--- title: "Pickups Are Great, But You’re Probably Better Off Renting a Trailer" date: "2024-08-12" modified: "2024-08-12" authors: - name: "Andrew P. Collins" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/andrew-p-collins" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/pickups-are-great-but-youre-probably-better-off-renting-a-trailer" categories: - "Car Buying" - "News" - "Trucks" tags: - "pickup" --- # Pickups Are Great, But You’re Probably Better Off Renting a Trailer ![Truck no, trailer yes.]() *\Adobe, Ford, and of course the Hotline Bling meme.\* If you're considering buying a pickup [truck]() instead of a smaller vehicle because you think you might haul dirt, chunky cargo, or random pieces of large junk once in a while, hold off for a second. Do you realize how cheaply you can rent a utility [trailer]()? That might be a far better option for you. Last weekend I had to haul a [Polaris UTV]() from mid-state Vermont to New York's Hudson Valley. The cost to rent a big two-axle utility trailer was $40 and change for 24 hours. That's including taxes, fees, and add-on insurance. Yes, I pulled it with a pickup, but I didn't have to. More importantly, the experience opened my eyes to how easy it is to grab a little trailer for the kind of occasional hauling most homeowners and hobbyists do. A paltry $40? You can barely get out of a Harbor Freight without spending that much on a single trip! I had considered buying a trailer for this mission since the UTV was coming to live with me indefinitely and I might need to move it again. But the closest decent candidate was around $500. Plus, then I'd need to meet up with some Craigslist dude, deal with the DMV to get tags, maintain it, store it—it'd be a whole thing. ![]() *Here's the trailer I got for $40 for 24 hours. It was under 3,500 pounds even with the UTV on it, meaning a much smaller vehicle could've towed it. *Andrew P. Collins** When I found out that U-Haul could hook me up with a 6x12 two-axle trailer for a full day for less than the price of a fuel stop, the rental was a no-brainer move. The experience got me thinking about how many pickup trucks are driving around with always-empty cargo beds because the owners convinced themselves they might need to haul something someday. A smaller trailer would work for so many general homeowner hauls and be even cheaper than the one I rented, not to mention lighter. Plus, you'd have the benefit of how low a trailer is to the ground. Anything heavy is a pain to get into a truck bed, but a little town trailer is less than two feet high. Look, I know some trucks do make practical sense for some people. Honestly, I can even appreciate the appeal of owning a truck just for the vibe. It's fun to cruise around in a pickup, and modern ones are ridiculously nice. But modern trucks are also ridiculously expensive, guzzle gas, and still can't match car-based vehicles on driving dynamics. You can do all the shock tuning and sound-deadening you want, but (aside from a few extreme performance models) no body-on-frame 4x4 is as agile and comfortable as a well-engineered car or crossover. Speaking of crossovers, many of them can still tow more than 3,000 pounds these days. But even a base-model [RAV4]() can pull 1,500 pounds, which would be plenty for a single-axle utility trailer and half a ton of mulch or bricks, or a huge appliance. And something that size would be even cheaper than the one I rented for my UTV run. The hauling weight of my U-Haul setup ended up being pretty substantial, and yes, I see the irony in saying "you don't need a pickup truck" when I pulled my trailer with a [Tacoma](). U-Haul's largest utility trailer (this two-axle job) weighs 2,200 pounds, and my UTV is about 1,100. It's a lot, but still below the max tow rating of many non-pickup truck vehicles. And many hardware or garden supply store runs would be much lighter. ![]() **Adobe** If you're a practical person, look hard at the economics of buying and fueling a $60,000 pickup truck. You might find that a smaller vehicle gives you a lot of money left over for trailer rentals. And you probably won't need them as often as you think. Besides [U-Haul](), Home Depot often rents trailers cheap, plus there's Tractor Supply, Taylor Rental, United Rental, and even some little hardware stores that will rent you one. You might have a trailer rental spot closer to home than you realize. It won't be a perfect alternative for every pickup owner, but if "occasional hauling" is one of your main reasons for wanting to buy a truck, check out your local trailer rental options. You might just find that you don't need that permanent cargo bed after all. *Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author As Executive Editor, Andrew touches everything on the site from daily news coverage to feature stories, sponsored content, product reviews, road testing vehicles, ecommerce, and more. He's held pretty much every role there is to have at an automotive news site and has been with The Drive's publisher Recurrent since 2020. Andrew's a lifetime gearhead and longtime writer with a particularly strong penchant for road trips, off-road adventures, and archaic vehicles. His passions outside of the automotive world include skiing, obsolete video games, and his dog Bramble who occationally helps review cars. ### Author social links [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()