Community Forums

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 09:12 AM

Hi,

We really only need a toad for two 1 week trips a year, for our 3 night trips every second weekend we hike and Kayak from state park so do not need a toad at the moment but it could be handy.

My wife's AWD car cannot be flat towed and my 4 wheel drive SUV needs a driveshaft disconnect kit. We both really like what we have already and don't want to change one for a flat towable vehicle.

I contemplated purchasing a cheap toad to either flat or dolly tow but got thinking how about dolly towing a small rental car.

A decent used toad would be 3,000$ to purchase and about 1000$ a year in insurance, registration and maintenance (that's a guess figure). So if the toad is worth 1500$ in 5 years that brings the cost to 1300$ a year

A small car can be rented for 200$ a week, so 400$ a year.

A tow dolly is about 500$ to rent for a week so it would be more economical to purchase a used or new one.

What are folks thoughts?

lllkrob · 10-22-2017, 09:23 AM

For no more than your going to use it that would work. However the hang up is if the rental company objects to it being on a dolly, some do, some don't. Have to search around.

jrwitt · 10-22-2017, 09:25 AM

I don’t rent cars very often, but most rental companies I have rented from don’t allow theirs to be towed or to tow any kind of trailer. Check around different companies and ask. You might be able to rent a flat bed trailer and put the car on that. U-Haul rents flat bed car haulers. Or have you considered driving your RV to wherever you are going and rent from a local agency? Good luck and let us know what you find out. You may help someone out.

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

For no more than your going to use it that would work. However the hang up is if the rental company objects to it being on a dolly, some do, some don't. Have to search around.

Thanks, I did see some companies allow it. I will call around tomorrow and ask.

Two advantages to renting would be we would have a newish car each time and not have to store a 3rd car at home as we only have a 2 car garage and limited driveway space.

Two advantages to owing a cheap toad would be being able to take it with us all the time and not worrying if it gets dinged up a bit.

Maybe I should rent a dolly and car for one day and see what it's like to tow. Coat would be about 80$

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrwitt

I don’t rent cars very often, but most rental companies I have rented from don’t allow theirs to be towed or to tow any kind of trailer. Check around different companies and ask. You might be able to rent a flat bed trailer and put the car on that. U-Haul rents flat bed car haulers. Or have you considered driving your RV to wherever you are going and rent from a local agency? Good luck and let us know what you find out. You may help someone out.

Hi,

You posted as I was posting.

That's true about renting locally but they are fairly out of the way places we go. Last week long trip was 2 hours from home and my wife drove our Toyota 4 runner, we had a load of firewood in the back. We do want to tour the entire Upper peninsula of Michigan next year so a car would be handy.

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 11:19 AM

I called Avis and they do not allow towing.

dix39 · 10-22-2017, 11:29 AM

Could you replace one of the cars you currently have with a 4 down towable? It seems that would lower your costs and provide a toad to use whenever you needed it.

I also noticed that your insurance is a bit higher than ours is, but I guess that is dependent on where you live and the value of the vehicles.

Best of luck.

Steve

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dix39

Could you replace one of the cars you currently have with a 4 down towable? It seems that would lower your costs and provide a toad to use whenever you needed it.

I also noticed that your insurance is a bit higher than ours is, but I guess that is dependent on where you live and the value of the vehicles.

Best of luck.

Steve

Hi Steve,

Only if I could get something the same size as my 4 runner and with 4wd.

CampDaven · 10-22-2017, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stMH

Hi,

You posted as I was posting.

That's true about renting locally but they are fairly out of the way places we go. Last week long trip was 2 hours from home and my wife drove our Toyota 4 runner, we had a load of firewood in the back. We do want to tour the entire Upper peninsula of Michigan next year so a car would be handy.

Midland and the UP are pretty close together. I suggest your finances would be best doing what you did above.
We plop our MH at a base of operations and explore with our Wrangler up to 100 miles per day. Fewer MH moves, more adventures

Unicorn Driver · 10-22-2017, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CampDaven

Midland and the UP are pretty close together. I suggest your finances would be best doing what you did above.
We plop our MH at a base of operations and explore with our Wrangler up to 100 miles per day. Fewer MH moves, more adventures

Thanks for the advice,

Just to note, the bridge maybe 3.5 hours away but the western UP is over 10 hours driving.

CampDaven · 10-22-2017, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stMH

Thanks for the advice,

Just to note, the bridge maybe 3.5 hours away but the western UP is over 10 hours driving.

Some do 12 hours easily. We do 4 hours maximum.
I'm guessing you will explore from more than one camp, eh?
Mackinaw, Copper Harbor, Sioux St Marie, Porcupine Mountains, etc.

dix39 · 10-22-2017, 12:30 PM

There have been several threads discussing various toads on this forum.

Another thought would be to add the disconnect to your Runner. Our toad for the last 10 years has been a '92 4wd manual Geo Tracker which I'm thinking would be too small for you. It is 4 down towable, but after a trip or two across the US I added a Demco disconnect.The disconnect lasted about 8 years and 60k miles. I had it rebuilt last year for use last summer.

Doing all the work myself and shopping eBay for the disconnect it cost in the neighborhood of $300.00. It cost nearly that much for the rebuild and I did the install. I don't know what it would cost for a new one installed.

Steve

**TonyDi** · 10-22-2017, 01:34 PM

Why not just add the driveshaft disconnect to the Toyota. Seems like that wold be cheap and you get to use your own vehicle.

dix39 · 10-22-2017, 01:45 PM

Something else we did to facilitate river canoeing/hiking/hunting/fishing, etc. was to add a motorbike carrier to the vehicle we carried the canoe on to provide a shuttle. We used Honda 90s, but anything would work. I know this isn't the focus of the thread, but I thought it might be a useful idea for your kayaking/hiking.

Steve