Time_Traveler

During the afternoon of this coming Labor Day (Monday, Sept 3rd), my wife and I plan to fly in to Las Vegas to pick up an appropriate rental vehicle and begin an 11 day vacation touring southwestern Utah's Capitol Reef, Zion, and Bryce Canyon National Parks, together with such scenic monuments as the Escalante/Grand Staircase area. As a consequence, I’d welcome any advice or recommendations other travelers (particularly those familiar with both southwest Utah’s parks -- and ideally – Las Vegas’ car rental market) may be able to offer regarding not only what KIND of a vehicle I should get --- but hopefully – just where in Las Vegas, I might be able to find the best rental deal for such a vehicle

Although we do not intend to do any actual "off roading", we would like to have at least the capacity to occasionally get off the Parks’ limited network of paved roads to safely explore some of the area’s often less frequented, but sometimes most spectacular ‘scenic drives’. However, since I understand that a number of these latter secondary roads may entail gravel-topped or even completely un-surfaced sections, I need to be sure that whatever we DO end up renting, is ‘up to’ such challenges. Other than making certain of THAT, we’re completely flexible as to vehicle type, size, or features. At home, by contrast, we drive a gas-conserving, but low-riding hydrid sedan.

Does anybody have any relevant guidance they can provide, particularly regarding such issues as minimum safe ground clearances, whether or not a vehicle with a four wheel drive transmission is needed, or recommendations as the where in Las Vegas we might find the best deal?

lifelist

Of the three national parks you mentioned, only Capitol Reef has a number of scenic drives that are done on dirt roads. There are a number of dirt roads to explore in Grand Staircase, but I have not personally drive on those.

In Capitol Reef, most of the roads are navigable by standard sedans. These roads are generally well-graded. However, there are a number of other roads that go deeper into the park that require a high-clearance vehicle. The Cathedral Valley loop in capitol Reef can be quite spectacular, but it requires crossing a river twice which can be iffy dependent upon water level. Also, the road crosses many dry washes where high-clearance is highly-recommended, if not necessary. Check with the ranger station before embarking on any road - they'll tell you about the current conditions and may even check your vehicle for suitability.

So, if you do want to explore these dirt roads, I would strongly suggest a high-clearance vehicle. 4x4 isn't strictly necessary, but can be very useful. Bear in mind that there is no cell phone access out there, and the roads may not be frequently traveled. It's also very expensive to get a tow truck out there. Lastly, it is highly unlikely that the car rental company's insurance will cover you if you take your vehicle off road.

Last time I rented a 4x4 from Hertz in Vegas, they stated that they would be checking my vehicle to make sure I hadn't gone off road. (I guess they were going to crawl underneath and check for dirt?) Of course, this didn't stop me from driving the jeep I rented out to the Racetrack in Death Valley on a very rough road. I just took the calculated risk that I wouldn't need the insurance.

DebitNM

Taking a rental vehicle off road can be risky for a number of reasons.
1. If you are not experienced, you can simply get into situations that might endanger your party and those in other vehicles [especially those coming head on towards you on very narrow, steep roads with drop offs.
2. If your rental contract prohibits off roading, you risk fees and worse -- needing assistance that will cost you big time for violating contract.
3. If you decline car insurance and something happens [and in these situations - i.e. little or no experience, violated contract it just seems to happen more than you can imagine] you are going to be scr@w@d.

Read this thread and see what others say about driving 4x4 off roads in the SW:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34989773

Or read this one about what happened when WE declined car insurance [not quite the same, but it will give you an idea of the hassle of not having taken rental insurance when you should have]

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34909718

Or this one about someone who took a car rental on a gravel road in NM:

Author: BeachBoi
Date: 03/06/2007, 03:53 pm
Eeek!! The magazine is but I have never been able to find the Ombudsman.The guy was there to attend a conference up in "the hills".When he got to Enterprise to p/u the car he declined their CDW saying that his Plat AMEX covered his car rental.Lo and behold, he crashed the car.He was unhurt but the car was totalled.Several of the attendees were returning in a convoy, on a gravel road.He fishtailed and rolled over several times.The rental agreement w/Enterprise specifically stated that driving on "unpaved" roads was prohibited.AMEX refused to pay the $15K or maybe it was 18 dont remember.Enterprise sided with him,s aying the provision of the unpaved roads was to keep people from off roading which is a temptation there in the wild nowheres.But AMEX stuck to their guns: they interpreted the rental agreement word for word.And THEIR coverage specifically refused payment if the driver was in violation of the rental agreement. Had he taken the Enterprise CDW, he would have been covered.Bottom Line: read the fine print of your CC insurance coverage of a rental vehicle.

Hope this helps...
Debi

nytraveler

Most car rental agencies will not allow their vehicles to be taken off paved roads. And if you do they will void your insurance. In that case- since you have not obeyed the rules of the agency your own insurance (either personal car insurance or that provided by a credit card) will be voided as well. So - any damages - to the car or towing or anything - will have to come directly out of your own pocket.

Your first step is to see if you can find ANY rental agency that will allow you to drive off of paved roads - and be sure this is specifically writte out in the rental agreement.

lifelist

One alternative would be to check to see if there's a 4x4 rental agency in Torrey, Utah - the gateway to Capitol Reef. You could rent a regular sedan for the majority of your trip, and then pick up a 4x4 for a day trip onto some of the dirt roads. A bit of googling found this RV park near Torrey, Utah that does jeep rentals:

http://www.thousandlakesrvpark.com/

TheWeasel

Lifelist has a good idea. Financially speaking it makes the most sense. If you rent anything 4WD for 11 days, it will be way more expensive than a car, even without factoring in the gas cost. And most of your trip the 4WD/high-clearance will be unneeded, so your best option is as lifelist recommends: find a local company that rents 4WD for the days you'll actually need it and save yourself the money of having one for the whole trip.

utahtea

Call and make sure the RV park still rent 4x4's. I can't remember which place near Torry had a big sign advertising 4x4's but they weren't doing when I called.

Utahtea