Towing with a rental Tahoe

[DenaliCountry]

I am flying to Chicago to pick up a new to me enclosed snowmobile trailer and driving back to Minnesota. I confirmed with my insurance company that the rental car and trailer are covered from a liability standpoint + my umbrella policy. Trailer will also get full coverage before I hit the road. I gave my agent all the particulars to make sure it was fully aware of what I was planning to do.

Anyone done this before? Any other concerns to be aware of?

Thank you.

 

[Rich_v]

It is usually prohibited in the rental contract.

You may want to rent a truck where towing is acceptable.

 

[OR VietVet]

Yea, just because your insurance has no problem with it, does not mean the rental company would not. Do you even know the weight you will be towing? If is an empty trailer, you will likely be ok with the rental company but do not assume.

 

[DenaliCountry]

Yea, just because your insurance has no problem with it, does not mean the rental company would not. Do you even know the weight you will be towing? If is an empty trailer, you will likely be ok with the rental company but do not assume.

Trailer is 2500#'s empty.

 

[OR VietVet]

Still gotta check with rental company.

 

[B-train]

I can tell you from experience the rental company will say NO!!!!! Take that how you will. If your insurance guy knows the details and you have something in writing, then just go for it. It's about a 7 or 8 hour drive I'm guessing. Be sensible and you should be fine.

I rented a tahoe in FL 12 years ago because it was cheaper than a F250 to haul a loaded tandem enclosed trailer back to WI. It pulled it fine......most of the trip at 3 - 4k rpm. Thinking I did the right thing to save the company money (younger and naive to big corporate junk)
.....manager did not think so. But it worked out fine in the end and that 5.3L was properly broken in by the time I dropped it off. LOL

 

[DenaliCountry]

I can tell you from experience the rental company will say NO!!!!! Take that how you will. If your insurance guy knows the details and you have something in writing, then just go for it. It's about a 7 or 8 hour drive I'm guessing. Be sensible and you should be fine.

I rented a tahoe in FL 12 years ago because it was cheaper than a F250 to haul a loaded tandem enclosed trailer back to WI. It pulled it fine......most of the trip at 3 - 4k rpm. Thinking I did the right thing to save the company money (younger and naive to big corporate junk)
.....manager did not think so. But it worked out fine in the end and that 5.3L was properly broken in by the time I dropped it off. LOL

I got it done on Tuesday. All went well. They ended up giving me a Jeep Wagoneer and it pulled just fine, roughly 7 hours with a stop for gas and dinner.

 

[homesick]

I got it done on Tuesday. All went well. They ended up giving me a Jeep Wagoneer and it pulled just fine, roughly 7 hours with a stop for gas and dinner.

Did you tell them you were gonna tow with it? Just curious.

joe

 

[Tonyv__]

If im not mistaken, most rentals don’t even have hitches on them..

Didn’t realize you already did it. Well, glad it worked out

 

[homesick]

If im not mistaken, most rentals don’t even have hitches on them..

Didn’t realize you already did it. Well, glad it worked out

Good point. It was way too obvious for me.

joe

 

[DenaliCountry]

If im not mistaken, most rentals don’t even have hitches on them..

Didn’t realize you already did it. Well, glad it worked out

Almost all full sized SUVs are standard with hitches. Plus when you look at the rental resale market, selling a full size SUV without a hitch would be harder.

 

[DenaliCountry]

Did you tell them you were gonna tow with it? Just curious.

joe

I did not, through my research it does void the rental agreement which the biggest issue would be a total loss from an accident which was my main concern. But my insurance covers everything.

 

[Tonyv__]

Almost all full sized SUVs are standard with hitches. Plus when you look at the rental resale market, selling a full size SUV without a hitch would be harder.

i wondered about that after i made my comment. Thinking about the plastic hitch covers, I kind of wondered that it might be standard equipment now.

I just remember a few years ago it crossed my mind about renting a truck to tow something. Every single truck (not SUV) on the enterprise and hertz lot didn’t have a hitch. I don’t think U-Haul pick up trucks have hitches either, but their box trucks do.

This was maybe 10 years ago.

 

[Doubeleive]

I did not, through my research it does void the rental agreement which the biggest issue would be a total loss from an accident which was my main concern. But my insurance covers everything.

there contract doesn't matter, your insurance said ok that's all you needed, just decline there obnoxious charges and have at it.
even if the contract specifically stated "you may not tow" what are they going to do? nothing......

 

[the 18th letter]

I would expect an insurance man to say go for it and then point out the rental contract no tow clause when you file a claim lol

 

[DenaliCountry]

I would expect an insurance man to say go for it and then point out the rental contract no tow clause when you file a claim lol

My insurance guy checked with underwriting and claims to verify. All stated that it doesn't matter what the rental car company says. This assumes that in the event of an accident I am not driving wreckless etc. I made sure I was very clear with him what I was doing and what the rental company policy was.

 

[DenaliCountry]

there contract doesn't matter, your insurance said ok that's all you needed, just decline there obnoxious charges and have at it.
even if the contract specifically stated "you may not tow" what are they going to do? nothing......

You're exactly correct. The only concern I had was if there was a major mechanical malfuntion, where the rental company could say that towing was the cause of the failure. I would of had to get creative with the tow truck driver if that situation arose LOL.

 

[Jetskier77]

there contract doesn't matter, your insurance said ok that's all you needed, just decline there obnoxious charges and have at it.
even if the contract specifically stated "you may not tow" what are they going to do? nothing......

"Their contract doesnt matter?" Read again... You agree to certain legally binding things when you sign that piece of paper. One of those things could be extreme penalties for disregarding the contract stipulations. I got dinged one time for having a cocky attitude such as yours. I can still feel the pain in my wallet.

 

[homesick]

The general, easy, willingness to lie and cheat bothers me most.

joe

 

[Doubeleive]

"Their contract doesnt matter?" Read again... You agree to certain legally binding things when you sign that piece of paper. One of those things could be extreme penalties for disregarding the contract stipulations. I got dinged one time for having a cocky attitude such as yours. I can still feel the pain in my wallet.

details? what happened, some common sense has to be applied in any given situation
if you are just going to tow something from A~B and you are doing it right and not trying to do some shifty crap, the risk is relatively LOW
their litigation if you happened to get in a accident (non-injury) and your insurance covers all damages is most likely pretty limited