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Good ideas on rental Vans?? Cali to MN

Minnetonka4me

Minnetonka4me

Premium Member
Premium Member
Ok so I have the oppertunity to pu a sweet race ski and use it at Liquid Militias team weekend on memorial. The plan is to rent a van and drive it back.

I just started looking and prices seem insane. Im hoping maybe someone has a inside line or some experience in this area...

Thanks!
 
YUP, one way rentals are a killer in price.....have you tried U-Haul or Avis truck?
What about having it shipped, like Foster is doing with his new boat. I think it's called Uship.
 
Since there is time I will be trying uship, although taking the 45mpg honda VX sounds super tempting.
 
Just rented a huge 15 person van recently.. Alamo had the best rates by far.
 
Tonka,

Sign up or call any of the rental companies and set up a business account. My friend just did that with his consulting job, called up told them his "business" name and he's good to go at a discounted rate! Same thing usually for hotels.
 
uship can get some good deals. Im having the 20' speedtser shipped from san antonio TX to me in KY for $700. Thats 1400 miles. To drive down and tow it back would take me 4-5 days driving and $1500 in gas/hotels. Im flying down to check it out and having someone else drive it back for about the same price.
 
RFoster130 said:
uship can get some good deals. Im having the 20' speedtser shipped from san antonio TX to me in KY for $700. Thats 1400 miles. To drive down and tow it back would take me 4-5 days driving and $1500 in gas/hotels. Im flying down to check it out and having someone else drive it back for about the same price.
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1400 miles divided by 65 MPH is only 21.5 hours.....that's 10-3/4 hrs per day for 2 days. OK + potty time and eating time. If you are like me, I can't drive for a long time at once so maybe it's 3 days MAX. If your truck gets 15 MPG while towing then you spend about $330 in gas+ hotel/meals.
Uship for $700 sounds like a nice deal.
My co-worker just went to SA, TX to settle his dads estate he made it in 23 hrs from Michigan....crazy dude. Lots of people drive Mi - Florida straight through....about 20-24 hrs depending on location....nuts to do it.
 
Seadoobuddy said:
1400 miles divided by 65 MPH is only 21.5 hours.....that's 10-3/4 hrs per day for 2 days. OK + potty time and eating time. If you are like me, I can't drive for a long time at once so maybe it's 3 days MAX. If your truck gets 15 MPG while towing then you spend about $330 in gas+ hotel/meals.
Uship for $700 sounds like a nice deal.
My co-worker just went to SA, TX to settle his dads estate he made it in 23 hrs from Michigan....crazy dude. Lots of people drive Mi - Florida straight through....about 20-24 hrs depending on location....nuts to do it.
Click to expand...

SDB, you have too much time on your hands. You need to find a hobby :)
 
I got a Uship setup hopefully Ill get some hits. I'd really like to just fly to save a couple days on travel, but the Honda VX is tempting.

3200 mi rd trip @ 45mpg is $350 in gas! Its well taken care of but it isnt the most comfortable.
 
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maybe we'll see the ski on an episode of shipping wars... hopefully you won't get this prick.

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My islandia was WAY up in MI. The total trip was 1100 mi. I was going to do a single "DAY" trip... but SDB was nice enough to let me crash at his house overnight.

My trip cost about $350 with fuel and food. (but I would have eaten even if I stayed at home)

I was very surprised, that my 2010 Ram 1500 got 21 mpg on the trip up. (unloaded) That was 550 mi on one tank of fuel. Towing that beast back... I burnt 3 tanks.


But yes... a one way rental is almost stupid. My dad does it every once in a while for his biz. Realistically... you could buy a cheap tow vehicle... use it for the trip home... then sell it.
 
Seadoobuddy said:
1400 miles divided by 65 MPH is only 21.5 hours.....that's 10-3/4 hrs per day for 2 days. OK + potty time and eating time. If you are like me, I can't drive for a long time at once so maybe it's 3 days MAX. If your truck gets 15 MPG while towing then you spend about $330 in gas+ hotel/meals.
Uship for $700 sounds like a nice deal.
My co-worker just went to SA, TX to settle his dads estate he made it in 23 hrs from Michigan....crazy dude. Lots of people drive Mi - Florida straight through....about 20-24 hrs depending on location....nuts to do it.
Click to expand...

Except you are forgetting 1 thing. You only figured driving 1 way. If im towing it back with my vehicle first i need to drive it down there. So like i said originally. 4 days of driving 12 hour days. I get about 14mpg without towing anything. With my small boat i got like 12...so with this one im guessing even worse. So i figured 400 down in gas and 600 back. I would stay down there at least a day to check it out. So 1500 to drive down and back. Uship is 700. I got a buddy who works for Delta and hooks me up with the buddy pass to fly. $215 to fly. Even by the time i take someone with me and pay for gas and rental car its about the same price and i get a mini vacation and not 4 days straight driving. its a no brainer.
 
The UShip issue is my P/u...I have a 24hr pickup window b/c I dont have a place to store it. That makes these uship guys treat it like the main load and no one wants to take a chance they dont have another load.

Best bid so far is 840 with the Uship fees. I need to be around $500.

My other issue is now I need a motor and like 5 boxes of NOS parts brought back too. So....holy road trip!!

I have a whole fleet of vehicles...gotta decide on the VX (220k), 91 minivan (140k), my 02 silverado (275k)...Im kind of leaning towards my truck at this point, bring my double, and p/u another machine on the way.

All have fairly good maintenance records, but you just never know when something is gonna let you down.
 
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