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Equipment Payments Trailers & RVs

How much does a U-Haul car trailer cost?

Work out what towing a car behind you actually costs, not what the rental counter quoted. Put in the trailer rate for your trip, the distance, what your vehicle returns with a car on the back against what it returns without one, and your fuel price, and see the full total and the cost per mile. Per mile is the number worth having, because that is the unit an auto transport carrier quotes in, and it is how you hold the two options still beside each other.

§ 01 Your numbers

Change anything. The answer updates as you type.

The quoted fee for the car hauler or tow dolly, for your pickup town, drop-off town and dates. The default is ours and editable, and the quote you are holding is the one that matters.
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This line is quoted two very different ways depending on the trip. An in-town rental, picked up and returned to the same location, is billed as a flat rate for a standard period with extra days added on, and it lands low. A one-way rental, dropped off in a different town, is a single fee set by the distance between the two places with the travel days built in, and it lands a good deal higher. The equipment matters too: a full car hauler carries all four wheels off the ground and takes a heavier tow vehicle, while a tow dolly lifts only the front wheels and is quoted lower. Which one you are allowed to rent is decided by your car's drivetrain and your tow vehicle, not by which price you prefer, so get the quote for the equipment you actually qualify for.
The driving distance for the trip, one way for a one-way move. The default is ours and a placeholder for a long interstate move.
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This is the input that decides whether the fuel line matters or is a rounding error. On a cross-town move the rental fee is essentially the whole cost and the penalty below is small enough to ignore. On a multi-state move the arithmetic inverts, and the fuel a towed car adds becomes a line worth its own decision. Use the actual route distance rather than the straight-line distance between cities, and if you are towing a car home and then driving back, put in the distance you will cover with the trailer attached rather than the round trip, since the empty return leg pays no towing penalty.
What your tow vehicle returns with a loaded car trailer behind it. The default is ours and a placeholder, and your own figure from a previous tow is better.
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Towing a car costs economy for two reasons at once: the weight, which is a couple of tons of vehicle plus the trailer under it, and the aerodynamics, since a car sitting up on a hauler pushes air that your vehicle was not pushing before. Grade and speed both make it worse, and a mountain route at highway speed is the case where this line runs furthest from the flat-road guess. If you have towed before, use what you measured. If you have not, ask someone with the same tow vehicle, and treat the figure here as the placeholder it is until you have a real one.
What the same vehicle returns on the same route with nothing behind it. The default is ours and editable, and your own trip computer knows better.
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This box is here because the fuel for driving the route is a cost you were going to pay whether or not a car came along behind you, so charging the whole tank to the trailer would overstate what the trailer decision costs. The calculator prices the gap instead: the extra fuel the tow adds over the same distance. That is the number that changes when you decide to tow. If your plan is to fly home rather than drive, the comparison is different and the gap understates it, since in that case the entire drive exists because of the car. The assumptions below spell out how to read it that way.
Your own figure for the route and the grade your tow vehicle takes. The default is ours and a placeholder.
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This is yours rather than ours for a reason: fuel price varies by state, by month and by whether your vehicle takes regular, premium or diesel, and a long tow crosses several of those boundaries in one trip. A route that runs through high-tax states will average above what you pay at home. If your tow vehicle is a diesel truck, price diesel rather than gasoline. Setting this to zero shows the rental and the add-ons on their own, which is a useful way to see how much of the total the fuel penalty is actually carrying.
The optional protection the rental company offers. Zero if you decline it. The default is zero because this is a decision rather than an automatic charge.
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Worth a phone call before you decide, because towing puts two vehicles at risk and your policies may treat them differently. Auto policies commonly extend your liability to a trailer you are towing while leaving physical damage to the rented trailer itself with you, which is the gap the company's coverage is written to fill. Damage to the car riding on the trailer is a separate question again, and the answer can differ from what your policy does for that car when it is being driven. Ask your insurer both questions specifically, then set this line rather than guessing at it.
What it costs to get your vehicle ready to tow, if it is not already. Zero if you have a rated hitch and working wiring. The default is ours.
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A car trailer bolts to a hitch and plugs in for lights, and a vehicle without either has to have them fitted before it can rent one at all. Beyond the hardware, the rental company will check your tow vehicle against the loaded weight of the trailer plus the car going on it, and a vehicle rated below that will be turned away at the counter regardless of what hitch is on it. Check the tow rating in your owner's manual and the equipment requirements with the rental company in the same sitting, before you pay for a hitch that turns out not to solve the problem.
Estimated cost
$320

Typical range $272 – $432

  • Trailer rate for your trip$220
  • Extra fuel the tow adds$100
  • Damage coverage$0
  • Hitch, wiring or ball-mount work$0
  • Total$320
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$200 to $700 is the common shape of this: a one-way car hauler or dolly between two towns, with the fuel penalty now large enough to see. This is the range where the per-mile figure earns its keep, so work it out and put a carrier's quote beside it before you commit to driving.

What this assumes, and where it could be wrong

Every one of these is a place the number could be off. They are here because you should be able to check our working, not because we are hedging.

THE FUEL LINE IS THE GAP, NOT THE TANK.
This is the choice that shapes the whole page, so it is stated first. The calculator charges the trailer only the extra fuel the tow adds: your vehicle's gallons over the distance while towing, less its gallons over the same distance with nothing behind it. It does this because the ordinary case is somebody already driving the route who is bringing a second car along, and the fuel for that drive was going to be spent either way. Charging the whole tank to the trailer would make towing look worse than the decision actually is. If your alternative was flying home and having the car shipped, then the drive itself only exists because of the car, and the gap here understates your true cost by the rest of the fuel plus your nights on the road. Read the per-mile figure with that in mind.
A tow dolly and a car hauler are different rentals, and your car picks which one.
A tow dolly lifts the front wheels and leaves the rear ones rolling on the road. A car hauler carries all four wheels off the ground. They are quoted at different prices, and the cheaper one is not always available to you, because the choice is decided by the towed car's drivetrain and by your tow vehicle rather than by preference. A rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive car with its rear wheels turning down the interstate is a driveline running with no engine feeding its lubrication, which is why rental companies restrict dolly use by drivetrain. Ask the company what your specific car is eligible for before you price anything, because a quote for equipment you cannot rent is not a quote.
The tow vehicle is the gate, and it is checked at the counter.
Before price enters into it, the rental company matches your tow vehicle against the loaded weight of the trailer plus the car going on it, and will decline the rental if the vehicle is not rated for it. That check considers the vehicle's tow rating, and frequently its own weight relative to what it would be pulling, which is why a light crossover can be turned away from a hauler it appears on paper to be able to pull. Look up your tow rating and call the company with both vehicles' details before you build a moving plan around towing, since finding out at the counter costs you the day as well as the plan.

Per mile is the unit that lets you compare with shipping the car. An auto transport carrier quotes a trip, and the way to hold their number still beside this one is to reduce both to a cost per mile, which the calculator does above. Then compare like with like: the carrier's figure includes their driver and their fuel and generally a pickup and delivery window, while yours includes your own driving time, the wear the tow puts on your vehicle, and the fact that you arrive with the car. Neither is automatically the better answer, and the answer changes with distance, because the rental fee is a large fixed cost on a short move and a small one spread across a long one.

This total is the trip, not the whole move. It prices the trailer, the fuel the tow adds, coverage and getting your vehicle ready to tow. It does not price your nights on the road, meals, tolls, the extra days a heavier and slower drive adds to a long route, or the wear that towing puts on your transmission, brakes and tyres. Those are real and they belong in your budget beside this figure rather than inside it. If you are pricing a whole household move, the trailer rental calculator covers the moving trailer alongside this one, and the trailer hitch installation calculator prices the hardware if your vehicle needs it.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a U-Haul car trailer cost?
It turns on the trip rather than on a rate card. An in-town rental picked up and dropped back at the same location is billed as a flat rate for a standard period and lands low, while a one-way rental between two towns is a single fee set by the distance and lands considerably higher. A tow dolly is quoted below a full car hauler, though which one you can rent is decided by your car's drivetrain rather than by your budget. Those quotes are generated for your specific towns and dates rather than published, so this page does not invent a figure to stand in for yours. Get the quote, put it in the form above with your distance and fuel economy, and the calculator shows the full total and the cost per mile.
Is towing the car myself cheaper than shipping it?
It depends on the distance, and the per-mile figure above is how to find out. The rental fee is a large fixed cost on a short move and a small one spread across a long move, so towing tends to look better the further you go, while an auto transport carrier's quote scales more smoothly with distance. Reduce both to a cost per mile and compare them directly. Then weigh what each figure leaves out: the carrier includes their driver and fuel but takes the car on their schedule, while your figure leaves out your own driving time, your nights on the road and the wear a heavy tow puts on your vehicle. If you were going to fly rather than drive, add the whole trip cost to your side before comparing, not just the fuel penalty.
How much fuel economy does towing a car actually cost?
Enough that it belongs on the ledger, which is why it has two boxes above rather than a footnote. A towed car adds weight and it adds aerodynamic drag, since a vehicle sitting up on a hauler pushes air your tow vehicle was not pushing before, and grade and speed both make the effect larger. The honest answer for your trip is a property of your vehicle rather than a number this page can supply, so the calculator asks for what you get while towing and what you get without and prices the gap. If you have towed before, use what you measured. If not, ask someone running the same tow vehicle and treat the defaults as the placeholders they are.
Do I need my own hitch, and will my car be allowed to tow?
You need a rated hitch and working wiring on the tow vehicle, and the rental company will check more than that. They match the vehicle against the loaded weight of the trailer plus the car going on it, and they decline rentals where the tow vehicle is not rated for the combination, which is a check a light crossover can fail even where the paper tow rating looks adequate. Separately, whether you are eligible for a tow dolly or need a full hauler is decided by the towed car's drivetrain, since leaving driven wheels rolling on the road is what the restriction exists to prevent. Call the company with the details of both vehicles before you pay for a hitch, so you find out what you qualify for while it is still a phone call.

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