You're misinformed. This is either an outright myth or a gross exaggeration. There's a very large part of the US that would be completely inaccessible if you could only drive on pavement. Heck, look at the town of Silverton - pretty much only the main street is paved. Just for giggles I took a look at the generic Hertz rental agreement. There's no mention of road surface anywhere. Now, some roads, or trails can be explicitly excluded (and you will find this on Jeep rentals, at least I've seen it in the Moab area), but those are usually local designation types of things. Most of the time the rental agreement just deals in terms of results - as in damage done, or excessive cleaning. I suggest you give your preferred rental company a call and ask the specific question. As long as you rent an appropriate vehicle (ie, an SUV and not a sub compact), you should have no issue driving to most trailheads. There's certainly nothing dishonest about it.aprockies wrote:I know rental car companies forbid using their vehicles on unpaved roads.
Fun fact - most car insurance companies define 'off road' as not on a named or designated road, or a vehicle that cannot be driven on public roads ('street legal'). A Forest Service number counts just as much as a county road number. Things like literally off road (as in driving through a field), so called 'off road parks', or designated trails (there is a difference) do not.
