My parents are towing my 54 to Texas (from IN) in Oct. behind their RV. They are going to have an empty tow dolly on the way back. I've thought about putting up an ad offering cheap towing to someone. ($300-400?) As long as the current location and destination location match their route north...ie...someone has a vehicle in Cen-Tex and need to get it to Indianapolis...(or somewhere along that northbound route)...

I'm squeamish about towing for strangers, but i've been given the chance to tow my truck at about half the cost of commercial transport...it would feel good to give the same opportunity to someone else.

--towed vehicle is covered by thier RV insurance.
--The folks will use the money to cover their fuel charges.
--contract would be drawn up and signed by both parties, waving liability.
--logistics could be a pain...(what are the chances of someone in Central Texas needing a vehicle towed north in that timeframe?)

Please shoot some holes in this idea...It may sound like good karma, but i have a creeping feeling this is going to be a headache i don't need. Anyone done anything like this?

 

Sounds like a great idea! Be nice if it worked out.

Remember to drop the driveshaft on anything you tow that far.

 

Hope it works out. I would let your folks be the last to say yes or no when they meet up with the individual. Sometimes a feel for a personality can be very valuable! Or not!



Take my advice, I'm not using it!

 

I had the same thoughts when I went from Alabama to Nebraska in July to tow my truck. I finally just drove out and rented a trailer at U-haul. They have a 6 day minumin for about $350.00 You can get just a tow dolly for about $145.00. I'm not sure how you can locate someone on your route and time frame that you would be willing to tow for them. Unless its on a forum like ours. Good luck, sure would be nice to recoup some gas money.

 

Be sure to re-tighten those tow-dolly straps after about the first fifteen miles and then check them every 100 miles or so there-after. Those straps tend to stretch and the vehicle will settle in also. If the RV insurance will cover the towed vehicle, then why the waiver of liability? Maybe it should be a waiver of liabilty for anything above the value of the towed vehicle? Maybe I misinterpreted that part? Good luck.

 

Right there is your answer, if you're not 100% I wouldn't do it.

Even if you did all you said, have insurance and signed contracts, I'd still be worried about something going wrong and being liable for something. Not only that but the logistics of everything falling into place would be a nightmare. The chances of finding some one close enough to the charted route and not having to go a couple of hundred miles off is slim. What kind of schedule would your parents have on the the return trip? It could be dragged out if they have to go out of their way and find the "roller" vehicle they're suppose to pick up has four bald tires and bad bearings that have to be fixed before they can take it. One person's idea of a safe vehicle could be another's nightmare. Also, you and your parents, I am assuming, would be novices and haven't done something like this before. There are problems that can occur on the road that they may have to take care of, are they experienced and equipped to deal with road break downs? They'll have to foot the bill for any repairs needed to the towed vehicle so it can get back on the road. Hopefully the owner of the towed vehicle will reimburse them for the costs.

I might consider doing something like this if I personally knew the other party but doing it for a stranger could be a mess. The stranger could agree to one thing and when something happens could turn into a complete *** and cause you and your parents a lot of trouble.

I am not a real fan of car dollies either, especially on long trips. I strongly prefer a trailer. On a vintage or non-op vehicle I like all four wheels off the ground, less chance for an old part to fail or fall off. Also, easier backing if you get into a pinch, especially behind a big RV. On a long trip the chances of getting into a traffic bind is greatly enhanced.

I don't want to seem like a downer about this, I've been called this before when similar situations presented themselves here on the board and I brought up possible problems, but I'm a cautious person and I've been burned, and have seen others get burn before. I say have your parents do you the favor by towing your truck and then let them have a less stressful drive back. You got a deal on the towing, if you are worried about your parents fuel cost either throw them a few more bucks, or if they won't accept that ask to take the RV for a spin and stop by a gas station without them knowing and fill it up. Once the gas is in the tank there's not much they can do about it.

With all of the above being said, I would myself think about hauling a vehicle or parts back to save on travel costs. I've done it before but I've done it myself, not had someone else do it. Also, the parts that weren't mine belonged to a long time member of FTE who I had known for a few years. I took all the responsibility and it worked OK. On one of my most ambitious truck pickup/parts hauls I was able to arrange six stops in a matter of three days and all worked out pretty good until the last stop. Long story short, person was late by two hours, farm in the middle of no where, shot guns, fast departure. It did make for a good story to be told for years though. I have learned a lot from my previous adventures.

 

You would be better off finding a nice rust-free vehicle in TX that would have some value in the rustbelt (IN), buying it, having your parents tow it home, and then sell it to someone in IN/OH that is looking for a solid project car/truck. I knew a local guy here in San Diego that would make annual trips to the East coast with loads of nice sheetmetal and trade it along the route for good driveline parts. He was strictly into Corvairs but the concept would work with virtually any model.

Check CL in the area around your parents home and see what people are looking for, you just might find a market.

 

Bob,
Thanks for the comments, your ideas and impressions confirmed my own suspicions, I guess i just needed to hear it from someone else.

Charlie,
Excellent idea, i may do just that.

Thanks to all.
(I've found one of the best things about this forum is the upfront, no-BS, and honesty from everyone...it's greatly appreciated.)

 

First and foremost thing to think about is legality of towing someone else's vehicle for hire with a personal RV. If there was an accident and the issue came up most insurance companies would flat refuse the claim because of commercial use.

 

The only thing worse than towing someone else's car/truck back all that way is towing an empty dolly. I'd pay the vig for a 1-way rental.

 

I didn't even think about that. It's a way to make a little money. One major problem I seeing with this idea is if the truck they tow back to IN is nicer than the the truck being towed to TX. Unless the IN truck is a fully restored or rust free original I would imagine almost anything down in TX has to be better than a rust bucket truck from up here in the Rust Belt.

I'm not the most knowledgeable person in the world, and surely not the wisest. I just like to offer suggestions when I can. Some times I've gotten heat for my opinions and observations. There was thread some years ago about relaying an old big truck 1100 miles over the mountains. It seemed like everyone was really hyped up on the idea with many volunteering time to do part of the relay. I watched the thread grow with the enthusiasm of proceeding with it. I finally listed many of the negatives of doing such of venture and got a lot of heat for being a kill joy. When contemplating something that can affect many people you have to look all of the possible pluses and especially the negatives.

Liability, along with insurance plays the a huge part in everything we do in our modern litigious society. In my relay reference above one of the big negatives I could think of is no insurance company would ever insure a policy to bunch of unrelated individuals driving a 60+ year old truck 1100 miles. When I posted some scenarios of potential mishaps some smart posters told me it would be the other individuals problem. Another post on the HAMB a few months ago was by an individual who wanted to transport his truck from TX to AL. He was thinking about using an enclosed moving rental truck so he could save money by stuffing all his worldly possessions in the back of the box along with his truck. Numerous replies encouraged him to do it and stated they have done it many times. I posted two reasons I was opposed to the idea. First, the moving truck is not designed to haul a 3000+ pound truck which would turn into a 3000 pound projectile if the moving truck came to a sudden stop. Second, if the guy would read the small print I am sure he would find wording limiting the type of objects that the person haul in it. Same thing with the RV insurance that Boz mentioned. It probably does cover anything hauled by the RV, as long as it belongs to the RV owner. If it were found out they were hauling something for money I would guarantee the insurance company will deny any claim. Insurance companies are in it to make money and they will go to the end of the earth to be able to deny a claim. They have armies of lawyers and investigators to look under every rock and question every neighbor and relative and anyone else they talk to find their evidence.

To go back to Charlie's suggestion, one auto transporter that came to pick up some parts from me had a long fifth wheel trailer loaded with complete cars. I asked about how he was able to afford to insure his cargo, I said it must cost a fortune. He told me he had all of the buyers of the cars have the seller write out a bill of sale to him, the driver, stating he bought the cars. That way if he had a problem he would say they were all his cars and his regular vehicle insurance would cover it. It seemed kind of shady to me and I would guess that if he was involved in a substantial accident his insurance company would dig up every person he ever tranported a car for to show a pattern of haulling cars as a business. With a person who would only be hauling one vehicle at one time I think this might work. Just make sure you get a bill of sale with a date and time of sale indicated, signed by both seller and buyer.

 

I work for a transport company and we bring car's back and forth from Canada to the U.S. Our insurance does't cover automobile's so we have the customer buy a rider on their own insurance for transport.

 

I didn't know you could do that. Interesting and helpful.