Rental car limiting your hunt?

[Zach75]

Have you ever felt like being in a rental vehicle has limited your hunt?

Back story: I’ll be driving to Montana from PA in September for a 2 week archery hunt. I am able to go back out for gun season as well. But I would like to fly for that hunt to save travel days and miles on my truck.

I’m concerned about being in a rental vehicle limiting me, as far as it’s tires not being able to handle snow and being hesitant to not push down roads in fear of beating up the vehicle.

 

[TBarron]

Get the insurance and give ‘er hell!


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[Turkeygetpwnd38]

The only time I’ve really felt limited in a rental was because of weather. Snow/ice mainly, occasionally lots of rain/mud in certain areas. Don’t get me wrong, I push it way past the common sense limit, but some things just aren’t feasible.

 

[Rjk300]

Weather mainly ice/snow has stopped my group from traveling some mountain roads in MT a couple times. The rental truck was fine and I don’t believe any of our personal trucks would have been any better.


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[Stagman]

Rent a Home Depot truck

 

[199p]

Rental cars are the best. goes way faster when its not your own too

 

[Clovis]

It is a factor--read the contract from your rental car company and it probably has limits on where you can drive, some of which are surprisingly restrictive about dirt roads. Also probably doesn't matter much unless/until you get in a pickle where you aren't supposed to be driving it. I've done it before and felt the limitations of the tires but still glad I got the rental because otherwise i wouldn't have been able to do the hunt or as long a hunt.

 

[Fullfan]

We drive from Pa to Idaho every year, and 3-4 guy's fly. Guys that fly get rentals and drive to camp, we have never had a problem. We hunt the last 3 weeks of Sept.

 

[ccoffey]

Go find some tire chains after you pickup your car. They should be pretty easy to find for the common tire sizes that come on rentals.

Also reservations are garbage. If you have the time, try to time your pickup when there are the highest availability of vehicles. I would assume that’s like late morning at most airport. A lot of times you can fib a little to the agent and they’ll give you an upgrade or bring you a specific vehicle if you say you’re gonna be in rough weather with 4 people.

 

[IdahoElk]

Get a set of chains for your rental.

 

[Jethro]

Enterprise rents jeep rubicons, but appears that locations that carry them are extremely limited. Buddy rented one couple weeks ago out of Denver and was all over Wyoming. Said it was the best possible rental for the conditions they had.

Maybe other places rent them too. I don’t know

 

[sodaksooner]

Rent a truck. My jeep broke down on my way to my deer hunt last fall. Limped it into colorado springs. Was able to get a full size 4wd dodge pickup for like $70 per day while it was being fixed, on short notice no less. Not much more than a car. It rocked. Didn't slow me down one bit. Actually liked it a lot more than the jeep!

 

[hunt1up]

My only complaint about rental trucks is you don't know what tires you'll get. We rented a piece of crap newer Dodge Ram a few years ago. It had the cheap, thin Goodyear Wrangler road tires on it. We popped two tires on some AZ forest roads that were NOT bad roads. These are the pretty nice, mostly maintained FS roads that get tons of recreational traffic. Hardly treacherous. I know some personal friends that have had terrible luck with those tires too.

Other than that, I wouldn't be scared of most rentals at all.

 

[100 others]

Yep, Walmart chains after pick up and return em before you leave.

 

[WCB]

Was in Bozangeles for work a few years ago...rented a "compact" vehicle. Got a Scion XB. Stayed a few extra days after work visit was done. I put like 400 miles on it in 2.5 day and used it like a SxS up sum pretty rough trail heads. The looks I got were hilarious.

Also, got a loaner from the dealership when my truck was in for work. Was out in the middle of a lake with it ice fishing when I happened to read the loaner agreement....Nothing about taking it on a lake but apparently the 2mile gravel road before that was a no-no. oh well.

 

[GotDraw?]

Bring an air gauge and a small 12v compressor so you can air down on the back roads and air up for pavement.

Airing down will make the tires more readily conform to rocks rather than puncturing. It will also give you more traction and a greater contact patch. Air down to 20psi or 25psi depending on sidewall height and road conditions. We run my brother's truck at 15psi offroad, but it has huge 35s and they're Kevlar sidewalls

JL

 

[roosterdown]

"No car outperforms a Rental Car"

 

[Longleaf]

check out Turo, you can find modified trucks on there

https://turo.com

 

[sodaksooner]

My only complaint about rental trucks is you don't know what tires you'll get. We rented a piece of crap newer Dodge Ram a few years ago. It had the cheap, thin Goodyear Wrangler road tires on it. We popped two tires on some AZ forest roads that were NOT bad roads. These are the pretty nice, mostly maintained FS roads that get tons of recreational traffic. Hardly treacherous. I know some personal friends that have had terrible luck with those tires too.

Other than that, I wouldn't be scared of most rentals at all.

Agree, but has to be better than a ford taurus...lol.

 

[WRO]

Get the insurance and give ‘er hell!


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