In life you might take chances, or not. I do not currently own a truck. I have a trailer to take my cars to events with and when the need arises I have an older RV that get's me to events. That and it allows me a cup of hot coffee and enough to share with friends.
On the occasion of moving stuff on a more local basis I have taken to renting a U-Haul. These tend to be quick round trips of less than a 100 miles, but to facilitate loading up they have turned into 24hr rentals. The up side to using a current truck that I do not own, lots! These have trained me to be , my family would laugh, focused. Knowing you are paying next to nothing for having it sit with my trailer attached is offset with the usury cost per mile that comes with moving it around. Yes, I pay the extra $10 per day ( to walk away ) from any negative events with the truck. The tailgate and bumper are the first place they look when you return the truck and have opted to be "self insured". I have noticed that the new trucks, gas powered ones, get decent mileage. I know I am not loaded for an event but I am seeing over 16 MPG and higher when pulling just the trailer.
My 2004 Ford F-150 with the small V8 and a 5 speed stick never got this kind of MPG. That and it was fully deprecated when it gave up it's life with my wife at the wheel. Long story, she like driving it but there is now a 4 way stop light where she turned left.
So, to pick up the U-Haul and keep it over night I hve the 1994 Nissan Pathfinder.
This is a 2wd, V6 automatic that has 296,000 miles. A/C that really works and "reverse" that does not. The woden blocks were to help change the tire, for some reason these rims are really hard on valve stems. I have no clue why, but if you end up with one of these add it to the list to watch out for. On this last Saturday, July 27th just before 2:00 I parked the truck at the U-Haul, completed the truck rental as I have done on average once a month for the last couple of years and was on my way. Twenty four hours later I returned the rental and walked out to find my trusted POS gone! The glass on the ground told the tail. What happened next has been the adventure. I had the peace of mind to call the local PD, they sent an officer that by the time she arrived the 100 plus heat and adrenaline had moved me on to other things. But she did call me, knew the manager and was aware of the cameras that ringed the lot to immortalize the the on going string of late light vehicle thefts.
I also call my insurance carrier and was reminded that this car has no value, to me the insured, but if the thief caused some sort off mayhem, I had coverage! Then the loss set in. I have had the thing for over ten years. It was the car I got to drive when the other drivers could not get their ride to cooperate and my car was their ride. It asked for very little and it got less. A long time ago I had a string of Datsun 510's. They were cool. They had what the gear heads wanted. They did not have A/C. I did mention the A/C in the Pathfinder, was/is loud, but it works.
Then there was the last ditch effort to resurrect reverse. Two weeks ago a friend that likes to work on my "lost causes", changed the trans filter and confirmed the solenoid was in fact still clicking. He also changed the engine oil and break fluid. It is running great. The cam belt was done 70,000 miles and 9 years ago. I would have taken the hit for the 5.5 hours to have it changed, but without reverse it did not make any thing approaching what is logical for this car. But on the evening of the 27th it was no longer my problem. On Monday the 29th at 11:30 I sat down with an officer at the PD office and completed the report. I was done. My wife and kids had a good chuckle, they no longer had to be embarrassed for me and the very used but running POS.
That is until today at 10:30. The call from the writing PO could not believe my luck, the car was found. It had not been stripped or burned and I could go and pick it up. At the tow yard 25 miles away, after I went to the new police office during business hours to get my release, that they were not going to charge me for but then I needed to to to the impound yard and settle up with them.
My first phone call with them was educational and very insightful. They got you. They know it. They have a contract with the city. They do not want the title to your POS. They want the storage fees. Then they turn you over to "their" collections attorney and they ride you. My second call to them, five minutes later was to confirm their hours of operation and the billing. $290.00, and it was only going to escalate if I did not pick it up today.
The car, drove to my friends house and is parked way off the street. The broken window is taped up to keep the neighborhood cats out of the car. I did find they had tightened the ground to the battery, wish I could thank them for that.
Now I get to tell everyone why it has a broken window.
