U-Haul trucks for moving

[sbemt456]

Heres the situation, our son is taking a job in Nevada and he lives here in Kentucky. We know price wise we are going to be renting a 10' or 14' U-haul truck, not a pull behind trailer. I was wondering if any one has used one of these for a long move and what kind of mileage each one gets. Kinda trying to get an idea on how much fuel it will take to make the move cross country. Any help appreciated.


Have a great day!

stela

[backlash]

Make sure to shop the different truck rental places.
My son moved himself and there was a huge difference in the rental cost.
He went with Penske.
Here is uhalls mileage information page.
Just select the type of truck and get the average mileage.
I would calculate using the lower average just to be safe.

http://www.uhaul.com/Reservations/EquipmentDetail.aspx?model=DC

[sbemt456]

Thanks backlash, I some how missed that part of their website. We have a couple weeks to look an get prices. Its pricey no matter the route ya take tho.

Thanks again.

Have a great day!

stella

[Anon001]

Stella,

In June, after my mother moved to assisted living, I brought back a lot of things including furniture, piano, etc. I rented a Penske 16'. It was an almost new truck and if I remember correctly, it got about 11.5 miles to the gallon....

I went with Penske, because they were a lot cheaper than anyone else. Also, I noticed on that 750 mile drive home, there were a lot of Penske rentals on the road. I bet I saw at least 30 or 40.... it was mostly all interstate. But, I remember seeing only a couple U-Haul trucks.

Paul

[tomato204]

U-haul is expensive but was almost my only choice once. I asked about renting a truck for a round trip from TN to MO. They said they only rent one way, can you believe that? I thought they guy was joking, "we don't want the truck back" is what he said. I asked how he thought my driver would get home, said he didn't care. I ended up getting a dodge ram pickup from a car rental place, cost about half anyway.

[tufhelp]

I worked for Budget and at the time Ryder truck rental for a couple of years and the advice to shop around is a good one. Rates really fluctuate because they are always trying to shuffle trucks around to cover the the contracts they have all over the country.

What happens is that there will be a shortage of trucks in one place and they will cut their rates for contracts going to that place in order to get trucks to that location to cover the contracts they for people wanting to go to other locations.

The trouble is that the public will usually never know which company will be cutting rates to get vehicles to your destination city. Moving trucks with hired drivers are very expensive to shuttle, not to mention the company has to pay for the fuel as well. I have seen prices change by hundreds of dollars (up or down) in a single day, and the difference in rates for going to the same destination be as far apart as 500 or 600 dollars in a 24 hour period. So if you get a great rate, reserve it. If you get not such a good rate, reserve anyway as you might just run into a better rate as the move date approaches - it usually doesn't cost you anything to cancel - but you have to check around clear up until 24 hours before the move.

U-haul at the time had the worst maintenance and breakdown record while Pensky and Budget had a much better reputation, for both well maintained vehicles, fewer breakdowns and better resolution if you should fall victim to a breakdown.

One thing to keep in mind is that they don't really guarantee you a vehicle for the date and time, the promise to do their very best to have one for you, but you may have to wait a half a day to 2 days sometimes. So if you can, don't put all your plans on picking up your truck when they say, be flexible.

If you're dealing with an independent owner/dealer/renter, they will usually bend over backwards for a big ticket rental because they make more money because they are on a percentage. (Lets see do we give the truck to the guy spending $150.00 or to the guy going across country with a truck and an auto hauler for $500/$600 or so...) If you're dealing with a company store, they don't take the rental agreement amount into consideration nearly as much.

[sbemt456]

Thanks to all of you. You have all been very helpful. We still have a couple weeks or so before the move so we do have time to shop around. Too bad all of the stuff wont fit in my pickup with the camper top. :sad: Easy, cheap and we would have a ride back home. Will post when we decide something and the results for everyones benefit. Thanks again.

Have a great day!

stella

[randallhilton]

It sounds like you may have too much stuff to haul for a trailer but one idea is to buy a trailer, do your hauling, then sell the trailer when finished. It worked well for me on one cross country trip. If you buy right, you might even make money on the trailer.

Also. . . totally unrelated to cross country moving: Examine the stuff you're moving. How much of it is really worth it? You might be able to pare down the load if it's not anything special.

[West_TX_Desert_Rat]

This depends on your situation but also look into one of the shipping container companies such as PODS. They drop you a container, you fill it, they pick it up and truck it to your new location. They will store it for you until your ready for it.

It doesn't cost anything to look.

[Anon001]

I'll add one more thing. When I rented my last truck in June, the best rates were by reserving online.... not at the store. One example was that if I reserved my Penske truck online, they had a temporary special where I could get the 16' for the same price as a 14'. That offer did not apply unless I reserved the truck online.

Paul

[backlash]

It sounds like you may have too much stuff to haul for a trailer but one idea is to buy a trailer, do your hauling, then sell the trailer when finished. It worked well for me on one cross country trip. If you buy right, you might even make money on the trailer.


My cousin did that.
He was in Arkansas and found a place that sold rough cut red cedar.
He then found a new flatbed trailer and bought that.
Loaded up all the red cedar he could and drove back to Washington state.
Sold the trailer for almost what the trailer and wood cost.
I found a bunch of the wood stacked up in the barn after my Dad passed away.
I want to build a cedar chest for the Grand Daughter.

If you have a pickup then I would look at a trailer if the truck is in good enough condition to make the trip.

[chrisser]

Just a suggestion, but if you have the time and perhaps a garage where the items are located, tape out an area on the floor and start "packing" the stuff on that area. Spend a little time figuring out the best way to economize the space, and make sure everything really needs to go.

That way, you won't have to rent more truck than you need in order to be sure you'll have enough space.

I've seen people load trucks so poorly they need twice as much truck (or two trips) when they could just pack better. If it were a short move with unlimited mileage, it wouldn't be a big deal, but on a long one-way trip, a little time can save serious money, and less chance of damage if things are packed well since they won't shift.



Also could try selling some things locally via Craiglist so you don't have to move it.

[randallhilton]

Also could try selling some things locally via Craiglist so you don't have to move it.

Agreed. Every time I help someone move I wonder how much better off we'd all be if everybody just left their stuff whenever they moved. That way, everybody gets different stuff instead of having to go to Wal-Mart. :D

[sbemt456]

LOL I suggested that randall and the kids kinda frowned on that . We ended up getting a Uhaul rental truck because they do have a storage facility in the town we are going to and we will be moving their belongings into a storage unit as of right now.
So far the truck has been really good, a newer one, only 20,000 miles on it. clean, gas mileage not as bad as we thought, runnin around 9 to 10. Well it aint good but we are loaded to the hilt. :yes4:

Will post more as the trip progresses and we arrive at the destination.

Have a great day!

stella

[Travis]

I worked for U Haul for a year and half and never once had to tell a customer we didn't ave a truck. I would advise talking to a center which only does U Hauls. Get quotes from Penske and Budget and get them to meet it. If you have anything heavy ie a fridge or the like and need a ramp be advised a 10' does not have a ramp. Also a 10' is a two seater and personally its not very comfortable, mind you I'm 6 foot.

Also note the 10' is from the back of the cab to door, and the 14' is based on the overall lenght of the bed on the back, note the overhang over the cab so its not from the back of cab.


As for fuel you will probally see 12 in the 10' and 10 mpg in the 14'. Don't know what the site says but I took a 17'(same engine as a 14) on a 1400 mile drive and averaged about 9-10 iirc. Figure what U Haul states as driving at 55 mph and face it you won't be doing that.

[sbemt456]

Well thanks for all who responded. You all were a big help. The trip is over and we did end up using Uhaul truck rental. BUT never again will I use Uhaul. Too many hidden facts. As I said before the truck was ok, newer with only 20,000 miles on it. It drove and handled well. We were going from Kentucky to Elko Nevada and we averaged less than 9 mile per gallon as this was loaded. I was more than ticked off when I realized that they do not disclose on their website the fact that not all Uhaul facilities will honor the 30 day free storage. When we picked the truck up in Kentucky the gentleman told us the place we were returning the truck to had 300 storage units. We arrive to check on a unit and they tell us, nope we dont honor the 30 day free storage. So I proceeded to call the company and they could have cared less. We had to pay for a storage unit at another place in town, (I ask and they would make no adjustment), returned the truck 2 days early, not discount for that either, no effort made to satisfy the customer at all. The nearest free storage facility was 4 hours away which would have meant we pay more mileage and a lot of inconvience. I ask the lady why this was not disclosed at the time of the transaction and all she could say was "well.............", and no explanation at all. She simply had no answer when confronted about that lil fact. I did let her know that I would post a review online and it would be about my negative experience. I can deal with facts, I just hate when companies "fail" to tell you lil tidbits that turn out to be very important. If they had told us up front that the nearest storage was 4 hours away, we could have made plans before hand and not been sitting in a parking lot wondering where the heck we would find a storage unit.
Ok so thas my rant.

Have a great day!

stella