This bears repeating, and I think may be quite unbelievable to Europeans:

Think of the biggest, most powerful truck (lorry ?) you've ever seen ... big enough to tow, for instance, 4-6 horses in a trailer, or a 30 foot boat.

Lots (and I mean lots) of normal, private citizens drive these vehicles as their normal commuter cars or to run errands, etc., unrelated in any way to business/work. It is not uncommon at all. A lot of these are indeed diesel.

Also the vehicles (for private, non-business use) are preferentially taxed.

> Lots (and I mean lots) of normal, private citizens drive these vehicles as their normal commuter cars or to run errands

Most of those people use the truck part of the time for tasks that only a medium-duty truck can do, such as towing a boat or trailer, horses etc. They just aren't wealthy enough to dedicate the truck to that single purpose so it is also used as a "daily driver".

> Also the vehicles (for private, non-business use) are preferentially taxed

I'm not aware of any such tax advantage, at least where I live (TX). Diesel fuel is taxed at a significantly higher rate than gasoline. There were (still are?) some IRS deductions for business use of expensive trucks/suvs but that doesn't fit the case you've described.

disclaimer: I own a 3/4 ton diesel pickup used exclusively for private trailers hauling

"Most of those people use the truck part of the time for tasks that only a medium-duty truck can do, such as towing a boat or trailer, horses etc. They just aren't wealthy enough to dedicate the truck to that single purpose so it is also used as a "daily driver"."

And I see plenty of trucks with nice big tires, dual rear wheels that don't even have a tow-hitch _installed_, let alone a turntable.

Google "Section 179 deduction". You can write off the entire purchase price of a truck in the year it was bought if it's heavy enough (>6000 lbs) and the bed is long enough (5.5 ft minimum, 6ft preferred).

It has to be for business purposes, but as always, the IRS is lax in verifying that.

I'm not sure about most. I know plenty of people who own no such things but still have the trucks.

You probably also know plenty of people who have mustangs, or chargers, or italian sports cars. There's always going to be some folks who just want to play with power. None of them make any sense from a marginal utility point of view.

> They just aren't wealthy enough to dedicate the truck to that single purpose so it is also used as a "daily driver".

They might be better served by doing the math, and realizing that they are far better off buying an economical vehicle at a much lower price point and for much lower maintenance and fuel costs, and then renting a heavy duty vehicle to tow their boat the few times a year they actually need to.

One should optimize for the most common use case.

The trouble with that idea is that it is very difficult to rent a heavy duty vehicle for towing. Most rentals explicitly disallow towing or other types of heavy usage.

I own a Toyota Tundra for those times I needed to tow, but am trading it in for a Model X (5000 lbs towing capacity).

If you can point me to someplace that rents 1 ton pickups with 5th wheel hitches for short-term (1wk-1month) rentals I'll be very grateful.