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Comment by hungmung | Hacker News Reader

> It is a known fact that the vast majority of truck owners rarely ever use the truck bed.

Just want to point out that big pickups are really about the hauling capacity, it's not like their beds are much bigger than a modern Ford Ranger. An F250 can safely pull 10 tons, and a dually F450 can pull 20t. Usually you aren't towing...but when you need to haul nontrivial loads you need a big truck.

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What's a reasonable scenario where average citizen need to haul 10, let alone 20 tons, on such regular basis that they need to own that capability themselves? Just rent or hire help. I would imagine that to also require special driving license, even if the car technically can handle it? We are not talking about professional use here, for that, use as big of a truck as you want.

Let’s cut to the chase here and flip this around. You tell people how often they need to be using the bed or towing things before you would accept their decision to buy versus rent as reasonable?

I go through periods where I tow weekly for months. Then I also have periods where I may tow nothing for 6-12 months. I rented for a bit and it was a huge pain in the ass for many reasons not to mention fairly expensive, can be so expensive to make paying the high price on a truck worth it.

If, as I suspect, you have never had the need to tow. Or do not live a lifestyle by trade/hobby that occasionally necessitates it, just say you can’t relate to the problems and inconveniences that renting poses and quit pretending nobody has thought of this before.

You cannot rent a truck with a bed. Try it - nearly all rental 'trucks' have storng use restrictions such that you can't use them as a truck. even home depot trucks are for taking your purchases home and can't be used for other truck work. Even if you can use it, they often check the condition so if what you haul will scratch the bed you are out of luck.

if you manage to navigate that and find a truck that will work - the cost is so high that you are money ahead owning your own truck after rediculasly few rentals.

And towing anything is also forbidden. Yes there are commercial rentals but they are priced substantially more than the trucks at Home Depot or other consumer rental places.

When I was renting more often, I found Enterprise had pick-up trucks and you can tell them you will be towing during the RSVP (I think it may be a small extra fee, but mostly they want to make sure they get you a truck with a towing hitch). I still use this option if I need more than my half ton can handle (thankfully not very often). I wouldn't use the bed for anything as they are always nice new trucks and any wear would be extremely obvious and I'm not sure if they will charge me. I will rent a trailer from Uhaul instead, another layer to the inconvenience.

I regularly rent a Mitsubishi 20' flatbed with 1T lift gate for around $75 a day incl fuel. they don't bother doing the walk around since its 80% dents anyways.

I wish I could find a place like that. I don't need a nice truck but that is all I've found.

Your case sounds more justifiable, but there is definitely a threshold of use below which buying extra utility doesn’t make a lot of sense, and I believe that a large number of Americans in particular sit under this threshold.

I feel that even with my current vehicle, which is an AWD electric compact SUV — it’s a great, highly capable car but in practice I’ve found that I’m practically never coming close to approaching the ceiling of its capabilities, which makes it feel wasted on me. I could get by just fine with something like a Bolt or e-Golf or a fossil fuel counterpart like a Fit and so once my lease is up I’ll probably be “downgrading”.

They need it to take their 20 tons of artisanal tomatoes and sourdough bread to farmers market. For backhoe and other heavy equipment that they rent on a daily basis. They help their friends and family move, with the 6 x 12 utility trailer add on, which can be daisy chained. They have large families with boats, jetskis and canoes that need to be towed for fun activities. Haul lumber and tons of stuff from homedepot for the DIY remodeling projects, once again helping friends and families. Volunteering on nextdoor to helpout Ukrainian and palestinian refugees, helping charities with food, clothes, tires, furniture donations and donations of upto 20 tons of gold bars. Helping friends and family buy/sell and resell antique furniture, audio equipment and plasma TVs, lots of trips to and from self storage. A big pickup truck also helps build a big house with a massive garage with its own DIY repair shop. Also, lots of friends with other pickup trucks that get stalled need towing help. Beer, lots of beer for weekend sports watching. Hunt hogs and bring meat home. Most importantly, it helps get away from wife to help a friend/family, which is the killer app.

That’s what some peoples’ lives look like in Instagram. Good one.

> Usually you aren't towing...but when you need to haul nontrivial loads you need a big truck.

That you can probably rent.

"I may need to haul a non-trivial load once 10 years from now" is hardly a justification for buying one

you probably cannot re&t such a truck. Home depot and all rental cars places have a no towing clause in the contract. Uhaul only tows the own trailer by concract.

the few rent for towing places are rare, and charge high fees such that it is cheaper to own your own truck.

Searching "rent a truck to tow":

- Enterprise https://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US/towing.ht...

- U-Haul https://www.uhaul.com/Truck-Rentals/Pickup-Truck/

I'm sure there are plenty more + services for towing.

Most enterprise locations are no towing. Most uhaul trucks are the same despite that webpage. When hou find otn that can tow the costs are so high that it is almost always cheaper to own a truck you drive empty 95% of the time. You have to run your own numbers but everytime I run them for me I can't justify a car and renting a truck when I need one. (I mostly ride my bike)

That might be a side effect of everyone owning a pickup, so demand is low.

In the Netherlands you can easily rent a transport van or truck for €30+/day. Owning your own would never be cheaper, especially as road tax is based on vehicle weight.

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