Illegal To Rent A Truck With A Trailer Hitch In Ab?

[birchy]

Due to some unforseen circumstances last year we ended up having to sell our tow vehicle for our travel trailer. I was thinking I'd try and borrow friends or family trucks in the meantime for our few camping trips during the summer. But then I was reading on rv.net and some guys mentioned just renting a truck for the weekend and using it to tow. Great idea! I thought..

 

However, just the other day a friend told my wife that they tried to do this exact thing and were unable to find a place that rented trucks that had hitches installed. After getting turned down a number of times, someone finally told them (not sure who) that it was illegal? in Alberta to rent a truck with a hitch. I'm assuming that if this is the case, that it must have to do with liability issues or something.. with the amount of yahoos that are on the roads these days.

 

Does anyone have any insight on this? Can you confirm or deny that this is the case?

 

 

[ladystrange]

However, just the other day a friend told my wife that they tried to do this exact thing and were unable to find a place that rented trucks that had hitches installed. After getting turned down a number of times, someone finally told them (not sure who) that it was illegal? in Alberta to rent a truck with a hitch. I'm assuming that if this is the case, that it must have to do with liability issues or something.. with the amount of yahoos that are on the roads these days.

 

Does anyone have any insight on this? Can you confirm or deny that this is the case?

 

 

i'll ask at work tomorrow if my auto guy is in

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Not sure about that one Ryan,

 

We have no trouble leasing summer project vehicles with recievers and wiring installed already, everything from light 1/2 tons to 1 tons. (we lease through dealers)

 

Does your trailer require a 5th wheel hitch or a draw bar type - If 5th wheel I could see finding one of those being a challenge - if you need a draw bar type also look at renting an SUV - I know this because I rented a new Ford Exporer from the Calgary airport through expedia for my parents during their last visit and because most rental SUV's come with deluxe packages, it was factory equiped with a hitch. Of course you take your chances pre renting on-line - might be worthwhile going to the airport walking through the rental section and seeing who has hitches and then go to the counter next.

 

Other option is RV rental places - I see rented truck / trailer combos all summer up here - maybe one of those outfits will rent just a truck

 

G'luck

(maybe someone here will trade their truck usage for a nice laptop )

[birchy]

Yeah.. didn't sound right to me when I heard it. I'm sure I've seen rentals with hitches before.. especially the SUV's like you mentioned Pipestone. We just have a small 16' travel trailer.

[Guest Sundancefisher]

Yeah.. didn't sound right to me when I heard it. I'm sure I've seen rentals with hitches before.. especially the SUV's like you mentioned Pipestone. We just have a small 16' travel trailer.

 

About 10 years ago we rented from Shaw...with hitches and towed all sorts of trailers. Not sure what is up now though. Maybe some places refuse as they don't know what size load you are towing and may hurt the truck.

[BBBrownie]

I know that Driving Force used to be the only rental company that would allow towing...I belive it is an insurance issue for rental companies. I use rentals all the time for work and this can be an ongoing issue. Actually, come to think of it, Hyatt may do tow rentals as well?

[Current]

About 10 years ago we rented from Shaw...with hitches and towed all sorts of trailers.

 

 

 

x2 for Shaw GMC on Blackfoot. You can get a truck with a hitch from them for $100/day (100 free km/day, then $0.18/km.) They may charge you a towing fee as well.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Current

[birchy]

x2 for Shaw GMC on Blackfoot. You can get a truck with a hitch from them for $100/day (100 free km/day, then $0.18/km.) They may charge you a towing fee as well.

 

 

Cheers,

 

 

Current

 

Just got off the phone with them and can confirm that they can rent trucks specifically for towing. Pretty close to what you said Current..

 

$79/day including 100 free km's. 18 cents/additional km. One time towing fee is $39. And then $25.95/day for insurance. $1000 deductible if there's an accident.

 

That's probably fair pricing, but it quite a bit more than I had anticipated. Was wanting to go out for a couple long weekend camping trips this summer. I could probably buy an old beater truck for the same price as renting a couple times. Decisions, decisions..

[Current]

Just got off the phone with them and can confirm that they can rent trucks specifically for towing. Pretty close to what you said Current..

 

$79/day including 100 free km's. 18 cents/additional km. One time towing fee is $39. And then $25.95/day for insurance. $1000 deductible if there's an accident.

 

That's probably fair pricing, but it quite a bit more than I had anticipated. Was wanting to go out for a couple long weekend camping trips this summer. I could probably buy an old beater truck for the same price as renting a couple times. Decisions, decisions..

 

 

 

Yeah. The $100 was including ins. Maybe you can rent an Explorer with hitch in the bumper from Enterprise or something as Pipestone said. Might be a bit cheaper.

[ladystrange]

ok, i asked my auto insurance guy at work and it does depend on insurance and liability issues. he said most trucks should have receivers but not the ball.

 

he said it is up to the car rental company but most do not chose to carry the extra insurance

[LynnF]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the trucks that you can rent with hitches on them (including rental car rentals) don't have a transmission cooler or trailer brakes to haul RV's......so be mindful of that too.

[fastpoke]

U-Haul, rents trucks you can tow with. I built 4 custom trailers for a costumer who was suppling them to DOT and he picked them up and distributed them through out Alberta with a U-Haul rental about 3 months ago.

 

Fastpoke