.
I am not really a truck person, but a couple years ago I ended up needing to get a truck. I no longer had access to how I previously moved my boat around and I made near weekly trips to the lake anytime it was warm enough to do so in Michigan. The lake was only about 5 min away but about once a year I’d take on a trip out of state. I didn’t like the idea of trading my sedan for a mid-size truck and driving that everyday because I prefer driving a car. So I made the choice that anyone would make and bought a 85 Chevy C10. I figured it would be a cool cruiser/project car while also serving the purpose of a truck. What I had really wanted was something close to a Camaro that could tow and haul and this is what has guided my build. I now have a lowered regular cab short bed with an LS3. Hoping to get a more racy setup for brakes and suspension in the next couple years, but it’s been a lot of fun to work on and cruise around in. I’ve learned a lot doing the engine swap myself and making general improvements to make it nicer. I’m not a truck person, but I love my truck.
Factory five makes a tube frame pickup truck that could tow or track, given the right drivetrain.
I follow a pro touring truck page, there’s a lot of really cool trucks on there but many of them skew too far into pure race vehicle territory and are not useful as trucks, stripped interiors raised bed floors ect… There are tons of options for coilovers setups or even full frames that would retain a lot of truck capabilities while sharpening the vehicle considerably. As with anything it’s a matter of how much do you want to spend.
The F5 pickup is a front mid engine setup weighing around 2500 lbs with a Windsor block.
Very affordable and can often outrun exotics.
Bed isn’t large though.
I think you have solid logic for owning a truck. The problem is finding what will fit your budget without being too worn out. You could easily find yourself in the same situation you are now; borrowing a truck from your parents. If all three are out of service then you have to go back to U-Haul or something like that.
Depending on your budget (which I will not ask you to disclose) you may find it best to buy an SUV with decent towing capacity that isn’t a complicated German car. My knee jerk reaction there would be to suggest a 4Runner or some flavor of Lexus GX. You’ll pay more up front for something that *should* be pretty reliable. Extra emphasis on should because even a Toyota truck can be a disaster if a prior owner didn’t keep up on maintenance. So I would suggest either stretching your budget to get something newer or sticking to the bottom end so you have money left over for repairs.
My feelings on the “utility” side of my vehicle(s) comes down to the following
Things I do on a:
Daily basis: vehicle can do it with no inconviences
Weekly basis: vehicle can do it with no to mininimal inconviences
Monthly basis: vehicle can do it, but I’m willing to accept some level of inconviences to achieve the goal
Yearly: this is where I move into the rent/borrow/hire out point.
This is obviously a bit objective, but I’ve applied this to everything from vehilcles to houses, to the tools I buy to, to the size of my kitchen table.
Sounds to me you are in (or close to the monthly) basis with truck needs, you need one, but probably not a 1 ton crew cab diesel.
My in-laws had a friend with a pick-up truck that had the license plate “GETUROWN” because they were sick of family and friends asking them to borrow their truck.
You’re lucky, Mercedes, that your parents are so accommodating, but with how often you need to tow/haul, it would likely be a relief to your parents if you bought your own hauler. Only issue is capacity because you haul everything from 1000 lbs motorcycle trailers to +10000 lbs camping trailers.
My wife’s TJ Wrangler has a hitch and I bought a 4×8 open utility trailer to haul building materials and yard waste, but the Jeep is only rated to tow 2000 lbs and the trailer is 750 lbs, so I can only safely move 1250 lbs. Anything heavier, or larger, or that needs to be protected from weather requires a run to Home Depot to rent one of their Ford Transit vans.
I would have replaced the broken rim on my parents’ truck, thereby enabling me to use it that day and also making them happier to lend it to me six more times that year.
This is the great lesson. Generally speaking you will invest one of two things in any task. Time or money.
Renting/Borrowing saves money but costs time.
Owning a big truck will definitely cost a lot of money in 2025.
You do enough truck stuff to justify a truck. I kind of hate owning a truck, but, like you, it’s a necessity for me because of our camper. I take my camper out for 6-7 weekends a year and usually tow about 4,000 miles a year. So it’s Miata in the summer and truck in the winter or when camping.
But when it comes to picking up things from the home improvement store, I find the truck pretty worthless, since it only has a 5′-7″ bed. I usually borrow my son’s SUV since I can put 8′ items in it with the hatch closed.
“Do “truck stuff” only a couple of times a year”? For many people, including myself, it’s more like a couple of times in a lifetime.
Then you’re a terrific candidate for the “rent when you need it” option. Sounds like a truck is not a necessity for your life style, and you’ll wisely save a ton of money by not having one.
My 30 foot camper, DIY home improvement projects and property full of trees puts me in a different club.
Absolutely.
About time you got back into the big truck life. I recommend checking out County auctions and police impound auctions. You should be able to find a nice 3/4 ton easy.
First, I want to mention how baffling and counter intuitive sinup and log in was to get here.
The process online usually is.
I tried to use Whatsapp first, but it insists I don’t have WhatsApp.
Confusing since I use it constantly for some chats globally.
Re towing, I want to recommend that everyone should get a good handling ultralight trailer with a torsion suspension, minimum.
I built mine from a Subaru steel tube coil spring suspension similar to a VW golf type.
Light enough to move by hand empty.
8 feet 2 inches long cargo box, width limited by suspension.
First towed it with an 1800 pound sports car.
There are lightweight aluminum trailers even.
See the Lotus forums.
I now have a 5.9 litre all mechanical Cummins with all external upgrades and a tuned P pump. Around 18 to 19 mpg with some mountain driving.
I just got a class 5 receiver rated to 16,000 pounds and will have a front receiver soon.
When I started looking for a diesel truck, I found nothing locally at all.
Be prepared to drive.
Be willing to accept body damage to get a reliable vehicle.
They make rear anti sway bars for leaf springs trucks for good reasons.
I’m looking at active steering dampers and uprated steering boxes.
I’ve seen 10,000 pounds towed by a four cylinder manual ranger.
We moved a commercial lathe in back of an early Toyota pickup, but not fast or far.
When it was first loaded, the front end was firmly in the air.
I’ve got a small pile of stuff to take to the dump that includes a sheet of glass that’s too big to fit in my GT86.
I’m getting close to wrapping it in a sheet and hitting it with a hammer.
If I owned a truck I wouldn’t have space for the GT86. I do own a part share of a van, but borrowing it to move a sheet of glass seems like overkill.
Also: I’d have towed that trailer 75 feet behind any car at all, using a rope and having deflated the tyres of the trailer so it wouldn’t roll in to the car, or driving ten feet at a time with a pile of bricks to stop the trailer.
Or grab a friend or two to lift the tongue together and walk it 75 feet!
Or there are manual or electric tow dollies. Very handy.
I saw an older race car trailer with a front dolly built into it, so the tow vehicle had almost no tongue weight.
You just need a tow bar. I have one on the Outback. It can tow a healthy 1.5 tonnes. And I have one on the X5, that thing can tow 3.5 tonnes, so I’m pretty well set to tow anything I need ever. Even the Outback with its paltry 1.5, has come in handy way more than I would have thought. Basically if you have a bar on your 5 series, you’d be set for about 85% of what you’ve needed to tow. (Note this is in metrics)
Tow bar probably refers to the receiver or hitch mounted to the tow vehicle.
In USA, tow bar usually means a tow rig attached to the front of a vehicle for routine towing.
I agree about ratings.
There is no substitute for common sense, as towing is not an idiot proofed endeavour.
A rig that is frightening at 60 mph may be totally stable at 30 mph.
Ideally your gear should withstand not only towing, but a catastrophic crash.
This is the point i am at.
I’ve kept my Ute for years as just in case.
But realising when I went to the bathurst 1000 this year that the last time I drove it off the property was bathurst 2022.
And with rego/insurance coming in at 2k a year it’s insane to be paying it.
So it will be gone b4 Feb 13 when rego due.
Which I hope will trigger me to get rid of 2 more .
I’ve had a truck of some sort for the last 24 years, and I use it regularly. That’s the thing: if you use it, it’s worth it to own one.
Things I do:
1. Ten or so camping trips a year with my trailer, including two road trips of 1000+ miles.
2. Biking with my teens – three bikes are a lot easier if you toss them in the back of a truck.
3. Recycling and hazardous waste. If you change your own oil, this is a necessity, and recycling bottles and cans is easier if you can just toss them in the bed.
4. Kayaking. A bed and/or a rack, and 4 or 5 kayaks with friends are easy.
5. Construction stuff. I do most of my home repairs, including (lately) replacing carpet with laminate. Lumber, sheetrock, gravel, and more is just easier with a truck.
6. Kids moving to college.
It’s just easier with a truck.
Fleet:
2001 Sonoma, 2.2L, 5 speed (2001-2009)
2006 Sierra crew cab, 4.8L (2009-2023 – now my kid’s daily driver)
2022 Silverado, 3.0 Duramax (2023-present)
Hmmm….
“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.
…
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.”
So your parents live close by, have TWO big, burly tow vehicles free for you to use but they’re so unreliable that much of the time you need to move something a rental is the solution anyway?
And what about that Touareg? Maybe it can’t tow the biggest stuff but it can certainly handle most of the jobs you listed:
“The Volkswagen Touareg has a towing capacity of 7,716 pounds across all model years, trim levels, and configurations.
…
Unbraked Tow Capacity: 1,500 lbs.”
https://towstats.com/volkswagen-touareg-towing-capacity/
Yes I get it was broken when you needed it. That means you have at least THREE tow capable vehicles already in your extended stable that aren’t useable when you need them.
IMHO the better solution is for you to help your parents replace their unreliable tow vehicles with reliable ones and for you to fix or replace that Tourag instead of buying yet another money pit.
My parents do what they want. I’ve offered to go with them on their car buying adventures and they just end up buying their stuff when I’m on a press trip or whatever. It’s been like that with every vehicle they’ve purchased for the last 15 years, so I’m not really trying anymore.
You’ve pulled direct quotes from this article, but not the one that mentions the Touareg’s low hitch weight limit. That’s 770 pounds, or lower than both of the family campers. So I’d still end up borrowing on every camping trip, anyway. I bought the Touareg as a childhood dream car, not to use it for work. That’s entirely as far as that thought process went.
Factory ratings are a complicated issue and may or may not be relevant.
My friend’s rare base model 1998 Ranger had a cargo rating lower than my 1.3 litre Fiat, but the factory receiver is a beefy 2″ coupler model capable of towing 5000 lbs.
He towed over 10000 pounds with his.
Only drivetrain repair it needed was replacing the clutch.
But if you have a cvt, I wouldn’t tow anything, ever.
Look at the areas that actually limit capacity.
I’m not suggesting you use the Touareg to tow your family campers. Your parents already have multiple vehicles that – when they work – are intended to tow those. Your job also provides you with free access to more such vehicles which as you said has worked out in the past. Thank you Toyota!
For smaller tows your V6 Touareg should be fine. After all it was capable of moving your CT13 down from Michigan, it’s certainly capable of moving it a few feet and had it been in working shape at the time moving a trailer with a motorcycle, perhaps even a trailer with a 1948 Plymouth. If the Touareg is not reliable enough to be counted on when you need it to tow its not reliable enough to be counted on for off roading either. I certainly wouldn’t trust it out in the middle of nowhere if I couldn’t count on it enough to justify another tow vehicle.
(Had it been me I’d have moved that CT13 with whatever else was in the fleet, a buddy and a length of rope. Back in the day Cheap Bastard Sr. and I towed many a distressed family car home using nothing more than a 4 cyl Pinto. It can be done.)
Friend built an ultra modified jeep in high school with money made towing big 4WD stuff out of mud using a Datsun 510 and a grasp of physics.
Any guess on the tow rating of the 510?
With the L16 or L20? Perhaps the dual carb L18SSS?
Regardless probably not as good as the “tractor” my buddy kludged out of 6×6 beams, a 1200 engine and two transmissions back to back. 16 speeds forward, 4 in reverse. Not sure if he used a 1200 or 510 wagon’s differential.
He used it to pull stumps. .
The 510 was stock.
The jeep is a short open jeep running a 350 Chevy, manual I think, bulletproof driveshaft, and after breaking many rear ends, has a massive dump truck axle and differential.
Tires are very large and wide, though nothing impressive by modern standards.
He also got involved in monster trucks before that was a thing.
He mentioned one in particular built around a massive submarine engine and running multiple superchargers.
He expresses a philosophical drive to force his will on inanimate objects.
“The 510 was stock”
In that case definitely not as much as my friend’s wooden stump puller.
The jeep was a stump puller.
The 510 and before that a VW beetle were just to make money.
He mostly didn’t get himself stuck, understood traction with light cars and used pulleys to advantage, and as much as a thousand feet of straps and chains.
He has shown me how to make a tow point for flat ground since my truck is two wheel drive.
He said people he rescued were often upset that he pulled their ultimate off-road machines out with a Datsun.
Impressive Datsun? esp the transmission.
I sold the VR6 a long time ago! The only vehicles I now personally own that have tow hitches are a Smart and the V10 Treg. I suppose I’m more or less trying to replace the VR6.
Well now your desire for a truck makes more sense. Not a lot of sense, after all that V10 is by nature a tow vehicle.
Come to think of it couldn’t you have used a Smart to move that trailer? It only needed to go 75 feet after all and you didn’t even need to get out of first gear to do it.
Why don’t you put a fraction of the money you would spend on a new truck into your Touareg and make reliable enough that you would be willing to tow with it. It can pull over 7,700 pounds which should be plenty for the majority of the tasks you listed from last year.
THIS!!
The majority but not all.
Perfect is again the enemy of good.
Depends
Good enough.
I’m not convinced that Touareg will ever be reliable, but I see your point.