Renting uhaul trailer to tow car

[Dayen]

I went on the Uhaul website and put in the Tacoma info (6500 lb tow capacity) and the model of car that I want to tow (3300 lb BMW) and it is saying that the configuration is not recommended. The weight should be about 5700 lbs combined car/trailer, this is within the towing capacity of the truck right (assuming i get one with surge brakes).

Was looking at the auto transport trailer and it's telling me no, I had no idea this would be an issue until I went online. Do I just call a location and ask?

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[TacoFreak]

The last time I rented a Uhaul trailer the website put several restrictions on the rental, including an inspection of my truck. My local rental place did not care and just got me a trailer, so I would just call a location and talk to them.

 

[Dayen]

The last time I rented a Uhaul trailer the website put several restrictions on the rental, including an inspection of my truck. My local rental place did not care and just got me a trailer, so I would just call a location and talk to them.

Will do thanks, I'm planning on driving from RI to NY then back to RI, is it cheaper/easier to get the uhaul in RI and return it to the same place or is the cost negligble and I should just do a one way tow?

 

[Kyle_Ennis]

It's always cheaper to return the Uhaul to the original location you rented it from. I recently rented a truck and left it at my destination and the cost was more than double what it would have been if I returned it back to the original location.

 

[Dayen]

Yeah sure enough, it's $60 to round trip the trailer, and $150 to one way it!
Thanks for the tip that's way more than the cost of the gas each way

 

[TacoEd]

Note: Use a Premium Higher Octane fuel for the tow! You will be happy you did.

 

[WKTJR1]

I used to work for U-Haul. The stores get the same answers as the online portal when it comes to truck and trailer combinations. The system won’t let you complete the rental if the numbers don’t work. There wasn’t any override that I knew of, so I can’t say if other stores could bypass that or not.

As for locations, stores have two types of equipment: “in-town rentals” and “one-way rentals.” In-town equipment belongs to the store and has to be returned to that same location. That’s why there are high fees for dropping it off somewhere else. One-way rentals are just that, from point A to point B.

The difference comes down to how the cost is split between the store, the district, and U-Haul. For in-town rentals, the store keeps the majority of the cut, which is why there’s an incentive to keep that equipment rotating locally. For one-way rentals, it’s the opposite.

 

[Dayen]

Anyone know what height drop hitch I should buy? There's a 2 1/4 and a 3 1/2 inch drop hitches on the uhaul website. Unless there's some magic Toyota hitch I should buy that has the 7500lb rating? This is on a SR double cab at stock ride height on the factor wheels and tires

 

[eskudo12791]

is your Tacoma a SR or SR5, everything Im seeing points towards a SR having a tow capacity of 3500lbs

 

[Dayen]

is your Tacoma a SR or SR5, everything Im seeing points towards a SR having a tow capacity of 3500lbs

It's a manual SR, so it has the same engine config and power as a manual TRD off road or sport. I see no reason it would have a different towing capacity right?

Edit, found this https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2024-sr-towing-capacity.819657/#post-29576460
I'm good!

 

[eskudo12791]

https://www.darcarstoyotaofbaltimore.com/toyota-tacoma-towing-capacity
https://www.355toyota.com/toyota-tacoma-towing-capacity

SR	- 3,500 lbs1 XtraCab - 6,400 lbs1 Double Cab

"If you're looking at the base model, the SR hits a max towing capacity of 3,500 pounds2 no matter the configuration or drivetrain. However, to achieve the maximum towing capacity of 6,500 pounds2 for the Toyota Tacoma, you'll need either the SR5 XtraCab with RWD or 4WD or the TRD PreRunner XtraCab with RWD, both configured with a 6-foot bed."

 

[WKTJR1]

Anyone know what height drop hitch I should buy? There's a 2 1/4 and a 3 1/2 inch drop hitches on the uhaul website. Unless there's some magic Toyota hitch I should buy that has the 7500lb rating? This is on a SR double cab at stock ride height on the factor wheels and tires

If the droop is too low you can have them flip the drop hitch over to get a rise.
Here's info for the trailer with specs:
https://www.uhaul.com/Trailers/Auto-Transport-Rental/AT/

 

[TacoGR]

So, I recently used my '24 PrerRunner to tow my GR from NorCal to Arkansas, which was roughly 1800ish miles. When I went to reserve online it initially didn't allow me just like you described, but once I went in person they authorized it. The total weight was roughly 5.5k lbs (3.3k car + 2.2k trailer), and my ball hitch had a 2" drop, but yours will vary as you want the ball hitch to sit between 17-18" from the ground. No issues with the truck towing, but the trailer did fail catastrophically on me along the way when the surge brake reservoir disintegrated, so do regularly check on that.

 

[Dayen]

So, I recently used my '24 PrerRunner to tow my GR from NorCal to Arkansas, which was roughly 1800ish miles. When I went to reserve online it initially didn't allow me just like you described, but once I went in person they authorized it. The total weight was roughly 5.5k lbs (3.3k car + 2.2k trailer), and my ball hitch had a 2" drop, but yours will vary as you want the ball hitch to sit between 17-18" from the ground. No issues with the truck towing, but the trailer did fail catastrophically on me along the way when the surge brake reservoir disintegrated, so do regularly check on that.

Thank you for the info! The BMW I'm going to tow is the exact same weight pretty much, hopefully not having the hybrid system doesn't effect the performance too much

 

[GMak621]

You can just pick a mini cooper/fiat 500 and the uhaul website will allow it I bet

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