U-Haul trailer rentals

Would anyone know if U-Haul will allow a tralier rental with the 2011? Up until last year, all EX's were on their trailer 'do not rent' list, which began with the Firestone tire issue..

According to uhaul's website for a 2011 Explorer:

U-Haul has chosen not to rent behind this tow vehicle based on our history of excessive costs in defending lawsuits involving Ford Explorer towing combinations. This policy is not related to safety issues. This is an unusual circumstance for U-Haul – we have built our success for over 60 years by saying 'yes' to our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and are committed to working with our customers to find alternative options to help with their move.

Click to expand...

Ha!
I just did the same thing.
Went though the trailer rental pages to get a price, and after picking 2011 Explorer you get that message

U-Haul has chosen not to rent behind this tow vehicle based on our history of excessive costs in defending lawsuits involving Ford Explorer towing combinations. This policy is not related to safety issues. This is an unusual circumstance for U-Haul – we have built our success for over 60 years by saying 'yes' to our customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and are committed to working with our customers to find alternative options to help with their move.

I sent a nasty email. Will be calling to file a complaint tmr.

Uhaul is Stupid™.

Just have to add that to any thread with Uhaul in it.

I was afraid of that. U-Haul probably has some code in there that rejects any year Explorer. Time to contact Ford to see if they can put some pressure on, after all, U-Haul does use Ford box trucks.

Good luck with that.

Remember, Uhaul is Stupid™.

Yeah this battle has been going on for what, a decade now? Not to say its impossible that uhaul will change its mind but I definitely wouldn't hold my breath on it. There are other companies that will rent to explorers.

Use another rental company if you can. What better way then to use your wallet.

I agree the best FU to Uhaul is to rent from another company but let's be honest, Uhaul is the largest and in many places, the only rental company for trailers.

It's been 10 years like another person said, you'd think they would drop the BS excuse. Everyone knows it's because of the Firestone fiasco because no other vehicle capable of towing is banned by Uhaul. You can't tell me that the Explorer, having sold X million, is the one bad apple for towing. They are just losing money by not renting to Explorer owners.

I need the occasional use of a car carrier for a restoration I am doing. I can find no rental, other than U-Haul, that will rent the carrier alone. The rest require you rent a truck from them and use that as the tow vehicle. U=Haul would be happy to do that as well. If anyone knows of a national rental that will rent carriers alone, please post or PM their name. Guess I'll have to just keep borrowing my neighbors Ram. Thanks.

I have rented with them in the past and signed up for a rental with a Mercury Mariner which was really the same vehicle, just a different name. I always thought if they said something that I would be able to talk my way out of it by just claiming I was mistaken since they are the same vehicle. As long as the computer doesn't yell at them, they will not even notice.

Last time I did this, I went in in, did the paperwork, they told me a guy would be outside to help me hook it up. I got it about half way on the truck and then the guy came out and finished helping me and I was on my way. They don't care, they just want to do what their system tells them.

Now that Mercury is gone it might be a tougher thing to pull off this sort of thing. Of course none of this has anything to do with the vehicles now or then. U-haul is still pissed so they probably will never get rid of this policy. Too bad they are the only ones with the trailers, if not for that I think U-haul would have failed long before now since pretty much everyone knows to get trucks from penske or budget.

46er said:

I need the occasional use of a car carrier for a restoration I am doing. I can find no rental, other than U-Haul, that will rent the carrier alone. The rest require you rent a truck from them and use that as the tow vehicle. U=Haul would be happy to do that as well. If anyone knows of a national rental that will rent carriers alone, please post or PM their name. Guess I'll have to just keep borrowing my neighbors Ram. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Alternatively, you could consider buying a trailer (used or new). Trailers tend to hold their value pretty well so you always have the option of selling it after you are done.

My Email...

Good Morning,

I am emailing you this morning to kindly ask that you please reconsider the fact that you do not rent to people who drive Ford Explorers. I drive a 2005 Explorer and am about to pick up the completely redesigned 2011 Explorer. I can NOT rent any trailer from any of your locations, forcing me to go to the competition. The Ford Explorer rollover incidents happened YEARS ago and were based on the model of ford explorer that ceased production starting model year 2002. Regardless, it was the fault of the tires, not the truck itself and concentrated to one tire assembly plant. Those tires have long dry rotted away and are no longer in use as those incidents were 10+ years ago. You have no idea the amount of people who would love to rent from you but cannot and posting about that on the internet. You will, however rent to people who have a Mercury Mountaineer, which is the exact same truck, albeit a bit more upscale, even when the same tires were being put on that model! I implore you to check the web with the search terms "ford explorer U-Haul" and see exactly what I am talking about.

Also, please refer to the following...

"Firestone Tire and Rollover Controversy
In 2000 the Firestone vs. Ford Motor Company controversy arose after a large number of rollover accidents began to occur involving Explorers and Mountaineers. Ford blamed Firestone's faulty tires, which had tread separation problems, while Firestone blamed Ford, claiming that the Explorer and Mountaineer were inherently unsafe. The case was settled.
Car and Driver proved that a large amount of the rollovers were caused by poor techniques of drivers overreacting to the tire blowout. Their test driver deemed the vehicle so inherently stable that he drove "no hands" during one of their 70 mph tread separation simulations."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury...er_Controversy

Thank you for your time!

This horse is deader than dead.

Tell 'em you're driving an Edpedition or something. My buddy told Uhaul he had a Mazda Navajo I've seen car carriers (the full double axle for a car) attached to Hondas before so...................

Bad decision or not, they made the decision years ago. Guess what? They are still the best known trailer and moving rental known to man.

I'd suggest buying a trailer, then sell it when you get to your new home. You might even make a little profit.

I was very surprised when I saw that error message a few weeks ago when I was pricing out a trailer. This is my first Ex, so I haven't run across this before.
If this is really still about the Firestone blowouts, then uhaul holds a grudge for WAY too long...

Outdated joke that's all of a sudden relevant again:
"So... did you hear that Firestone was having a tire blowout sale?"

Maybe they don't want to deal with the whole new Explorer vs old Explorer thing or "I have an old Explorer, but it doesn't have Firestones on it". From a corporate lawyer's standpoint, it's easier to just say "no Explorer's of any kind."

Don't misunderstand , I am not endorsing or agreeing with their position. But, as a corporate drone myself, just speculating on their thought process.