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U-Haul Trailer Rental

rrgone

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 9, 2006
Messages
768
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City, State
Tucson, AZ
Year, Model & Trim Level
'02 XLT
Has anyone successfully rented a trailer to be towed with an Explorer from U-Haul recently? I know that several years back they refused to rent if the towing vehicle was an Explorer, but Mountaineers were apparently okay :confused:. Is that still the policy at U-Haul?
 



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I just reserved a trailer with them for next week.

But then again. I drive a Mountaineer.

MT
 






Go to their website and plug in your tow vehicle info. It will tell you if they will rent to you based on the info you provide.

Spoiler alert: They won't.
 






I found a fairly recent post in the Gen 4 forum that has the same bad news for us Explorer owners.

Correct about the U-haul website nixing it too.

Looks like no one else rents moving trailers one way either??? May have to rent a moving truck and tow or trailer the Explorer. I've got the tow package too... Pig headed U-haul should have updated their policy by now. :thumbdwn:
 






Did you also see the posts about picking the trailer up with a different tow vehicle and towing it with the "banned" Explorer?

Can you buy a trailer and sell it later? If your state doesn't require you to title trailers, you may be able to break even on the deal.
 






you could always rent it from another provider, I am sure you probably have someone around in Boca.
 






Just rent a trailer from another business that also rents Uhauls. Don't go to an actual UHaul place.
I rented a Uhaul trailer from a custom motorcycle shop a few months ago to move my daughter. Try a gas station also. These shops don't care about corporate b.s.
 






De-badge your Explorer and tell them it's a Mountaineer or a Expedition.

Also always go to a contracted dealer, never ever a UHaul corporate store. Tell them you don't need any help hooking it up.

When going in I would just substitute "Explorer" with "Mountaineer" or "Expedition".

The other option is to borrow a "compatible in UHaul's mind" vehicle to pick the trailer up with.

I'm looking into just buying my own trailer since I can't rent from U-Haul with any vehicle as they claim I owe them money when I don't. I absolutely hate U-Haul. They are a horrible trash company. I rented a truck from them, which was a old POS, on a Friday eve it would not start, they were not able to get someone out to fix it until Monday morning! Then proceeded to charge me for those extra days waiting on them to fix it! I refused to pay for those days. Horrible horrible company. I also remember a story about a older guy suing them because the did not maintain the parking brake on their old POS and it rolled over his leg or something.

So if you decide to rent a truck and car hauler for your move I'd go with Penske if I were you, Budget is not much better than UHaul. Last time I rented a Budget I had to choose between a truck with no working A/C and a truck with a broken loading ramp holder. Being 104 degrees out I went with the one with the broken loading ramp holder and put a bunch of bungee cords on it to keep it from sliding out.
 






Gen 5 Explorers can rent from U-Haul, it's just anything that says Explorer and has a 2010 or older model year that can't rent from them. Absolutely stupid policy, since it was 2001 and older Explorers that had the bad tires and rollover issues, and it's obviously not due to the "explorer" name plate anymore -- so what's the official corporate excuse now?

The 2002-2010 Explorers have tow ratings over 7,000 pounds depending on options, and U-Haul won't rent to them. The 2011+ Explorers max out at 5,000 pounds no matter what, and U-Haul will rent to them.

I could go on ranting for hours about it, but I'll stop now.
 






My XLT is silver, so wonder if silver duct tape over the Explorer emblems would do the trick? Just call it an Expedition when the trailer is picked up... Ha ha ha, probably would work if I went to one of the contractors instead of a corporate locale.

I could probably borrow my buddies Jeep Liberty RWD to pick up a trailer at U-Haul too. That thing would be useless for towing on the highway but could probably tow an empty one here.

I don't think there is anybody but U-haul that rents covered trailers one way. I will call around to see but I'm doubtful. I suppose I could haul it back empty but don't really want to. Maybe pick up a load of vine ripe tomatoes and sell them at a farmer's market. LOL really miss good tomatoes. :D

This came up very spur of the moment yesterday so haven't really thought it out yet. Just want to haul some high end patio furniture and odds and ends from Tucson to Tampa and then have a vehicle to run around with for a couple of weeks while visiting friends.

Thanks for the posts! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 






Uhaul charges so much for one way rentals - If you're coming back anyway its usually cheaper to rent in-town even with the extra gas used to pull the empty back. So id just rent somewhere else.
UHaul is probably the only place with surge brakes, so you'll want a brake controller if it's anything heavy

Oh just saw the couple of weeks thing... No, you definitely don't want to pay the daily charge for that!

Youre probably looking at $500 even if uhaul will rent to you, you can probably buy something that will work from Craigslist for that price
 






they still have outdated software, all their explorers were tied to that firestone tire fiasco. Although I have no issues with my mountaineer renting from them, its just that they charge higher compared to mom and pop shop rentals. last time I rented from the mom and pop rental was $32 for a 24hr period. it was a large trailer, all my daughter's stuff for her college apt fit in.
 






they still have outdated software, all their explorers were tied to that firestone tire fiasco. Although I have no issues with my mountaineer renting from them, its just that they charge higher compared to mom and pop shop rentals. last time I rented from the mom and pop rental was $32 for a 24hr period. it was a large trailer, all my daughter's stuff for her college apt fit in.

That's a good price. Did you have to take it back to the same place you rented from?
 






That's a good price. Did you have to take it back to the same place you rented from?

I'm 100% sure he did. Mom and pop trailer rentals are not connected to each other for exchanging them. Hell, did youn know even Enterprise Rent-a-Car's have to go back to the same FRANCHISE location you picked it up from? They'll do short distance one-way's for a large fee, because they have to pay someone to go pick it up and drive it back to them!

Another problem with mom and pop's is I've only found open trailers like this
TA-Landscape.png

at those places. The only somewhat enclosed one I've found is a very smelly horse/cow hauler.

I need access to something like this:
CC_grey_side_1916.png

but preferably with two axles and brakes.
 






That's a good price. Did you have to take it back to the same place you rented from?

yes, I have to return it back to them the next day. can't do 1-way rentals.

here's a link to some of their trailers including the enclosed with 2 axles. their trailers has enclosed or higher side walls which enables us to pack more stuff.

http://www.gladrentsinc.com/trailers.htm
 






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