Smallest Moving Truck That Can Tow a Car


Smallest Moving Truck That Can Tow a Car

More often than not you’re going to find yourself in a position where you’re going to need to tow your car with your moving truck when you move. Unless you have a friend or family member drive your car, or you’re having your car shipped, the best way to get your car to your new home is to tow it.

But, what if you don’t have a lot of stuff? Can you tow a car with a small moving truck? What exactly is the smallest moving truck that can tow a car?

It depends on what moving truck rental company you decide to go with. Lucky for you I’ve saved you the trouble of an afternoon’s worth of research to find you the answer.

So, let’s take a look at the smallest size truck you can tow a car with three of the most popular moving truck companies – U-Haul, Budget and Penske.

Then I’ll share with you some other tips and info, like car carrier dimensions and weight capacities, that you should be aware of when you’re looking to tow your car with your rental truck.

Smallest Moving Truck That Can Tow a Car
Moving Truck Company Size Truck Cost (Local)* Cost (Long Distance)**
U-Haul 10′ Truck $54.95 $161.00
Budget 16′ Truck $55.00 / day $299.00
Penske 16′ Truck $39.00 $39.00

*Cost was determined by setting up a local move in Marietta, Georgia picking up and dropping off the truck in the same location.

**Cost was determined by setting up a long distance move from Marietta, Georgia to Columbus, Ohio.

U-Haul is the winner if you’re looking for the smallest truck that can tow a car, but after doing a little more research I noticed an interesting piece of information.

It appears that Penske charges a flat $39.00 to rent their car carrier regardless of how far you’re going to be traveling. The price was the same whether we were moving across town or across four states.

So, if what you’re really wanting to do is save money by using a smaller truck, it’s probably worth it to price out U-Haul’s 10′ truck vs Penske’s 16′ truck if you’re towing a car. We’ve compared cost on U-Haul vs Penske for long distance moves before and U-Haul came out cheaper. But, if you include towing it could end up going the other way.

Smallest U-Haul Truck That Can Tow a Car

The smallest truck that you can use to tow a car with U-Haul is the U-Haul 10 foot truck. This means that you can essentially use any of U-Haul’s truck (10′, 15′, 22′ & 26′) to tow your car.

Smallest Budget Truck That Can Tow a Car

The smallest truck that you can use to tow a car with Budget is their 16 foot truck. So with Budget you have two options, their 16′ truck and their 26′ truck.

Budget does have a smaller truck (a 12′ truck), but Budget does not allow towing with the 12′ truck.

Smallest Penske Truck That Can Tow a Car

The smallest Penske truck that you can use to tow a car is their 16 foot truck. This means towing is available for Penske’s 16′, 22′ and 26′ trucks.

Similar to Budget, Penske does have a smaller truck (a 12′ truck), but Penske does not allow towing with the 12′ truck.

Moving Truck Car Carrier Dimensions

As I was digging through this info, I thought it would be helpful to add some of the car carrier dimensions and capacities. This way you can check to see if your car is going to fit with your desired company’s car carrier. Having said that, all 3 companies websites allow you to enter your vehicle make and model to check for compatibility. (Highly recommended)

Moving Truck Car Carrier Dimensions
Moving Company Weight Capacity Width Length
U-Haul 5,290 lbs* 6’7″ 12’4″
Budget 4,055 lbs** 6’7″ 12′
Penske 4,050 lbs** 6’7″ 12′

*U-Haul 10′ Truck has a towing capacity of 6,000 pounds and it goes up from there. (The 15′ truck has a 10,000 pound towing capacity) However, the limiting factor most relevant for us here is that the U-Haul Car Trailer has a weight capacity limit of 5,290 pounds.

**I couldn’t find the towing capacity for Budget or Penske’s 16′ truck anywhere on their websites, but their Car Carriers have a maximum weight capacity of 4,055 pounds and 4,050 respectively.

The main difference between the 3 comes with the weight capacity. U-Haul’s car carrier allows for about a thousand extra pounds over Budget and Penske.

The actual size of the car carrier itself is relatively the same for all 3. All three are 6’7″ wide and while U-Haul is a touch longer, it’s probably not going to make a difference for the overwhelming majority of vehicles.

Final Thoughts

The smallest moving truck that can tow a car is U-Haul’s 10′ truck. U-Haul’s car carrier also has the largest weight capacity of any of the truck rental companies that we looked at.

It wasn’t a clean sweep for U-Haul though.

Penske wins for having the lowest cost (by quite a bit actually) of a car carrier.

Whichever company you decide to go with to move your belongings along with car, make sure to be safe on the road. Driving a moving truck while towing a car can be a daunting challenge, especially if you’re not used to driving something that size (trust me!).

Make sure to take your time, be patient and cautious, and try to avoid rush hour through cities as much as possible.

Good Luck with your move!

Ryan

I've been a college coach for going on 20 years now and that career has led Jen and I on quite the journey. We've lived in 7 different states and have moved a dozen different times. We've learned A LOT over the course of all those moves and we want to pass on our knowledge to help others going through the moving process.

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