It appears that the trailer I was going to borrow for Nashville is in Cleveland (or Toledo) and I'd have to drive 4+ hours round trip to get it. Since I'm still thrashing on the car, I don't have the time. So, I figured I'd just rent one. So this morning I called 4 different U-haul stores (and each one several times) and none of them would answer the phone. I understand being busy, but 3+ calls to each of 4 stores and nobody had time to the the phone? I'd love to know what they charge per day and the website doesn't say....

Then I looked up Penske's site and they seem to only rent car trailers with their trucks. You don't seem to be able to just rent a trailer and I don't really need a truck, I think I've got plenty already.

Maybe I'll just drive the darn thing to Nashville....

[/venting]

If you do get somebody live on the line, they will probably ask what kinda vehicle you are going to be hauling. I think I would tell them an Eclipse or Saturn or something.

Miata. Everyone knows what a Miata is, and they will let anyone rent if they are towing a Miata.

Call one of the larger trailer sales places and ask if they rent. Many of them do.

We've run into that before. However, they say the trailer is 2k lbs, the max car load is 4k lbs (6k lbs total for the whole trailer) and the tow vehicle must weigh 80% of what your towing and the trailer weight. My truck is rated for 10k lbs and weighs 5,600 lbs, so I meet all the requirements and they shouldn't give me crap. However, a 1990 Ford Festiva is what we're always towing when we rent those things (or it always has been). They won't rent to a 1/2 ton in many cases to pull a Camaro, but they sure as heck better rent one to be towed with my truck.

I've played the same game with the U-haul idiots...after my last rental with them in January last year, I wrote a scathing letter to them and went out and bought a full-deck trailer. I had a reservation made on the site (think its 59/day for full trailer) and went to pick it up. I was told that my 1/2 ton express van wasn't big enough to tow an 86 cavalier on a full trailer. Before this I'd rented trailers from a different u-haul location and never had a problem. The "store" informed me that it was their discretion as to whether they rented or not. But yet if I'd had a full-size pickup it wouldn't have been a problem. :crazy: I'm sure that their insurance isn't based in the store since equipment moves from store to store so I don't know why the store can't be overridden by the head office. My response from u-haul was a coupon for a free truck rental or something. I sent it back to them with the explanation that I was NEVER using them again and recommended that no-one I know uses them.

Unfortunately they are the only ones i've found that will rent a trailer without a truck. Some of the trailer places local to me will rent trailers too...but they prefer local/in town rentals. check out www.dontuseuhaul.com for other peoples horror stories... i had a move that they bailed on being able to get me a truck/trailer for...and i had to quickly rent one from budget on a saturday afternoon.

good luck
Todd

Do you have a trailer brake controller on your pickup yet? I MIGHT have a solution.

Having said that, I have not rented a Uhaul in a couple years but they never gave me any trouble when I showed up with my Suburban and I told them I was towing a Camaro. You might rent it for "local" use but for three days since you are returning it to the same place.

I gave up calling the Uhaul place here. I just go down there...its harder for them to ignore you if you are standing there. I have been standing in the store looking at the clerk while they completely ignore the phone ringing. They are always understaffed.

Call me.

Bock

Most rented trailers I've seen use surge brakes so no controller is needed.

I put a Prodigy controller in the truck about the second week I owned it. I'm equipped.

No trouble here. I just went online at Uhaul.com and reserved one for my one way trip from Cleveland to NYC. Answered a few questions that their site asks to determine if they want to authorize your rental and reserved it with my credit card. The confirmation said they'd call me the day before to tell me where to pick up the trailer. One way costs $103.00. Seemed like a deal. Turns out they give you essentially 3 days for the rental. Guess they think I drive real slow.

Don't take their website information as gospel. I had a situation a couple of years ago where I had reserved my trailer 6 weeks prior to the track weekend, put in all the information and got a confirmation number, and then when I went to pick up the trailer was told by the manager at the local UHaul that she wouldn't rent me a trailer to tow my Mustang with a Tundra. I didn't know at the time that they had rules concerning what was acceptable to tow.

I'm not going to have that problem. I'm towing a Camaro with a C3500. I've got enough truck.....

They have been known to be a bit "out there" with their list of what's acceptable for towing at times.

And, 92 Voodoo is using a 3/4 ton Ford diesel for his.