Can you ride in a car being towed? Should my wife be driving?

[Dr. Zaus]

I'm thinking of putting my van on plat form that you drive up on that is hitched to the U-Haul I'll be driving 900 mi (the distance from my house to out of Texas).

A few questions:
1.) Is the risk of this thing flipping any worse than the risk of my wife driving the van flipping? (she's been driving almost a year now! (she's 26) after only failing the driving exam twice.)

2.) Is it even legal for her and the kids to ride in the back (she's nervous about driving through San-Antonio)

3.) She doesn't want to drive the car with the kids in it that far; How much worse would it be on her to haver her driving the U-Haul?

I was thinking that towing the van would save some miles on it, save on gass and keep my wife from having to drive the long distance.

Any thoughts?

 

[mmntech]

Does U-Haul still even allow towing? A lot of rental companies don't anymore because of the higher insurance costs.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Does U-Haul still even allow towing? A lot of rental companies don't anymore because of the higher insurance costs.

It's an option on the web page.

http://www.uhaul.com/reservations/RatesTrucks.aspx

 

[Born2bwire]

Admit it, this is all just a ploy so you don't have to sit with her in a confined space for fifteen hours.

EDIT: As for here driving the Uhaul as opposed to the car? If she ain't comfortable driving the car that long then the Uhaul isn't going to be any better. They have automatic transmission sure but they're going to be less comfortable and behave unfamiliar. It would only be more fatiguing than driving the car the same distance.

 

[Rastus]

It's not legal for anyone to be in a towed vehicle. If it were me, I would pack the van full of crap, put it on a dolly, pile the family in the truck and go. 900 miles is a bit far to try in one day, but two days it's easy. Even if you do all the driving.

Just don't forget to load the kids up with massive amounts of sugar and liquids before you start out.

 

[BoomerD]

I don't know about Tex-Ass or the other southern states, but in MOST of the USA, it's illegal to ride in the towed vehicle.

 

[Born2bwire]

It's not legal for anyone to be in a towed vehicle. If it were me, I would pack the van full of crap, put it on a dolly, pile the family in the truck and go. 900 miles is a bit far to try in one day, but two days it's easy. Even if you do all the driving.

Just don't forget to load the kids up with massive amounts of sugar and liquids before you start out.

Yeah, it would be stretching to do it with a family in a day. I would drive 800 miles from central IL to central GA to visit family. That took me 13 hours like clockwork and that only allowed for 2 stops (gas at both and eat). I would get up at 4 AM so that I could be in at 6 PM (lose an hour) to drive my grandma to dinner. But that would not be something that I would attempt with family. One alternative I guess would be to drive the van yourself and do it one day and have the rest of the family fly. Costly though.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Yeah, it would be stretching to do it with a family in a day. I would drive 800 miles from central IL to central GA to visit family. That took me 13 hours like clockwork and that only allowed for 2 stops (gas at both and eat). I would get up at 4 AM so that I could be in at 6 PM (lose an hour) to drive my grandma to dinner. But that would not be something that I would attempt with family. One alternative I guess would be to drive the van yourself and do it one day and have the rest of the family fly. Costly though.

I just found a service called "U-Box" by u haul; It's only slightly more expensive than the cost of 14ft trailer + gas and then the family and I can go in the van.

I had discounted PODS previously because it was like twice as expensive as flying everyone else and just driving the 14ft u-haul myself, towing my car.

 

[Born2bwire]

I just found a service called "U-Box" by u haul; It's only slightly more expensive than the cost of 14ft trailer + gas and then the family and I can go in the van.

I had discounted PODS previously because it was like twice as expensive as flying everyone else and just driving the 14ft u-haul myself, towing my car.

Oh neat. I didn't know that they had a competing service.