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I am not a good one to ask. I have a wood stapleton with the extension and it will get me on 90% of all one story houses and about 50% of all double pull on 2 story, I have never turned back a roof claim because I could not inspect the roof, commercial or otherwise. I will not buy a ladder that I can not get in the trunk of my car. Do you think gasoline will ever go down or ever go up. A roof inspection in New England is done buy a roof inspector with photos and the last time I worked up in Boston was 1997 and it cost $145.00. The SW & SE US has always got a bonus on roof inspections into the fee, but competition will always keep the inspections in in the lower 48 and it seems it has spread to the Pacific Coast.

Bob Harvey I bet it was all the Texas adjusters who came out to work the santa Ana winds 20 years ago with their ladder racks screwed up a big union state like CA. But I will say CA. has some excellant claim people, some of the best.

"Château Chevrolet" HA HA HA HA good one.

Thanks to all.

Our 05 Dodge Hemi gets from 18 to 21 on the road. If I keep it below 70mph, it will get 20 to 21 mpg. In town if averages 16. It is comfortable and has all the room we need. We use Amsoil products in the engine, tranny, differential, brake fluid, and power steering fluid. We change oil every 25,000 miles. You folks might want to try the Amsoil full systhetic oil, it does increase you mpg.

Ray, you might want to apply some preservatives to that Stapleton depending on how long you've had it!   All kidding aside, I had one of those for a few years but it was the dickens to make it fit into a trunk.  I had company cars at the time...a Ford Tempo (does that tell you something? last made in '93), a Taurus, and then a Pontiac Grand Prix.  That ladder "wood" not fit into the trunk of any of them.  With a lot of encouragement, it would lie in the back seat & the back door would slam shut most times.  But the arm rests took a beating.  And the slivers on the seats weren't a good thing either.

I currently have a Dodge Dakota Quad Cab short box, 2001 vintage, which I purchased from a local retired farmer... low mileage & a real good deal because his wife backed it into a pole, knocked off the bumper trim & left a little dimple in the tailgate .  No biggy to me though,  It has the V-8 Magnum, gets 25-27 mpg hwy &  20 mpg about town.  The Little Giant fits like a glove into the bed, the interior is very roomy with the flip down back seats if I need a siesta and no motel in sight.  Drives like a car, but feels like a truck.  Would probably opt for anything gas friendly next time around if  I don't  need to carry a ladder bigger than a breadbox.  Probably not though, still got farmer's blood in my veins & like the pickem'up. 

If your getting that kind of gas mileage, I would not consider trading it in for some rinky dink little car that makes a few more Mpg's. I like out truck and will continue to drive it for at least 200,000 miles or more. We drove the 99 Ram to 206,000 and kept it, as it still runs very good and still looks good. It is obvious to me that gas prices will come down, or our economy is going to hell in a handbasket. Surely the politicians are not that stupid, I hope.

Absolutely, Tom.  I don't have any intentions of parting with it anytime soon.  It's got about 100K on it now is all, but I've only had it 3 years & it was barely broken in the folks who had it before me.  Just like your truck though, it does really good until you push that 70-75 mph range, then there is a pretty good drop off.  Around here though, you're always stuck behind the blue haired widows or Farmer Brown, and lucky to get over 60 mph. 

I drive an '05 Chevy Silverado 4WD crewcab with Duramax engine.  Overall, gets 17.9 mpg if I stay below 80mph on freeway.  Comes in handy when driving in winter conditions in mountains.  Average 3K miles/month.

I drive a big black Lexus and have a bicycle rack on the back that I tie my extension ladder to.  Works well, but sometimes I get stuck when pulling into things like parking garages.

Just kidding.

It's an 05 Kia Sorento SUV.  Extremely comfortable and reliable.  I fold down the back seats so they're flat, and that gives an enormous amount of room for the ladder and other gear.  The only real poor part about it is that it's a gas guzzler.  Most people hear Kia and think about a little crap toy car, but honestly Kia has come a very long way.  My truck, as I call it, runs like a deer and I have no big complaints.

Well, I went ahead and purchased a 2005 Toyota Camry for my work vehicle. It takes a little getting used to. I have never had a car, always a pick up truck. The 600 mile days get a little uncomfortable, but I just look at the gas needle and feel better. I drove 620 miles last Wednesday on roughly $60. My F-250 it would have been $180. I put some yakima roof racks on and strap the 24' ladder down with nylon straps. I get 30 mpg.

I like the color coordination!!  But am a little curious as to whether it is legal to have the ladder hanging out that far in front of your windshield for safety/visuals of traffic controls/lights, etc.  Maybe you already checked that out, but I can't really recall seeing even commercial vehicles with items in that line of sight.     

JWG,

Yakima made the racks for my Camry. They also make racks for the Corolla. http://www.yakima.com/Consumer/Step...x Not sure what year you have.

I reccomend buying a small car and putting a trailer reciever on it.  Then buy a Ladder CATy  (available at www.claimsadjusters411store.com) and you can haul your ladder and your tools outside your vehicle.  You will also save a lot of money on gas.