No experience in moving long distance....
I have an 06 Explorer V8. I am moving to Boston from Texas. Roughly 1800 miles
I am not sure if I should drive it or tow it with the truck(full trailer) Looking from a cost angle.

Some details:
Renting a Penske 26ft truck. This will be pretty full moving 6 rooms.
They use a diesel engine.
I have looked for sites to help calulate but no dice.
Shipping is $1k

Trailer rental $270
????Not sure how much the mpg would drop by towing????

Driving costs $220 in fuel.

Any help is appreciated. Not looking for exact but ball park... Thanks

 

Well that all depends on the size trailer. If it was me i would just use my vehicle its easier less paperwork...and its a bit more reliable than a rentatruck. The gas also depends on the speed. If you keep it 55 the whole way (sheesh I don't have the patience for that...but you may) your gas won't be too bad.
~Phil

 

i use my wifes 2005 mountaineer 4.6 to pull are boat and it does not hurt the gas milage that much maybe 3 miles a gallon. i live outside of boston and have family in austin stay in texas.

 

It seems that driving it is the cheapest. I had to tow my wife's Explorer to Québec because she didn't want to drive it. I rented a dolly and removed the rear drive shaft. How much is a dolly rental? FWIW I don't think that the rental truck will take much of a hit in fuel consumption weather it is towing the Explorer or not.


JMC

 

I had a friend move to Texas from California, and what he did was use a rail car. They brought him one of those containers and he loaded all of his stuff in there, then built a stud wall in the container and backed his wifes beamer into the cart, closed it up and drove here in his saturn and had the container delivered to his house and unpacked at his pace. Called them up when he was done and they picked up the container done. just figured I'd mention that as a possibility in case you don't want/have to drive and tow all of your stuff. BTW I know it's early but, Welcome to Texas. which part are you moving to?

 

I may be miss understanding ; if so, dis-reguard the following.
If you are considering towing a loaded trailer with your SUV; I would think hard about it.
What is the total weight to be towed (gross combined weight)?
Your SUV may not be able to handle that amount for that distance.
Large enough class 4 hitch and brake controller etc.
What cooling does your SUV have?
Check the towing weight in your owner's book.
Good luck.

 

I'm almost positive he is simply asking the positives and negatives about pulling his explorer BEHIND the rental truck he is going to be using for the move?!? If the rental is a large 26 ft diesel, I'm pretty positive adding your expy to the back on a car dolly or trailer wouldn't make that much of a difference, maybe a MPG or two. The guys that you are renting the truck from could easily answer this question for you.

 

it is NEVER cheaper to use your own vehicle when towing large payloads, unless you have purchased your vehicle specifically for that purpose.

If you jack up the rental, not really your problem.
If you blow your tranny towing a six bedroom house (and you can because your expedition is weighing at 6000lbs) then you are out of a vehicle.

keep it simple man

 

Helped a friend move from GA to KY a few years back and I think he only got 7 or mpg on a BIG penske truck. I bet you would be looking at 5 w/ an suv behind it.

Don't forget that diesel is more expensive than gas also. On the other hand, your expy is probably only good for 3k pounds or less on that long a trip and you can just about bet that a trailer would eat 1000 to 1500 of that.