New boat but can't use it!

Two weeks ago we brought our new SANTE 210 home from the dealer. I had to work for four days, then we were going to get the most we could out of it for the remainder of the season. Two days into my work week while driving home after work a drunk driver crashed into me. Besides having a sore back, the damage to my truck was pretty bad. Still waiting to hear from the insurance company whether or not they are going to fix it. I would rather not have to get a another truck, but right now I hope they don't fix it so I can go buy another tow vehicle and not have to wait for mine to be fixed. I may have to ask a friend to borrow their tow vehicle.

I have a brand new boat in my garage and we can't even go use it! How pissed off would you be?

Do you have rental insurance?

That's a whole other story, but yes I have rental insurance but the biggest vehicle they have is a Ford Ranger with no hitch. To find one that will be sufficient will cost me a lot of money.

I will come use it for you

I promise to tell you all about it.

I was without a tow vehicle for 6 weeks two years ago...it sucked. I was lucky to borrow peeps trucks, but I always seemed to get empty vehicles to fill up.

invite a friend to go with you that has a tow vehicle! win / win situation for both of you.

sorry to hear about the wreck

I had someone T bone my truck in a parking lot one time.His truck was unoccupied and left running while he went into the store. Somehow it slipped into gear and managed to go the entire length of the parking lot before his rear bumper found the side of my truck.
I had a weekend of boating planned and the car rental company I was working with did not rent out anything with a hitch. I guess this is pretty common.
I explained my problem to the guy that owned the body shop and he loaned me his shop truck for the weekend so I could pull my boat to the water.
Pretty cool to do that for me. He has gotten tons of referrals from me since then!

Did they have insurance? I got hit head-on by a drunk driver exactly one year ago (the Friday before Labor Day weekend). Obviously had to cancel my plans at the lake that weekend...But any costs you incur will be added to any settlement from their insurance company. So I would rent whatever truck it takes for you to be able to use your boat. That's of course if your back is okay to be bouncing around in a boat all day. Mine sure wasn't...Good luck.

Do the rental trucks from Home Depot have hitches? You will not find a rental truck with a hitch, they will not allow ANYTHING to be towed.

Uhaul usually has trucks with a hitch too.

hertz eq rents have pick ups with hitches too. they also have crew cabs

If your in Tampa I will come pick you up!!!

Can you rent a trailblazer. All come standard with a 2" hitch and they can two 5000+ lbs

The rental companies remove the hitches! Show me a pic of a rental truck with a hitch! I've been down that road...had to rent a box truck to tow mine!

Cargo vans have hitchs...

I've seen plenty of rentals and they all still had their hitches. It's against the agreement but plenty of people do it. They haven't been pickups but Tahoes, Expeditions, etc.

Yea, rental companies won't bother to take off the hitch if it's already on there. Honestly, what do they care? Vehicle is under warranty and if there is a wreck, it isn't their insurance on the line. The covered themselves by making you sign the agreement. Trailblazers all have 2'' hitch.

I never used them, but the only rental company I found that would allow towing (as of last year) was Rent-A-Wreck (http://www.rent-a-wreck.com).

Rent the truck and buy a hitch. Takes 10 minutes to put it on and then sell it on craigslist when your done. If your going to be without for a few weeks thats what i would do.

The problem I heard about using a non-approved rental truck was that if you get in an accident you are screwed.

^ word

call your buddy with a truck!!

I am not going to rent a truck and get even more screwed when I have another accident! As you can see my luck isn't always the greatest.

The problem with all my buddies is they have weekends off. I have weekdays off!

It's not the rental companies' insurance that would cover anything.... it's your own. We've towed with Uhaul's truck & it wasn't a problem. Also used Home Depot's without any issues. We weren't towing a boat, but that shouldn't matter.

Also, check into one of those "Rent a wreck" kind of places.

(Message edited by bill_airjunky on August 31, 2009)

I hope you're right Bill, but I thought my insurance company (USAA for car and boat) told me otherwise. I could be wrong.

FYI, when you have rental coverage, they are required to replace your vehicle with a "like kind" automobile. You should not have to cover this on your own dime. If your truck was for hauling, they they should replace it with a hauling vehicle. The rules could be different in other states, but that's how it is in California.

As far as them not covering you if you use a non approved vehicle that's likely not true. It would be no different than using your own insurance for a rental car. It's called substitute vehicle. In fact you can even get a rider and rent a motorhome as a substitute vehicle. A quick call to your State's Insurance Commissioner will get you the right answer.

If you were hit wouldn't the guy who hit you's insurance cover the rental. When it happened to me I demanded a rental rig that could tow since I needed it for work. The insurance company eventually caved although not without a little whining.