How long before buying a toad

[maddawg46]

How long did you have a Class A motorhome before you bought a tow vehicle. I just bought a Class A but don't have a car that I can tow without a dolly. I'm not going to tow a vehicle on a dolly.

[FULLTIMEWANABE]

rockhillmanor wrote:

If you go to the Escappees classified forum there are always a ton of used Toads for sale ALL equipped to go four down. All ready to just hook up and go. And usually the tow bar is either included or for an added price. The sellers are all RV'ers.

Thanks for that tip didn't realize 🙂 OK to the OP we have been doing numerous extended trips of 6 to 8 weeks for over 13 years since buying our 37ft Gas Class A and have never towed. We have in that time hired a car twice = once in Vegas at $9/day for 3 days to explore more out in the boonies once and once for 3 days again in Anaheim for ease of covering lots of ground in a short period of time. Apart from that we park RV where we need to be or we bike/walk/catch public transportation as need dictates, and honestly haven't missed the toad whatsoever.

With becoming Fulltimers next year, and our escape not being towable 4 down (so a change afoot), we're going to try the six months and see how we go toadless and reassess, and again at the 1 year mark also and based on cost analysis versus convenience we will make a decision regarding getting a toad at that juncture or not. We're pretty easy going folks and very little inconveniences us and we just plan around our intended short term schedules during travelling. We also eat at home most often than eating out as preference FWIW, we are also avid boondockers/dry campers, except when needs must to explore places like LA, San Fran, NYC etc.

[2gypsies1]

We went from a 5th wheel so naturally had the big ole' truck but we purposely went to a motorhome so we could tow a Jeep. It gave us lots of pleasure and entertainment 4-wheeling on gorgeous roads. We could never be without a car for siteseeing. That's the purpose we RV'd - to see things. We don't sit in a campground.

[OLYLEN]

Can I say never without one. Been RVing since 1962 with my folks and a slide in but towed my jeep. Then on my own my first A in 72 or 74 and towed from the beginning. And now for just over a year a C with a towed from the beginning again. OH we have and do once in a while go without the towed but the we are near everything for a weekend or so and use the feet or bikes.

LEN

[Getup_ngo]

I tend to volunteer at various state or federal parks/refuges, so I need a car. First year I towed a motorcycle on a trailer, but decided after that I needed a car because I won't ride a bike at night. Or in the rain (got a lot of that in the South).

[tatest]

Not an A, but a 30 foot C. Went from 2005 to 2012 without towing another vehicle, although I had one set up to tow, just never got into a situation where we would have found it necessary or even useful. A couple of times, long stays in a park close to home, my wife drove out in her car.

After my wife died, I started towing. Not when traveling, but when putting the motorhome on a site out at a local lake for a week or two. Did it so I could get back to town to pick up mail, take care of my rental properties, do some grocery shopping.

[bobkatmsu]

Y-Guy wrote:
We've had our Class A nearly 10 years, still no toad. We tend to stationary camp; used to ATV and we have a boat. Have Jeep Wrangler now and sometime in the next year I'll set it up to tow behind. We have taken it sometimes, but after doing the good ol' cost-benefit analysis it was cheaper to have my wife drive it then to buy everything to tow it. We just have higher priorities for our money right now.

How does your wife make you a sandwich driving down the road if she is another car?

[jplante4]

dupe...

[jplante4]

Did our first 6 month snowbird trip toadless. The DW said it would be one more thing to worry about. Ended up spending $3000 renting cars when we wanted to sightsee or shop. Would have paid for a tow bar setup on something. The trouble is neither of or daily drivers is towable 4 down.

We'll probably stay toadless until the next big adventure, then buy something cheap at set it up to tow.

[MetalGator]

Busskipper wrote:

maddawg46 wrote:
How long did you have a Class A motorhome before you bought a tow vehicle. I just bought a Class A but don't have a car that I can tow without a dolly. I'm not going to tow a vehicle on a dolly.

Bought the toad while we were waiting on deciding which A to buy.

So in my case first we bought the Toad then the Coach - 🙂

BOL,

Same here! Bought a 2015 Jeep JK Wrangler. Now I need to buy the class A!

[Cloud_Dancer]

One of the reasons that I selected Class A for RVing in the first place was because I could take a run-around vehicle with me. I'm on my 6th Class A, always with a toad.
BTW the perfect toad is the one I have now, 2007 GMC 4x4 Envoy (many reasons).

[Two_Jayhawks]

We didn't wait very long. After getting first coach we traded in one of our cars for a towable one. Having a car with us when we travel is a convenience we would not be willing to give up.

[JnJnKatiebug]

Already had the Jeep Wrangler for hauling the kayaks and fishing in the hard to reach spots. Bought the tow bar and brackets before we started shopping for a MH. (put the brackets on myself). We saw a MH with potential in TX. We drove the Jeep down there, bought the MH and towed the Jeep back to AR.

[Daverubino]

We also bought our toad before our motorhome. I wanted something small, light, ability to flat tow and fun. We got a '12 Fiat 500C convertible for our toad. I set it up myself with all Blue Ox equipment. Haven't towed it yet as I finally have my RV in the driveway after 2 months of new RV blues! :E

[mike_brez]

I didn't know it at the time but I had my toad before the coach.

[Stormy_Eyes]

We bought our class A and went full time about five months ago. We like our car, but she'd have to be towed on a dolly. DH is resistant to towing, dolly or 4 down. So, I drive the motorhome and he follows as a chase car. It has worked for us because we both like to drive and we often spend 2 weeks or more at a given site. And as a new rv driver, it is sometimes nice to have a shorter length, an extra set of eyes, and a car driver behind who always lets me cut in front of him in traffic. We have put in about 2500 miles this way. I expect the idea of towing will eventually grow on DH and we will change vehicles.