well thats good for you. WHEN YOU ROLL OVER HAVE FUN.

Now there's a useful response comment... ASS

oh thats sad. i hate these uhaul guys good for nothing.why for one or two lawsuits they are stopping other explorer customers.if they got problem with those custmoers ,stop them from renting. why they hit whole explorer community. i think we should file lawsuit against against uhaul for "discriminating explorer users"

I just discovered UHaul's Ford Explorer policy, and I, too, have a Sport Trac. I plan to show up driving my Sante Fe, then switch the trailer to my Sport Trac just before dropping the Sante Fe off at the car sales lot on my way out of town.

By the way, ASS, I've been driving SUVs since 1988, and I have NEVER even come close to a rollover. If you're concerned about rollovers and SUVs, LEARN TO DRIVE before you get behind the wheel!

Well, I got a nice email back from UHaul customer service, but they also are very specific about not allowing Ford Explorers, all models and years. I believe that this is discriminition. They will allow Jeep Wranglers to tow their trailers, as well as Nissan Sentras....both would be accidents just waiting to happen due to their a)short wheelbase and b)light construction.
The customer rep thought I should get a different vehicle for the tow. Hmmmmm...as if I could afford to change vehicles! And as if I want to give up my 1996 Ford Explorer that has 4-wheeled in the San Juan Mountains without any problem! This same Explorer towed the largest UHaul trailer from Florida to KC without a whimper or 'roll-over' threat. It has 185,000 miles and still is tight and has yet to use any oil. It is a great vehicle!
I want to know if there are any lawyers willing to take on the ONLY national trailer rental company. Budget and the others are out of the trailer business, I guess. The UHaul company is the bully, and we are the victim. I feel like the big kid just tripped me up in the school hallway.
And there is no Teacher or Principal to help me out.

I discovered the "No Explorer" policy at U-Haul last night looking to reserve a trailer to pick up some things in Tempe & me-haul them to Tucson. Not believing what I was seeing, I back up the vehicle screens and selected a Ford F-150 2WD and they were willing to rent a trailer for that. When I called one of the local U-Haul stores to see what gives, received their insipid explanation about lawsuits and weak chassis' on Explorers. I ask if my vehicle were a Mercury Mountaineer would they rent the trailer. The answer being "sure". They are the same vehicle (expletive deleted).

One would suppose that since U-Haul is in business that they would carry insurance to cover such eventualities and unlikely occurences. I do. If there is a lawyer out there that wants to take on a class action discrimination suit, I am up for it.

I am now in the same predicament. I am moving to Louisiana from Virginia. I am now going to be forced to pay a mover over a grand to move me. Did you also know that the Uhaul website says that my Ford Explorer Sport Trac is too heavy to tow behind a rental truck???? How is it that Uhaul has become to be the only company that rents trailers for one way use? If anyone has any advice, I could sure use it.

This also happened to me...I guess I have been living in a bubble and had never heard of Uhaul's policy to not rent to Ford Explorer owners. This past week my Mother was rushed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for emergency heart surgery...her vehicle was left in a city about 250 miles away from the clinic as it would not start as all of the family members drove to be by her side.
The second day after her surgery my husband & I made a flying trip back to that city to rent a Uhaul trailer to bring the vehicle back to our home town about 90 miles away. We completed the paperwork, paid for the bill on our credit card and had hooked up the trailer and were ready to go...as we pulled up in front of the Uhaul rental Store and my husband ran in to sign the paperwork.
We were in SHOCK when he came out and said that we had to UNHOOK the trailer as they would not rent to us because we were driving a Ford Explorer!
What a mess...we will NEVER rent from Uhaul again!

The whole ordeal started when Explorers with Firestone tires started rolling over. Lawsuits began to develope and anytime a lawsuit included the name Explorer in the vehicle description, jurors start dishing out loads of dough. A trend started and no matter what the incident, if it involved an Explorer, there was little chance for the owners to loose the law suit. The numbers were staggering. So a couple of law suits that involved Explorers and U-Haul, U-Haul pretty much automatically lost. The suits were scattered all across the country. So... U-Haul decided to stop renting to them in hopes to eliviate some of the cash lost. Now... I can understand the discrimination issue some have, but realistically, I don't belive discrimination against a particular type of vehicle is legally possible. Kinda like a truck driver wanting to take his 80,000 lbs over a bridge restricted to 45,000lbs. He wouldn't sue, yet he would take another road. I know it sucks for many that own Explorers, (mind you, Mazda Navahoes and Merc Mountaineers are the same, but it the name, "Explorer,") but it is saving them cash. You may think that, well they aren't getting any of my cash, so how is that saving them cash. Simple, your rental may cost $200-$300 or less, but law suits costs millions. It's a simple balancing act, less revenue lost over lost customers. Financially, by the numbers it makes perfect sence. What to do? Rent somewhere else. No where else to rent? Local move? Borrow a friends truck, or get one of your own. Out of town move? Rent a truck and auto transport and haul your explorer. No matter what you do, U-Haul aint gonna let you pull with an explorer. There have been numerous suits filed and judges ordered the cases dismissed due to no discrimination laws against types of vehicles. Simply put and not to be rude, get over it, theres nothing you CAN do.

I am not thrilled with UHaul as my only source for a one-way trailer rental. As much as I am offended by the insentitive comments of the "Former U-Haul employee" and wish that I had other options, I doubt that this situation is going to change any time soon, even though the Explorers of today bear no resemblance to the Explorer that prompted this policy by UHaul.

My complaint lies more with Ford Motor Company. Last April I was about to purchase a Ford Freestyle before I realized that the V-8 and 4wheel drive option were not available. After talking to my sales person about the need to tow a trailer ocasinnally, we decided on a loaded up Explorer Eddie Bauer that came with a Class III/IV hitch installed by the factory and rated for 7200 pounds. Last week I went to UHaul to rent a trailer and was told that UHaul did not have a trailer in its inventory that they could rent to be towed by an Explorer. After a lengthy discussion with the UHaul manager, I was informed that this was a national policy that had been in place for about five years and was not negotable. I went imediately to my Ford dealer and informed them of my problem. Their flipant attitude was that they had never heard of this problem and I should take this up with UHaul.

Does anyone seriously believe that no one at Ford Motor Company or any of its dealers has ever heard of this problem in the past five years? I wish that I had become aware of this information before I bought a new 2006 Explorer. I can trade for a Mountaineer with all-wheel drive, not selective 4wheel drive and UHaul will be happy to rent me a trailer. I doubt seriously that the Class III/IV hitch is available on the Mountaineer with all-wheel drive.

Does any one know how to get to the proper person at Ford to start the process of resolving this problem?

Why do you keep going back?

I too have been stalled by the ban on Ford Explorers and Uhaul. Not only that but calling Uhaul got me no where fast. The first woman I talked to said that Customer Service would help me with an alternate rental. That was just a lure to get me to talk to the most rude women in history. Customer Service is supposted to help the customer not insult them and make them angry. One angry person can do a lot of damage to a company. Let's all go get them. Soon they will ban rental to all SUV's. This is absurd.

Just cover up the Explorer name badge with a Mazda Navajo or Mercury Mountain Badge Whala! it's not a Explorer anymore and you can rent a trailer.

I am moving from california to colorado and bought a ford explorer sport 4x4 with a 5000 lbs tow package because I move alot only to find out uhaul wont rent me a trailer. All i need is about 250 cubic feet and now i am forced to pay about 1200 for a moving company! I am a young single mother looking to move somewhere I can afford to raise a child and now have to spend our saving on a dumb truck!

EVERY ONE NEEDS TO GET OVER THEMSELVES, ARE YOUR LIVES SO BAD THAT YOU NEED TO SIT HERE AND WASTE YOUR TIME WRITING THIS CRAP. DONT YOU HAVE FAMILIES THAT YOU COULD BE SPENDING TIME WITH. ALL THIS COMPLAINING ISNT GOING TO CHANGE ANYTHING, PLEASE TELL ME, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED?

UM...yes it sucks that u-haul won't rent to explorer owners, expecially when they DO rent to owners of mountaineers. It happened to me too. BUT it is because of the lawsuit happy people (several of you outing yourselves above) that they do that! Like former uhaul employee said, juries made up of idiots just start unloading uhaul cash anytime there is an accident with an explorer. Ask yourself this: if you were uhaul would you do it any differently? I thought so...

My daughter and her husband are moving as we speak, from Maryland to Texas. When they were planning for the move she had the same difficulties, they would not rent to an explorer owner. They had reserved a truck, until I encouraged her to find out why they wouldn't rent to a vehicle with towing abilities. That's when she found out about the problem, and had an idea, she had her brother-in-law take his jeep to rent the trailor, instead of renting the much more expensive truck. They had no problem picking up the trailor with his jeep and when her husband arrived for the move in the explorer, they hooked it up and are on there way here. Just an FYI for others to consider.

to nana: that's a brilliant idea, albeit a form of lying. but, i can understand when it's a desperate situation and there are no other affordable alternatives. when they get to their destination--texas--are they going to return the trailer while driving in their explorer?

we ran into the same fiasco. they wouldn't rent a tow dolly to us using our 2000 windstar van, nor our '04 eddie bauer explorer. our best option was to purchase a tow bar to pull the camry, but which they also refuse to install. we called around but nobody else, like a welder, is even available or willing to to do it. something in the way the new camry is constructed that if you attach a tow bar, it could damage the frame(?) so forget that! we ended up selling the 2000 windstar to carmax. the auto resale market is awful--we didn't get as much as we'd hope for. if we weren't pressed for time, we might've looked into auto transport by bt express or something. we live and learn!!!

anyhow, with all the accidents and unsafe tow dolly and trailer issues, i consider it a blessing that it all worked out the way it did. i sure wouldn't want to risk the life of my family. uhaul could and SHOULD try to do better instead of singling-out Ford suv's and the like.

for nana, brilliant plan. unless your family happens to run into trouble during their move. if they have so much as a flat tire on the trailer and call the uhail breakdown number for help, uhaul will find out and void their contract. where will they be but on the side of the road with everything they own and now way to get it where they are going. and if they DO have any accident/rollover (knock on wood)? well then, i guess you can join the sue happy bunch and try to nail the company that they defrauded. yep, good plan

FYI KJ, the odds of allllll of that happening are slim to none. It's worth it to take the risk. After all we're taking a risk of some kind each time we drive, and insurance isn't always a guarantee...
You think about that!

My son rented from U-haul and has a major roll-over, hitting a house and totaling our car. I was told that we cannot sue U-haul to pay for damages because U-haul hooked it to a 1996 Mercury Mountaineer (not an Explorer.) Any advice?

This must have been an issue with quite a few people, because the new Uhaul reservation system actually requires customer service reps to put the vehicle information into the computer to even make a reservation, so a person would discover that Uhaul doesn't rent to Explorers before they show up for a rental. It's too bad that no one mentioned the policy before you had your hitch installed, but none of Uhaul's trailers have electronic brakes, so if you were purchasing a brake controller, they probably thought your hitch was for a different trailer.

U-Haul's ban on Ford Explorer's is nothing but fear of lawsuits and is complete and utter BS considering that they will rent you a trailer if you have a Ford Ranger Pickup which coincidentally is the same exact platform that the Ford Explorer is built on. I went as far as filing a complaint with the FTC with no response back (hmmm, I wonder if perhaps they are run by the same people as the SEC who failed to find problems with Madof and Stanford?) If there is an attorney somewhere in the US that would start a class action lawsuit against U-Haul on behalf of Ford Explorer owners that would be appreciated by many of us.

We just had the same experience in Canada. We drove 1100 kilometres back home to pick up more of our stuff as we moved about 8 months ago. We tried to book a trailer and they said don't worry about it, we will have lots. When we got to the uhaul place, they only had two trailers and they were way smaller than what we wanted. But we decided to take one anyways. The guy went out to hook it up and as soon as he seen we had a Explorer Sport Trac, he told us about this rule. We couldn't believe it. We went back inside and sure enough did not get a trailer. We were very disappointed and pissed off, considering that was the main reason we drove home. So once again we had to leave our stuff behind and drove back the 1100 kilometres.

Now this goes further. When we moved 8 months ago, I booked a uhaul truck (26 foot) and a 6x12 trailer, online a month before we were moving. The day before we had to pick it up, I went to the uhaul place to make sure everything was in order. To my suprise they didn't have my reservation and had no truck or trailer. I was livid. Here we were moving the next day, 1100 km away and had no way of moving our stuff. So the uhaul guy actually made one of his employees go pick up a truck in a town 4 hours away for us. Great. So we had the truck, but couldn't get a trailer at all. Then we ended up with a 5 x 8 trailer, way smaller than we wanted, but couldn't say no.

So we took the truck and trailer and of course couldn't fit all of our stuff, because the trailer was not big enough, which is why we had to leave stuff behind in the first place. So thank you to Family and friends who stored our stuff for us.

Then 8 months later when we go to pick up the stuff we couldn't take because of Uhauls crappy service the first time around, we couldn't get it anyways. I don't like Uhaul, they have very poor customer service and something should be done.

Thanks for the venting session.

I ran into the explorer/uhaul problem at a franchise store. When it was explained to me, I responded "Did I tell you Explorer? I meant Expedition!". To which the clerk said OK - and off I went with the trailer. UHaul is stupid. I now own my own trailer so I don't need to worry about getting "lucky" again...

Explorer Rollovers...right. They should blame the IDIOT driver who rolls his truck because he didn't load the trailer right or maybe he's speeding or God forbid he just drives like a moron, with or without a trailer. I wish people would be held accountable instead of passing the blame.
" oh poor me I have lung cancer, because I smoke 4 packs a day, I didn't know that cigarettes cause lung cancer! Let me sue Phillip Morris"
Buttheads!

I just experienced the same problem with trying to rent a uhaul trailer to pull with my Explorer Sprot Trac. I was told that it was because of the Firestone tire problems a couple of years ago of tire blowing and causing rollovers. When I told the guy at uhaul that my truck did not have Firestone tires but had new Michelin tires, he stated it did not matter. My point is, why can't uhaul look at the tire on the explorer and if Firestone tires are not on it, why can't they rent the trailer?

All of you people who bitch about UHAUL not renting to you need to grow up. One comment they feel they have been pushed by uhaul in the hallway and no teachers saw. Had it ever occured to you that a shodder frame (whenever the problem occured) had cost not only UHAUL money for the lawsuit, but also peoples lives?

They completely avid the problem and one bad apple spoils the bunch. And to those of you who things its OK to say your renting with vehicle A and go home and switch it for your explorer have fun. The day someone sees that happen the lawsuit will be brought to you.

At that point in time the rental contract is null and void and the equipment is considered stolen. Also if you happen to tke any insurance on the equipment and get into an accident have fun because UHAUL will sue the pants off you. Bait and switch doesn work for big corporations dont think you can get away with it for long.

MW Responds: Isn't that cute, the U-Haul sympathizer doesn't have the balls to leave their name... Pansy! I'd actually respect your opinion if you had the balls to sign your name. Anonymous comments are Crap.

I have read all the strings and it occurs to me that if everyone that had an Explorer were to devote their energies toward UHAUL they may recieve the answer they want. Like all business if you get a tremendous number of calls, letters, and emails to UHaul regarding one subject they are forced by shear economics to reconsider their position. Their decision would then be based on the potential to make more money by renting trailers to owners of all Explorers or at least the later model Explorer that was proven to be more stable. Legal action for descrimination would just stress the company and they could decide trailers are to much of a hassel then there would be no argument as to descrimination to consider.

Just a note that I am also one that was rejected from renting a trailer with my 2003 4x4 limited with the heavy duty towing package.

If you aren't happy with U-haul, rent from someone else. If you feel your Explorer wasn't to blame in the accidents, protest the jury's decision to pay families in those cases. To be clear, the problem was finally not found to be the tires, it was found to be Ford's recommendation that the tires be under-inflated to correct for a suspension that was too springy in avoidance maneuvers, which was designed to provide that "car-like" ride that people who buy them want. This also means that spring rates and other suspension settings are different on Ranger trucks, making them less of a problem than the Explorer. By the way, I owned a 2001 Explorer Sport Trac and towed a 3700 lb trailer with ease and good control, better than my F-150, I believe. And still, if U-haul doesn't want me towing THEIR trailer, that's cool. There is always Budget, or Hertz, or buy a used one and sell it.

I will be more than happy to rent from someone else. Please provide the options to rent a trailer. I've not been able to find any, using web searches and the old fashioned yellow pages. I did call and email U-haul customer service asking for alternatives (their website suggests this) and they were not able to give me any that would provide seating for my passengers. If I'm going to rent a truck, then I'll rent it from elsewhere.

Eric, neither Budget nor Penske nor Ryder et al rent trailers. U-Haul has the market cornered on this, as I found out this morning after spending a bit of time over the last several days reserving a trailer, only to be shot down at the last minute.

To those who say there is nothing you can do, I say not so fast. Bad publicity does more than make one feel better about being wronged, but it eventually reaches a tipping point where a company realizes that more harm may be done to the bottom line than by defending an outdated policy.

Uhaul gets suid because smetimes accidents take away things from peoples lives that they can'
't give back. It's a billion dollar a year company so I'm not crying for them. The people who are in the business of "selling" their product/services don't properly care for the equipment because theyt don'y get it back. People get seriously injured and loose their lives. Do a little research before you pop off about everyone who sues being money hungry. I for one would gladly turn back the clock to have my family members returned to me and the limbs on my body restored due to the faulty trailer brakes that threw my SUV off the interstate. But they can't give me that. So the money will pay my mortgage now that my disabilities have made it so that I am typing this one handed and have only found my way to this page through sheer determination to help my lawyers hold Uhaul accountable for those who past and those who lived only to forever be changed, constantly reminded by the injuries...

I wish all of you idiots could have seen my dads body after his explorer rolled going 44 miles an hour on a clear day in alabama last year. The roof crushed all the way down past the headrest for gods sake! he had his seatbelt on and he was simply driving back home at 11am on a country road when he noticed he was to far left and corrected right, only to flip his ford 3 times, killed instantly.

So you go ahead and drive your ford suv and play russian roulette every day, but don't blame uhaul for having some freakin sense. A lawsuit won't bring back my dad and it wont make a dent in 1.4 BILLION dollars in PROFIT ford has made so far on their deathtrap explorers, but it MIGHT help save some people who do their research before they criticize things they don't have a clue about.

And i did leave my name.

lets see if we can make this simple to understand. for those of you that appear to be defending u hauls decision do not know the aggrevation this put us explorer owners through. yes we have been singled out that we drive unsafe autos. well if you defenders will do a little research you will find the mercury mountaineer and the mazda navajo are the 'EXACT' vehicles. i dont think any body here is looking for a lawsuit we are only looking to be treated fairly and if the people at u haul would address the real issue which appears to be a tire problem to be exact by u hauls on saying it was firestone tires that caused the roll over i am very sorry their lawyers are not competent to handle a trial problem or did u haul just roll over {no pun intended} and settle and now all explorer owners suffer. i have owned my explorer since 1998 and just this week i pulled a trailer of scrap iron totaling 2200 pounds and have done this several times and never had a problem. all i am saying if any body at u haul cares please address the real issue and if we cant rent a trailer include the mercury and the mazda. maybe before some of you post here do a little research because those of us that do know will only have a good laugh at your expense. mitch becton

the rollover issues were because of the original firestone tires and the air pressure rating so shut the hell up about rollovers i have had my old 96 three years and ive went around corners at 90 and not even close to losing control