Rental SUV to take on gravel roads (Vegas to Utah)

[Northern jock]

We had an SUV last year from Dollar (Via Auto Europe) and it was all a good deal, price and vehicle fine. Only problem was we weren't allowed on gravel roads.
This year, thinking of flying to Vegas and heading to Utah (etc) but want to be able to drive on some of the gravel roads in the parks. Not gnarly 4wd, just normal gravel roads.

Does anyone rent and allow that? I know you can go to the likes of Rugged in Salt Lake City but for a 4wd the price is about 2 to 3 times more than an SUV from Dollar etc

I realise that you can just take a risk and go for it, we did last year but it would be good to have it legally

Any ideas?

Oh and any suggestions of where is good in southern Utah etc? Camping a lot, in the hills a lot.

 

[Nutty]

Just rent one with one of the big rental companies, make sure you include excess waiver, then fill yer boots

 

[Davey B]

Had a normal car in 1999 and we took it up some great canyon roads, just do it. It's a 4 x 4. What can possibly go wrong....

 

[Schtum]

The worst rental experience we ever had was with a Chrysler Pacifica from Dollar. We rented it out of SFO and not having driven an American car for 6 years since the last time we'd rented a Mercury Grand Marquis, I thought the squealing tyres in the hills around Alice's Restaurant were just the way it was. By the time we got to Mono Lake, the front tyres were down to the cords which involved a major detour off our intended route, to Bishop to get an alignment job and two new front tyres. Dollar did eventually cough up the cost which, strangely, was exactly equal to the cost of three weeks rental, down to the last cent. However, someone later said to me, "There's a reason they're caleld Dollar..."

Anyway, I digress. Subsequently, much fun has been had taking various rented SUVs and an F150 camper truck onto dirt roads from Glacier National Park in Montana to the Burr Trail and Mokee Dugway in Utah.

This Nissan Murano was from Enterprise at SLC Airport and as you can see we took it out onto Bonneville Salt Flats during Speed Week.

Camping in Utah - the Cadillac Ranch in Bluff has tent spaces and is not far from both the Mokee Dugway and Monument Valley. It's a really nice wee camp site / RV Park. So much so that we stayed there twice once year when we rented an F350 with a camper on the back.

http://www.cadillacranchrv.com/index.html

 

[DavidHale]

I hired a Ford Somethingorother last year and went Las Vegas, Zion Nat Park, Bryce Nat Park, Canyonlands,, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon. Did a little bit of gravel, this is in Utah where Flic (13 at the time) found it easy to drive...

 

[Schtum]

I hired a Ford Somethingorother....

Ford Escape. I only know because we rented one at Newark Airport in 2011, after spending a week in Manhattan and then drove up the East Coast into Canada, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton where we stayed and drove most of the Cabot Trail before returning to Newark.

We drove some gravel roads on Cape Breton with that one as well.

 

[DavidHale]

That's the one. Fairy small, but competent and comfortable.

Sounds like a good trip you did too.

 

[shuck raider]

Never heard of that restriction on rental cars in US On my annual trout fishing trips to Montana/Idaho/Wyoming I really need a 4x4 'cos most of the good creeks & rivers are 40 miles up some dirt track or other. Best one I had was a Nissan Rogue (known as Qashquai here) it was CVT automatic transmission and I worried about stones getting stuck in the belts but it worked fine. Can't remember the make of the one I had last year (Toyota, maybe?) but here's a pic of it at the top of Skalkaho Creek in MT. The dust on the rear window was it's greatest drawback.

 

[AndyT]

Thats Ford America's version of the Fiat Panda - looks good

 

[Schtum]

Never heard of that restriction on rental cars in US

I think you'll find that it's in the small print of most rental agreements. Talking to Americans on the road, it would seem that it's also almost universally ignored by domestic rental customers.

Thats Ford America's version of the Fiat Panda - looks good

That's actually the previous model and it's a RAV4 competitor so it's a fair bit bigger than a Panda.

It's recently been replaced by Ford America's version of the Kuga.

 

[Northern jock]

Cheers

I've seen the Ford Escape pop up when searching Auto Europe, not a bad price so good to hear it does the job

I think it may just be go, enjoy and if there's a breakdown on the gravel pay someone to tow you to the hard then complain

I'll work out some ideas of where we might go next but I think it'll be fly to Vegas then up into the national parks in southern Utah which look good, big and with potential for a good time.

What's the story with fishing there? Do you buy a permit for the area, river, county, what? Nice if you're camping and can pull some trout out

 

[AndyT]

That's actually the previous model and it's a RAV4 competitor so it's a fair bit bigger than a Panda.[/IMG]

My sarcasm appears lost

 

[shuck raider]

What's the story with fishing there? Do you buy a permit for the area, river, county, what? Nice if you're camping and can pull some trout out

You can buy a 1 day or a 7 day licence at most tackle shops, entitles you to fish anywhere providing you don't access the river/lake through private land (i.e. just go in from a public road at a bridge or something) Never fished in Souther Utah, just up in the NE on the Green River, which was brilliant.

Details of fishing in S Utah and how to apply for licences online here

 

[Northern jock]

Here's the email required

I'll take that even though Dollar told us the opposite last year

Thank you for visiting the Dollar Rent - A - Car interactive website.



Vehicles rented from the Las Vegas Airport Dollar Rent A Car have the following restrictions only:



DRIVING RESTRICTIONS:

Driving is restricted to the continental United States.



VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS - SUV:

Customer must be 25 years of age or older to rent or drive SUV type vehicles.



I am not showing any policy regarding what types of roads onto which you may take the vehicle. Was the information on a third party site?





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