First off im from alvin texas and im new here and ive grown up around sports cars and trucks but i bought my first 4wd earlier this year, a 96 jeep cherokee for use at the deer lease. After replacing the trans and taking it offroad a little i put a budget boost and 31" km2s on it and now i like driving it even more than my 06 silverado. Well this jeep is going to get dropped off at the lease this fall and im planning on selling/trading my truck towards an '12 rubicon next summer. In the mean time im planning on a trip to ouray in june. My dillema is i cant find anyone that rents jeeps to a 23 year old. I could only find 2 places that rent jeeps and both of them are 25 and up... Anyone know of any others not on the internet? I was really hoping to rent a jeep to run some trails prior to buying my rubicon.... I would delay the vacation but my fiance only has a week gap she can get away from school... Sorry for the long post but i plan on frequenting this site alot lol..

 

You might check Lake City and Silverton. I would check Lake City first, since its the Ouray side of the Alpine Trail.

 

Good luck, but from what I understand this isn't just a Jeep rental in Ouray problem. My 21 year old son travels quite a bit, and he's commented that he can't rent a car anywhere--25 is the going age limit. FYI, unless you've just got your heart set on driving a Jeep, I saw plenty of other 4WD vehicles on those trails last week. Anything from all-stock Explorers to Suburbans to Lexuses. If your truck has 4WD and decent tires, it would probably do just fine--most of those trails are not very difficult (even ones rated difficult). It's more about exposure to narrow roads with steep, deep drop-offs. Being able to make sharp, switchback turns is necessary, however, so extra long bed, dually, six passenger, Super King cab pick-ups would be at a severe disadvantage.

 

My truck is an extended cab 2wd... It has factory 20" wheels and barely any ground clearance... Its served me well but just useless offroad, and I dont want to put any money into it if im just gonna trade it in, My cherokee would work but I just dont want to risk taking it on a 2000 mile roadtrip and have something ruin this trip, its been a while since ive had time to go anywhere..Thats also whybim getting a new wrangler next summer, we plan on doing yearly roadtrips to do trail riding. Rental places do suck.. A few willbrent to under 25 with an additional fee but none of the specialty vehicle rental places will. Guess we will just stick to the pavement this year...

 

it's due to their insurance

 

The roads, especially the Alpine Loop in the summer does not even need 4wd over the passes. The harder stuff, the rental jeeps are banned from anyway. I have seen someone drive a Lincoln Continental all the way to Animas Forks without issue.

 

I have driven a Jeep Cherokee all over the San Juans, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Lake City, Gunnison, Crested Butte, everywhere, all the passes, stock Cherokee back in the 1990s. No issues. Those roads are designed for Jeeps. A Jeep even bone stock will out perform a heavier truck based SUV like a suburban.