I’m helping a relative move this weekend, and I am trying to convince her not to go with the cheap choice (U-Haul), but pay $40 more for a Penske rental for her local move. This is mainly based on overwhelming anecdotal evidence (from me, my friends, and tons of people online) that U-Haul is just a logistical disaster and Penske is run at least competently, if not well. There’s nothing in this for me, except that I don’t want to deal with all the potential headaches that seem to happen with U-Hauls.
Details of my pleadings:
- I have used U-Haul once. The truck was a disaster – underpowered, dirty, and literally about to fall apart. It was not there when I wanted to pick it up, but I got another one. (Which probably screwed over the next person… see below)
- I have used Penske once. It was a brand-new truck with 200 miles on it, and they told me that Penske only uses their trucks for a few years and then sells them. (You may have seen lots of big yellow trucks with the Penske logo painted over, many of which look in great shape, as I have.) It was picked up, used, and dropped off with no billing surprises or funky fees.
- Multiple friends have used U-Haul, and most of them have some sort of horror story. In one, a tire blew in Montana on their trailer. They had to wait until the next day for a new one, but weren’t reimbursed for the extra required hotel room.
- U-Haul doesn’t actually do reservations, they are more like “yeah, we’ll see on that day. We might have just double-booked. If so, you might need to drive a couple hours to somewhere else or wait until tomorrow.” Avoiding that scenario by itself is worth $40 to me.
- Besides my personal experience above, U-Haul trucks have been shown to be unsafe and poorly maintained per this LA Times investigation – “Many trucks have high mileage, and The Times found safety checks were often overdue. Customers describe breakdowns and accidents.” Like perhaps, bald tires?
Am I overreacting? The Penske does “cost double”, but with the mileage I think it’ll be more like $130 vs. $90. If you’ve used U-Haul or Penske before, please share your experiences. Good or bad, I want it to be fair. But I’m betting it’s going to be lopsided…
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I went with Uhaul 2 years ago when I moved from one end of the San Fernando Valley to the other. When I picked up the truck, it was the last one they had (yes, I did have a reservation). For some reason, I had expected a few trucks to choose from. It wasn’t complete junk but it wasn’t great either. It was dirty and slow. Driving on the 101 in CA, I was glad it was only a short ride cause I half expected it to break down at any moment. If I had to do it again, I’d probably spend more time doing research on a better truck rental & hire some guys to help rather than enlisting only one friend.
Have used uhual everytime.. no hidden fees for me, truck was not very nice, and did have somewhat high miles. No road incidents or hidden fees though.. Although to be fair i have never had the chance to rent from penske so my comparison factoring does not exist
Do you have Budget there? I used Budget three times and have been very satisfied.
I despise UHaul. I got a truck rental from San Francisco to San Diego a few years back, including a car tow rental to tow my Audi. It seemed to be burning diesel quicker than normal. Only in LA when we had to slow down did we realize that the diesel was coming out of the engine in the form of smoke; I guess that’s why drivers on the highway were looking at us funny. We called the assistance line but they were no help whatsoever. My car was covered in diesel fuel, which I promptly got detailed. UHaul refused deal with it in any way, including to pay for the detailing or any sort of gas reimbursement. They punted it to the local SF outlet (franchisee excuse, I think) who punted it back to the corporate office.
I’ve never spoken to anybody who’s had a good experience with UHaul.
Funny. The trucks don’t use deisel.
I’m not sure of when the guy had his experience but it was posted in 2007, and UHaul did used to rent diesels but too many jackasses put gasoline in them I’m guessing.
I was going to suggest the LAT piece but you of course were already on it. If reading that article doesn’t scare the bejeezus out of your relatives, offer to pick up the difference or at least drive separately. There’s got to be some way to put a price on personal safety, i.e. measure risk correctly.
Also, see if they will click on the “it was sheer terror” link at the LA times interactive web page: link
I had a friend call up both companies, and he was originally going to go with U-haul, but a rep from Penske called, and matched the U-haul price. It might be worth attempting to haggle penske.
U-haul will also price match with budget with proof of quote.
My son and his wife just moved from Akron to Savannah, Georgia. Got a price from uhaul for an “approximate” 26′ box truck $2,500. Went to Penske, a true 26′ box was $1,600 and that included moving pads. The uhaul size is determined by the length including the overhang. The main box is 3′ shorter.
but oh yea, they ended up getting 2 flat tires on the Penske truck.. AND the trailer they rented in addition to the truck was locked up w/o a key, and unavailable for 24 hours.. so they did end up having a horror story experience with Penske
I used Uhaul to move less than 5 miles. First the truck wasn’t there when I had called ahead of time. Granted, they did find a larger truck for me and gave me the smaller truck price…but then it broke down after I had it loaded. I called the mechanic because Uhaul doesn’t directly help you out and it was over 2 hours for him to get out to the truck. Luckily one of my friends was good with cars and was able to get it started again. However, we weren’t able to turn it off. Again, this was for a less than 5 mile trip. It took us twice the amount of time it should have.
I only have experience with Budget and Uhaul. I agree with ProfessorB that Budget was great.
We used Uhaul to move 90 miles. We picked up the truck with no problems, but 60 miles down the road, I was following my husband, who was driving the Uhaul, and I noticed one of the tires was really low.
We did manage to get it fixed and finish our move that day, but that was in part due to a service station who took care of all the hassling and haggling with Uhaul for us.
Next time we’re going back to Budget.
I used uhaul just a few weeks ago. I was not moving. I had a Stackable washer dryer that I bought brand new and only used for 9-12 months before moving. When I moved I took it with me but could not use because it was a gas dryer and I didn’t have the gas hook up and the lady who sold me this house left the all electric washer dryer. So I got encouraged by you sell item on ebay blog and sold this machine. I didn’t deliver it but rather posted it as pick up only. Only I didn’t want straingers in my house, so I met the buyer at a grossery store parking lot close to my house. I had to “deliver” the machine that far and used uhaul. I chose uhaul because they where the cheapest for the 4 hour useage I needed. The truck worked fine. It was available, looked and felst pretty new. I must say, no hidden charges and an okay (to good) experience. I’ve never not used uhaul, even when moving (short distances, I hire some one for the long hauls). There is my two sense
*cents
I used a Penske mid-size truck to move all our luggage including furniture, around 50 miles. I preferred Penske over uhaul after reading the reviews. The Penske truck was 40/day plus mileage. I bargained cost per mile down to 60 cents and overall it turned out to be a good experience.
I’d also add “unreliable and *unsafe* truck” to the list because the number of comments by people who had a truck break down in the middle of the highway was staggering. I’m all for saving a few bucks for the sake of taking on a little bit of headache but having a car or truck break down while you’re on the highway is a dangerous situation and I wouldn’t ever trade cash for safety.
Oh, by list I meant the image, I saw you had it in the numbered list already. 🙂
Do you not have other choices?
I used Ryder on my last move and the cost was better then Penske, Uhaul and Budget. You can find quite a few online printable coupons for Ryder to get the price down.
I rented 2 trucks about 2 weeks apart and they were both excellent.
Moving from LA, CA to MIA, FL. After many hassles to get the truck, we got going and was pulled over in AZ. No license plate. UHaul did not really care.
I have never used either since I’ve always had access to a trailer and pickup from my dad or granddad, but I have helped friends move using a U-Haul truck. Since I never drove it, I can’t tell you much about it’s condition or mileage, but from what I saw it was nothing spectacular, but it was perfectly adequate for my friends’ in-town move. The one exception I noted was that one of the blinkers needed a new bulb. My dad once rented a U-Haul truck in CO to haul his old Harley home to southern OK after a break-down on his way back from Sturgis. His schedule didn’t allow time to repair the bike before he had to be back to work, so he and his friend put their bikes in the back of a U-Haul and drove the last 600 or so miles. It was expensive, at around $500, but it was their only option at the time. It’s been several years now, but i don’t remember hearing any complaints about how the truck drove or about any unexpected charges. Of course, keep in mind that these are not first hand experiences, so there certainly could be issues I didn’t hear about.
I have used both Uhaul and Penske. Penske is hands down a better product. It really isn’t even close. You can also search for coupon codes online for Penske rental that can bring the price down close to the crappy Uhaul trucks.
Anyone have suggestions for doing a longer distance move? I’m gearing up for a move from the Midwest to the East Coast in the next few months and have an apartment full of furnishings, etc. to move, plus my car.
I have used Budget (http://www.budgettruck.com) 3-4 times for local moves. I have found them cheaper than Penske. Clean trucks and one time the person at the counter threw in the dolly and furniture blankets for free.
U-Haul almost killed me – literally. I was driving at 65 MPH while towing my car when the truck started to feel very funny. Fortunately, there was an exit just ahead where I pulled off. Good thing too because the front left wheel of the truck promptly leaned over to a 45 degree angle. For all intents and purposes, the front wheel fell off.
If that had happened before I got off the interstate I’d be a gonner.
U-Haul is not worth it at any price.
Did you bother reading the user instructions, as your not to pull any uhaul trailer faster than 55 mph.
As if that has anything to do with the front wheel of the truck falling off. It’s called proximate cause.
The last time I used U-Haul, I wanted to change my reservation from Saturday to Friday. I called the number on the website and asked them to change it. Their response was: “We’ll email the local office and ask them to change it, they will either email or call you back to confirm if they have a truck” After waiting two days for an email, I called back and they said they would do the same thing. I told them just to cancel the reservation and I booked a new one online.
The truck I got was brand new though. I think the problem with U-Haul is I think they are all independantly owned, and since trucks go to and from different locations, they don’t care about the trucks at all since they only have to see them until someone else rents it.
I used Penske to move from Atlanta to Indianapolis. Penske trucks are clearly a better product. I had a windshield wiper fly off in a rainstorm leaving Atlanta but that was it. I was not charged anything for it.
It was not a hard comparison when looking at UHaul’s old beatup trucks and Penske’s newer clean trucks. You are correct in that they only have trucks newer than 3-4 years. Who would you use when you have to haul all that you own 800 miles?
U-Haul trucks are just terrible. I rented one once and it broke in the worst place possible. In the middle of nowhere at 2AM. I was extremely lucky that someone came by and gave me a lift. Their attitude was “happens all the time, sorry.”
Another time I was arguing with an owner who refused to lease me the truck without buying his insurance. I told him my auto insurance covers this but he didn’t care. My insurance rep even offered to speak to him but he refused saying I either purchase his insurance or no truck.
I guess I was ignorant when i did my only move of about 25 miles (about 80 bucks). I used U-Haul and it went fine. Nothing special, but the truck was in good working order and easily got the job done. My wife used Budegt and she had a nicer truck, but it worked just the same. But now, being more educated, sounds like i was in the minority, so next time ill go Penske.
I haven’t used Penske, but I have used UHaul. It was a negative experience. I’ve had GREAT experience with Budget trucks. The cost was low and the truck was almost brand new. Look for coupon codes online.
Here’s an easy way to make your decision… drive down any major interstate in the country. Count how many uHaul’s you see broken down or actually on fire over in the emergency lane. Now count the Penske (or Ryder, whom I have used numerous times).
My last count – Broken down or burning uHauls: 17. Other rental trucks: 0
Another fun thing to do with the Ryder’s is to set the placard to the Radioactive one, that seems to keep people a little further away from you when your moving down the road 😉
dont flip the placard if you dont have a cdl with hazmat unless you want to get a class b feloney
Here is a better one drive down same said road and count uhauls you see , there everywhere then count Penske and budget. I can drive a 100 miles and count 15+ uhauls (not broke down) & no Penske or budget.
I agree with your comment. I do not defend U-haul, they do have some trucks in poor condition but let’s face it U-haul has been on the market since 1945, Penske 1969 and Budget 1998. U-haul has the biggest share of truck rental market. Because of that you will see more of their trucks on the road, including broken ones.
i, as well, have used budget several times. Prices similar to uhaul, and have had no problems. This inluccdes two long on way moves and one local move.
UHaul for my first local move, never again. You are not actually “guaranteed” a truck your size or larger b/c they may actually have NO trucks available. I got my truck 9 hours after the time I reserved it for. I had to move at night, take the next day off of work to return the truck, etc. Penske for my next local move. Brand new truck, booked for 7:30am, available and ready to go when I arrived at 7:15am. No angry people in the office waiting, smiling faces everywhere. I don’t recall Penske being double the cost of UHaul, but I didn’t even price UHaul out the second time to compare. I think until you’ve been personally burned by UHaul, you might still think it’s “worth it.”
I just used Penske to move a friend this past weekend and learned something very interesting. If you call the store instead of renting online, they will sometimes offer you a lower rate. Penske was $80 online, but just $50 over the phone. Granted, I still got the $20 insurance (which I would have done even if I were paying $80), but I still came out $10 ahead.
Also, Penske has a 10% AAA discount for local moves and 12% for one-way.
In all, I have used Penske 4 times in the last 12 months and have been extremely pleased with the quality and service each time.
Wow, this post brought back terrible memories for me. I LOATHE uhaul. Hour long waits in line. Them losing our reservation. Them not having a truck for us, even when they had our reservation. Driving 4 hours round trip (and many added miles) to pick up a truck after our local place didn’t have one. Surly counter people. Complaining to “corporate” only to hear that they have no power to govern the quality of their licensees. Oh, they are terrible. I would pay the extra $40 for your cousin to make sure you don’t have to deal with uhaul’s BS!
I moved with a 26′ Penske truck and a car tow dolly.
The truck was diesel-powered and in beautiful shape – looked almost brand new!
It was there when I went to pick it up, there were no surprise fees, and mine cost LESS than U-HAUL.
Penske – hands down.
Gosh, I am trying to remember but I am pretty sure it was Uhaul.
We moved 2 hours away in 2001. We always used Uhaul (never a prob) for short moves. So we rented a truck well in advance. The day of the move all of our friends show up to help and my husband goes to pick up the truck. They did not have one!!!!! We were LIVID.
Finally calling around we found if we asked for a round-trip truck it was cheaper and they had one (no one had a one-way). Which was fine. Our relatives could drive the truck back when we were done. I believe it was Penske that saved the day. Though I am not sure.
I will never use Uhaul again.
P.S. Uhaul told us they did reservations. They had a reservation system at the time. But um, yeah, what a sham.
Penske overcharges.
U-Haul is completely unreliable and totally scary (think: bad breaks and a frozen mountain pass).
I went with Budget. They’re lower-priced than U-Haul generally and they keep them maintained and inspected pretty well. Reservations are a must!
Yeah, when I moved my stuff across town with U-haul it was terrible. The employees were absolutely the slowest working people I’ve ever seen and wasted at least 1 hour of my time. i would avoid U-haul no matter the cheapness.
John
UHaul also has a bad reputation for discriminating against certain dealerships — to the disadvantage of customers. For example, I have seen situations where a person goes on to U-Haul’s online reservation system to secure a truck. Often, the system will send the reservation to a dealer that is NOT near by (often there are several closer). Often, when dropping off a truck, U-Haul will also direct you to return it to another dealer that is not the closest.
On a personal level, I used U-Haul twice. The first time was without major problems (just long lines at the counter and terrible customer service). The second time was horrible– they lost my reservation (even though I had the printed receipt with confirmation ##), but decided to “cut me a break” by offering me a smaller junk truck, several hours later. Meanwhile my friends and family were waiting around twiddling their thumbs. Never again . . .
The last time I rented a U-Haul, I was stuck with a dying truck with get this…NO POWER STEERING. I was left grasping the wheel with both hands and foot trying to turn the rig the way I wanted. Luckily the sheer size of the U-Haul encouraged everyone who valued their life to get out of my rumbling way.
-Raymond
Well, I actually have a good story.
I rented a u-haul in September. I had a small army move my girlfriend and I from a condo to the house. My friend is good at driving these monsters and he was going to do it but then he took too long so I got it myself.
We loaded it up and on the way out I took a turn and clipped a car. I had the second biggest truck now mind you. I left the guy a note and tried making a claim on my insurance. They denied me based upon the gross weight! READ YOUR INSURANCE BEFORE YOU TAKE ANY OTHER VEHICLE! I pulled out all of the stops and had family in insurance make pleas on my behalf.
The person I hit was a young guy and his deductible was huge so I did the right thing and payed him out of pocket. Well, he had already made a claim with his insurance and they had contacted my insurance and u-haul. Everything was sort of over, his car was fixed, I had him sign a document and I was out $.
Still I knew this insurance company had a claim and I thought, “How could they let me leave without any insurance?” I read online that they provide gap insurance by default. I pursued and pursued and eventually they cut me a check to make me whole!!!
The morals of the story are to be sure to check your insurance first. Call them and tell them which vehicle you are going to rent and when and get them to send you something saying it is okay. Next, keep really good records of everything. Finally never take no as an answer. 10 people told me I was screwed but logic/persistence recovered the money for me.
I’ve used both U-Haul and Penske. I’ve also used both for long moves (500-1000 miles) and local moves. Penske is the shiznit! If you reserve on line and are with AAA it can be cheaper than U-Haul and U-Haul’s trucks are not even close to the quality of truck you get from Penske. The customer service from Penske is awesome too!
For local moves I can handle a beater (U-Haul) but for long hauls you need something that you would personally choose to own (if you could) to move your family. For that, Penske is the winner without question (and for local moves too).
I signed up for AAA just to save on the Penske truck and the savings was more than the cost of the AAA fee. So I still saved $$ and had peace of mind.
One more comment on the truck:
-It was really shaky, and didn’t have much power, cornered terribly and was difficult to drive but it was clean and much cheaper… although the stress of the ordeal grayed some hair!
A previous job required that I rent trucks often and I did so using both of the above services. My experience mirrors yours (I’ve probably rented with UHaul 25 times and Penske 10 times). UHaul is a managerial diasaster. Their equipment is old, dirty, unreliable, etc. Their employees, facilities, etc. are equally unimpressive. The Penske operation on the other hand was fast, clean, and well-run. Those Penske trucks are damn nice. I’ll pay the premium every time just to not have to deal with UHaul.
We recently used Budget Truck Rental to move a sectional from PA to MD. The cost was $99 for 2 days not including insurance. We picked it up in PA and returned it in MD the very next day. No issues.
I refer to UHAUL as HELLHAUL and Penske when we priced it was a bit much.
Last time I rented with Uhaul I was moving over 1200 miles one way. I reserved their midsize truck (17 ft.) and when I showed up that day all they had left was their jumbo (26 ft) truck. Just the extra gas cost would have made the difference in the extra rental fee from another company. However, we didn’t have to stack a single thing in the back of the truck 😉
Have used Uhaul 3 times, each time with no issues. I’d go with Uhaul, no reason spending more than necessary. For the extra that the Penske would cost you could hire a day-laborer to help you with the packing, that would be a much better thing to spend the money on.
Man, moving yourself sucks. Every time I do it I swear that I’ll hire professionals next time.
I’ve never used Penske, but I’ve never had any major problems w/U-Haul in the ~5 times I’ve used them. They don’t seem to take real reservations, but they always have something waiting for me when I get there. They also help load/unload the hitch and are pretty laid back about everything. The only thing I don’t like is the people who work there — they tend to give me the creeps. Every UHaul employee I’ve ever worked with either had a tattoo or earrings in all the wrong places.
I’m noticing a trend of people who have had “near-death” experiences with U-Haul. They are driving WAY TOO FAST! You should only be driving 45mph if you are hauling something. Idiots…
I have had multiple problems with UHaul. I had moved from Chicago to MD but me and my dad flew back to Chicago to pick up my stuff and bring it back. I booked my reservation online and asked for the closest Uhaul location to my residence. Well they gave me a Uhaul location smack in the middle of Chicago where I was located 40 miles outside of Chicago. They were expecting me to drive in rush hour to pick up my vehicle when we discovered there were 3 Uhaul places within 5 minutes of my house who all had available trucks. It was a major hassle to get them to understand this and have them cancel our downtown Chicago rental. We had to speak to several people.
We did wind up getting a truck but it was in terrible shape and very dangerous to drive from Chicago to MD.
I have had several of other times when I have moved and them not have the equipment I have ordered and other very poor customer service issues.
My friend used uhaul to pick up some furniture. The truck broke down on him, and he had to sit on the shoulder for an hour and a half for somebody from uhaul to come over and add oil to the transmission or something along those lines. I used Penske for a move from Atlanta to Boston, and don’t remember anything, which is a good thing.
I?ve used U-haul many times. The trailers were fine when we could find them. In my area they were hard to track down since U-haul didn?t have a nearby central rental place. Stuff as much as you can in there and drive in the slow lane. Don?t ever rent a 10? box truck. The wheel wells poke into the back of the truck and it becomes difficult to place anything of size (couch) along the sides of the truck wall. If you plan on carrying a mattress or couch get a 14? box truck. I had to return one truck after 10 minutes when the check engine light turned on and the radio died in another one. I?ve since switched to Budget and will never go back to U-haul. I got hammered on miles a couple times using the rental trucks. You can fake out the miles renting a trailer (one day in town rental in the Bay Area with a small detour to San Luis Obispo). You can?t really do that with a truck.
Just used U-Haul last week. Driver side door didn’t close very well and the rest of the truck seemed a bit sketchy. I also had to call four different locations to find the truck size I was looking for with the other stores telling me “maybe” tomorrow.
The stuff got moved and I’m still alive but I would have preferred a more professional interaction and higher quality product for the length of time they have been around.
I did a lot of research on this b4 i moved my stuff from IL to CA. I called up uhaul and penske and a whole host of other companies. I finally decided to use movers.. but i found Penske was willing to come down a lot in price .. i told them the U haul price and they were willing to match it and they have the AAA discount too .. So it might be a worthwhile move to bargain with penske and get the uhaul price.
Jonathan, you’re not alone in your experience with Uhaul! When my wife and I got married she was living in Michigan and I in Missouri. I called to “reserve” an enclosed trailer for the balance of her things to be moved here. When I went to pick up the trailer they of course didn’t have it and said I couldn’t have made a reservation because they didn’t take them! So scramble all over creation to find another one and literally after driving 500+ miles one of the tires blows 2 miles from home. Quite a bit of water under the bridge since then but it doesn’t seem that they have gotten their act together any.
Good luck with the move! Personally, I haven’t had problems with the company during the two times I used U-Haul in Chicago (July 2006 and July 2007).
My problem happened when I wildly underestimated how much time I would need the truck. It took almost twice as long to load and unload as I estimated, so the bill was more than anticipated. Keep that in mind this weekend!
Wow, hot topic.
I’ve never used Penske. I’ve used U-Haul several times, from cross country moves of over 1000 miles, to in town moves of 35 miles, to using a van to pick up home remodeling supplies and furniture.
I’ve never had anything by a good experience. One time, on a furniture pick-up run, they didn’t have the van I wanted, so they upgraded my to a small truck for the same mileage and refunded the different in average gas when I returned it (I had negotiated the gas difference when I rented). The vehicles have always been new/semi-new and I’ve never had any trouble. The worst thing I did was drop my own keys into a night drop off once, but I managed to fish them out with a wire coat hanger and didn’t have to wait until morning.
I live in a city with many uhaul locations – the one closest to me now is huge and always seem to have trucks on hand, reservation or not. Again, as others have said, I don’t have a comparison, but the prices have never been beat and I have no complaints to make me take my business elsewhere.
Good call on negotiating with local Penske dealer. I’ll have to try that.
I have more Uhaul horror stories than I can remember (dirty trucks, long lines, dangerous trucks, etc). The worst one was when a tire fell off my 26 footer on I-75 in Atlanta during rush hour.
After reading the LA Times story, I will never rent a Uhaul again.
Scott
Our last move, we used a combination of Uhaul and Budget truck rental. For Uhaul, we used a trailer on our Ford Escape which I’m pretty sure messed up our rear shocks. I’m guess it was most likely due to our weight distribution strategy but Ford replaced the shocks under warranty so we were good to go.
As for Budget, those guys were a pain. We reserved the truck weeks in advance, but they called us the two days before our pickup to tell us that our pick up location had changed and that they’d credit us the extra mileage to pickup and drop off in the further-away location. Great. I called the local location and asked to confirm that my truck would be there when I planned to pick it up but no one could find any paperwork or anything in the computer about an extra truck being there for me. They said if someone called me that it should be there when they said it would be. Double great.
We went there at the right time to pick up the truck and lo and behold it was there, but even the people at the shop were surprised to see it! Anyway, I did save a few bucks for using Budget instead of Uhaul or Penske, but I doubt I’ll use Budget again since they added to stress to an already stressful situation.
I’ve never actually used UHaul, but i have used Penske.
I’ve used Penske on more than one occaison, and their price always seems to be flatly cheaper the uhaul.
the most recent time, i needed to drive from Philadelphia, to Baltimore, to pick up furnture for our new house which we were getting from an inlaws’ neighbor (long story). i called on a saturday morning, and since the manager had a truck with no reservation gave me a really good deal on the mileage- i think i paid a flat fee (like 50 bucks) plus 30 cents a mile (and i ended up driving 300 miles that day)
One of my friend’s had an awful experience with Uhaul moving from one area to the city to another – too much furniture and boxes. So the second time around she used the Zipcar service. They have lots of cars/trucks in big cities and it’s pretty cheap even for infrequent users.
I’ve used U-Haul 3 times. 1/3 was nearly disastrous. The truck started overheating on the interstate. The only way to keep the temp gauge out of the red was to drive about 55 mph. No long haul diesel should be forced to go that slow to keep from overheating. Speaking of overheating, the A/C didn’t work. This was in South Carolina in July. Unacceptable.
My one experience with Ryder was pleasant.
We have used U-haul for our moving twice in two different cities. And have not encountered any hidden fee. The truck was decent. Nothing to complain. I would suggest using U-haul if it was a within the city move. If the distance is more than 50 miles or so, then it might be worth using Penske for reliability.
I don’t know if you guy have Budget available, but the only time I’ve needed a truck we had a good experience for a good price. We did a one-way 500 mile move over 2 days and had no problems except for our unfamiliarity with the new area. so we ended up putting on quite a few extra miles looking for the drop-off location. But, again, not Budget’s fault. We had a mid-size truck which was there at the reserved time with the reserved equipment, including the car tow trailer we needed. The billing came out as expected, the truck and equipment were in good shape, and if we move ourselves again in the future (unlikely since it would now be with two small children) we’re likely to use Budget again.
Ahhh! Brings back memories! My son and I drove from Western Michigan to Eastern Michigan to pick up my dad’s rolltop desk. Went to the UHaul place to pick up the truck – they had no idea what I was talking about. No truck available. After driving 4 hours, I was more than a tad mad. Even had the “reservation” paper in my hand. Had to drive another 50 miles to get a truck – a 26′ truck instead of the 10′ truck I had originally asked for. A 26′ truck for 1 desk!
Two years ago I moved from Michigan to Minnesota. Rented a Penske truck and was delighted to pay them for the use of a clean newer truck, the fantastic service and the peace of mind. I remember being in awe of the tread on the tires. We drove into 50 mile per hour head winds all the way to Minnesota. There were absolutely no problems with the truck.
There have been times in my life when I have chosen not to pay the lowest price for something. This is one of them. My vote is for Penske.
please be careful when you secure the load and drive on the highway. A accident can cost you a lot of fortune. A guy was fined 5 million for a personal injury case.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/339075_federici10.html?source=rss
I rented u-haul once. I will never rent another one again in my life. The break was almost worn out and the right rear view mirror was not adjustable. Luckily, I had a passenger with me and can help me when making a right turn.
Right now, in most of major cities, we have flexcar program. For example, in seattle, if you are a member of them, you can rent a SUV or pickup truck for $10/hr including fuel and insurance! And the best part of it is all the car they had are pretty new and well maintained.
As far as I can remember, there are two companies in SF running the similar program. You should give them a try.
UHAUL has sucked every time. Last time, my wife and I had to argue with the guy at UHAUL over price for about 2 hours when we got there when we had clearly reserved it and had been given a price in advance. Not to mention, the truck was total garbage.
I have used Budget twice since then and been extremely pleased. Their trucks are maintained well and it was hassle-free to get in and out of their office.
first U-haul horror show: moving from NJ to MA last year. truck I’d reserved online was given to someone else. I ended up spending $55 for a cab to some far-flung burb, but when I got there they had a brand-new truck for me and U-haul refunded half the rental fee plus the cab fare.
it still sucked, though.
second U-haul horror show: local move in MA, in January, about 20F cold. got an old broken-ass truck that was on its last legs. first problem was I locked the door from the inside then found out the key wouldn’t work in either door so they had to send someone out to slim-jim it. second was that the heater was busted. third was it wouldn’t go much more than 45mph. when I returned it the guy more or less shrugged and said “whatever” when I complained.
in 05 I rented a 10-ft U-haul that was brand-new and waiting for me to move from MN to NJ and it all went well, leading me to trust these bastards twice more.
so, never again.
I used U-haul 2 years ago to move approximately 20 miles.
The truck was CRAPPY. Beat to hell. And grindy/fidgety stick-shift! Moving is stressful enough. A sketchy truck is the last thing you need.
Used a Penske for moving a furniture from a friend’s house to ours. Of all the 4, UHaul, Budget, Ryder and Penske, Penske gave us the best rate. And the service was top class, they acknowledged my reservation.
However, something I noticed – the rate was slightly higher if I rented and returned the truck in the same location. So I had to return it to their next closest office. Anyone know why they sorta encourage such one way moves by giving lower rates?
Budget is far cheaper than UHaul or Penske, at least in my area, and I’ve had good experiences with Budget. The truck wasn’t terrific, but it was far from terrible, and for the right price it is worth it.
I have a friend that works for Penske, and they are good people. Penske doesn’t screw around with truck safety, specially since most locations around me also do work on other companies trucks. Add to this that Uhaul buys old Penske trucks and you get the idea that the extra money is better spent on safety.
I moved over the summer and used U-Haul. The only problem I had is I couldn’t really drive after the sun went down. There was something wrong with the headlights / electrical system (perhaps something to do with the u-haul trailer I was towing with the U-haul truck). When stopped the lights were pretty bright (at least bright enough to see the dang road) but once you got up to speed the lights dimmed and you couldn’t really see the road. Turning on the high beams was no help. It was really no big deal since we were running late and had planned to stop for the night anyway instead of making the entire trip in one day. Based on the experience though and other things I have read I would probably only use U-Haul for a local move.
We are going to go with Penske for our upcoming move from LA, CA to MN. The Penske rental was over $4,000 cheaper than the U-Haul quote *and* includes unlimited mileage that U-Haul charges extra for. I’ve also had horrible experiences with U-Haul, probability due to the “independent dealer” organization. I was moving to school several yeas ago over Labor Day weekend, and no truck was available at my “reservation” time. I have to wait two days for a truck.
My wife also has a horrible U-Haul experience. We we set to move her out of Chicago, made a reservation and then, again, no truck available. We were sent to another U-Haul location to get a truck. The people at the second place were very nice, and got a truck for us, but had to close up because *every* reservation was being sent to them without any call from the first location.
We’re hoping the our Penske experience will be better.
I have used U-haul and hated it, mostly because the trucks are so old, dirty, and drive like tractors. I have never used Penske, but have been very satisfied with Budget.
I used U-Haul to move 250+ miles from Cincinnati OH to Champaign IL. The truck was old and had a lot of miles (not sure exactly how many), but I didn’t have any problems and only a few dollar fee for going over the allocated miles. I also used Budget to move in town last year, also with no problems. They were actually cheaper than U-Haul this time.
I’ve only had experience with U-Haul, and never had a problem in the 2 or 3 times I used them. But I guess I should qualify that by saying the first time was over 20 years ago, and the most recent close to 17 years ago, so things could very well have changed.
Uhaul “reservations” are ridiculous. It’s more like getting a numbered wrist band to stand in line. That’s a great idea for concert tickets. If the show sells out, you miss the event. Bummer. If the Uhaul lot runs out of trucks and you’ve got one day left on your lease, “bummer” doesn’t come close.
My wife and I moved about 35 miles this past summer. We were planning to use Uhaul, but they were so unprofessional on the phone and so clearly disorganized that, a week before moving day we switched to Budget. We also considered Penske, but went with Budget for logistical reasons (pick-up/drop-off points were closer).
Moving isn’t (usually) something that happens out of nowhere, you have to schedule a whole bunch of things. How does Uhaul stay in business when can’t consistently give customers what they ask for, when they ask for it, and at the location they ask for? Oh, that’s right, Uhaul doesn’t spend any money on maintenance.
I’m not sure how U-Haul stays in buisness other than name recognition and past reputation. I’ve used them twice in the last 10 years. I don’t recall any problems with fees or employees but there was quite a wait and the trucks scared the buh-jeebus outta me everytime. Slow, Barely running and thought they would fall apart at any minute.
Used a budget truck this past summer and it drove like a Cadillac by comparision. Clean and very comfortable.
I’ve used both. Penske for the move from Michigan to Texas. The truck was literally brand new and ready for us when we got there. One tire was low, was notified of this by the staff, they filled it up but told me to watch it. During loading, noticed the tire was low – called the number they provided at the shop, and someone was out within two hours to change our tire. Drove thousands of miles in the truck with great experience.
Used U-Haul when we moved from our temporary apartment to our house. The truck was based on an early 90’s Ford and had just under 200K miles on it, so you can imagine what it looked at drove like. Shop we picked this up at was a mess and took them forever to bring the truck around.
I’d do Penske again if I had to. For the long drive it was actually cheaper than U-Haul, but even if it was more expensive for a local move, I think I’d do it just because the experience was so much better!
I used U-Haul just a couple of weeks ago, one of the worst experinces of my life. I know you can find criticism on just about any big company on the net but just the sheer volume of evidence against U-Haul is pretty damning. I hope U-Haul goes out of business, the bastards.
I have had a few experiences with U-Haul, and they were all terrible. The last time they did not have the truck I had ‘reserved’, and the manager actually told me he really didn’t care. I guess it is my fault for going back to them.
I have moved from coast to coast a few times (NY to CA, CA to FL, FL to CA) as well as some shorter state to state moves.
Early moves were with UHaul- horrible. Luckily I never had a breakdown, but got pulled over for lights not working. And I had them charge me $75 for not returning with full tank of gas – even though I did and I had the receipt to prove amount of gallons. And their sign said the not enough gas fee was $25!! I fought a huge battle for that money and neither they nor American Express would give it to me. I’ve had truck from there with doors that came open while driving though.
My Penske rentals have been awesome! Clean trucks that do not smell like BO! Working radios and A/C! Doors that stay shut while driving!
And you can get a discount on Penske with AAA!
I’d go with anyone but U-Haul. And if you’re doing something local, Home Depot rents pick up trucks and cargo vans, at least where I live they do.
When we moved across the country, my employer demanded that we find the lowest of three bids. When we called around, we found that they (Budget, Penske, Uhaul) would keep underbidding each other. Eventually we ended up with Penske at around $200 below the original bid.
Ugh, why is nobody at Penske or U-Haul picking up their phones…
I’ve done 4 U-Haul moves, 2 Penske (about to do another), and one Budget. Penske is THE way to go for out-of-state moves. Nice, new trucks, online reservation discounts, and a bonus AAA discount (I bought a membership because of the rental, as the savings were greater than the cost of the membership!)
U-Haul is okay for local moves ONLY. I’ve had both old and new trucks (though they ALL have smelled like butt), but I wouldn’t risk getting a janky one to drive cross-country with. The online reservation system DOES NOT DO ANYTHING, except cost you $5. It doesn’t guarantee you diddly – you’ve got to call your local dealer. Also, the quality of your experience heavily depends on the individual local branches. Two of the shops here in town are run by very friendly and helpful people, and both have been good to me.
I used Penske to carry my home furnishings from Maryland to Oklahoma (1,300 miles). We had so much stuff we had to do it twice and one time hauling a car on the back of the truck. The experience was varied. The first time the truck broke down at a Nashville Truck Stop. We didn’t move from the gas pump (where the truck stopped) for four hours while we waited for the mechanic to get there. Obviously, a lot of big rig drivers weren’t happy. The truck was a old and dirty. Second time, it was a dream. New truck and no problems other than trying to drive a rig that was 43 feet long. My advice; make sure you are getting a fairly new truck before you start. I would use Penske again for cross country, but U-Hual for local especially since U-Haul has so many more outlets than Penske.
If you need a truck of a particular size on a specific date, stay away from U-Haul. I’ve been messed over by them numerous times. My last move, from KY to AL, was in a Penske truck. I’ll use them again. Every part of the process with Penske was reliable from the condition of the truck to the reservation.
Just used a 24′ Uhaul today for a local move. The truck was an old junker with 221,000 miles on it. It worked great the 19 miles I used it though. In August I drove 1800 miles in a Penske with less than 300 miles on it. It was truly a great, comfortable truck that was brand new and it actually was cheaper than a uhaul at that time. I HIGHLY recommed Penske for a long drive like that. The truck has cruise control, rides nice and the only downside is that it’s a little harder to load since it’s higher. For local moves I think uhaul is great, they are easy to load and unload because they sit low to the ground. Yes they are old, it’s still worth it to save $50 if you can.
First, don’t roast me because I honestly didn’t take the time to read all 87 responses. I justed wanted to add that Penske and Ryder will negotiate some things like mileage allowances, which can save some extra $$$. I used Ryder on a long move and the experience was great. I only use Uhaul for local moves because it’s easier, too. It was cheaper for me to Uhaul a mattress across town than to have it delivered, so I did!
Hey Jonathan;
You’re definitely asking a form of the big question: “What’s my time worth?”
It seems to me that attempting to save $40 at the expense of having multiple friends what for you is actually bordering on rude. U-haul doesn’t even accept true reservations, so between vehicle quality, availability and accessibility you’re probably shooting for a 1 in 10 chance that something goes pretty wrong. When I have 10 friends waiting to help me move, that 1 in 10 chance isn’t worth $100, let alone $40.
I used Penske for a trip from New England to Texas. I purchased a AAA membership and got 12% off the price of renting the truck and becuase I booked online and I got an additional 10% off.
The truck was brand new and clean. Drove great and the gas mileage was phenomenal.
I’ve used both, and based on advice like this we chose Penske when moving my mom from AZ to KY a few years back….what a great piece of advice we got!!!!!
Our truck broke down an hour past Winslow AZ, 2 hours from Albq NM. It was late at night and getting cold, we had to walk about an hour to a gas station in Meteor Crater, AZ We used the pay phone (the place was closed for the night, and it was below 32 degrees) to got a hold of Penske, and another hour or so later, a giant “semi-hauler” tow truck came and picked up the moving van and myself and my friend who was traveling with. They towed us to ALBQ and told us to get a hotel and a receipt and they would reimburse us. They said they would either fix the truck, or give us a new one and unload then re-load with their own staff. The truck was brilliantly loaded (my deceased uncle was a genius in many ways) when we left town, and they spent about an extra 3 hours trying to fit everything back in before they just gave us a bigger truck (which they promptly loaded with ease due to excess space). They paid for our hotel as well as reversed 100 dollars from the overall bill as compensation for meals and time lost. Overall my mom spent about 800 on the Penske truck and u haul quoted around 6 or 700 after mileage. Needless to say I am very glad my mom sprung for the extra cash, because from what I know about u-haul, it would have been a complete and total disaster. As it was, we simply lost one day of travel time, but were compensated for the extra hotel night and more than compensated for two people to eat for just one day. (U-Haul, supposedly would pass on the towing fee that was several hundred dollars, they won?t pay for a hotel, there?s 80 more, and they don?t respond in a timely manner, which would have meant me and my friend literally hoping not to freeze to death overnight as we did not pack winter camping gear in the cab.)
I just happened on this site as I was looking for Penske coupons for a local move. I want to share my experience with both Penske and UHaul. I cannot stress enough that I would NEVER use Uhaul again. My husband and I moved our household items in a Penske truck when we relocated from KY to SC. The move was not without incident. We were pulling my Mustang behind the rental truck. I was driving my husband vehicle and he was in the moving truck. I noticed a spark and then to my horror both wheels on the trailer caught fire. We called Penske and the fire dept and it was tramatic but they had us back on the road in one hour. We were not so fortunate with Uhaul. My husband returned to Ky for our third vehicle and rented a car hauler from Uhaul. He only got about 40 miles when he had to pull over because the trailer was all over the road. He called Uhaul and they claimed to be sending a tow truck and then he called back and they claimed they could not help him. This went on for over 8 hours ( no, that is the truth) when I finally called them and asked what the heck was going on, they told me that the hauler was not intended for that vehicle(van) and that they would not help because that was the pick up locations fault. Now mind you, we checked it out online before renting and it did say that we could tow the van. They left him on the side of the road and refused to help. He had to call a friend and have him drive to his location and pickup the car hauler and return it to Uhaul the next day and my husband had to leave the van behind with the friend and we had to make an extra trip the next weekend to retrieve it. I contacted Uhaul both by phone and by email and was told sorry about my luck! I will never ever use Uhaul again, no matter what the price difference is. Please do not make the same mistake as I did.
I worked at a self-storage facility for several years and we had quite a few trucks break down there or nearby – and all of them were U-Haul. I’ve moved 7 times in the past 8 years and have used Budget trucks each time – they’ve been great. I haven’t used Penske, but have heard nothing but good reviews from others who have used them. Watch out for U-Haul! They’re awful.
I had a terrible billing experience with U-Haul about 9 years ago now. The truck was in okay shape, but every other interaction with them was a nightmare. The counter people were awful, and they ended up charging my credit card 3 or 4 times for the same charge (several hundreds of dollars worth). When I went back to the store, they were uninterested in helping. I ended up writing to the company president who did manage (after a long time) to get the erroneous charges reversed, but there was no appology, no coupon for future use, in short, no attempt at customer satisfaction or service. I was amazed and appauled.
I am a big fan of Penske. I’ve used them several times for cross country moves and have had nothing but good experiences. Their trucks are clean, new and seem to have great maintenance. The truck was there when you reserved it and they have pretty good discounted rates if you reserved over the internet (better rates if you can reserve a few months ahead) and further discount if you belong to triple A. Don’t know if they still offer it, but they also allowed you to move a reservation back once it was confirmed with no price increase. For example, if you had an Oct 1 rental reservation, you could move to Nov 1 and the rate would still be locked in at the Oct 1 rate. Great if you want to lock in a good rate and finalize the exact move date later.
I’ve used Penske, Uhaul, and Budget. The Uhaul experience was horrible. The Budget truck had less than 2,000 miles on it and was in great shape. The Penske truck was not quite as new but still in great shape. The Uhaul truck was so beaten up.
As far as service, I always have to way for extremely long periods of time to get helped at a Uhaul location. I also had to wait at the Budget office, but it wasn’t an unreasonable amount of time.
I had one hell of a trial with uhaul, and after 24 hours of dealing with a piece of junk trailer with major electrical problems it blew my jeeps break lights and other electrical. Uhaul told me it was my fault and would not remembers me! I Hate Uhaul! It was a horable day that I cant forget.
I have used uhaul before and they are overpriced piles of junk. I am currently going to be moving from sc to vt and uhaul wanted over $1000 and only covered me for 1461 miles and then i had to pay extra. Penske on the other hand is charging me $520 for the same truck and i was not only able to reserve it online but got a discount for doing it. That price also covered the tow dolly that i couldn’t even get with uhaul unless i wanted to pay another $240. That and penske even let me pick the truck up a day early with no charges which allowed me to take the extra day off after the 5th day. After 5 days they charge you $50 for each extra day. I was able to get that back. So i would stick with penske. They are awesome.
We had “reserved” a truck with Uhaul and tried to call up many times to confirm it before driving out to pick one up. We couldn’t get through to anyone because no one would answer the phone at their site. It took a long time to finally get through to their corporate office who put us through only to find out they had no truck for us and wanted us to drive hours out of our way for one. No, thanks. We went with Budget, I believe.
Then, Uhaul tried to charge us a cancellation fee, which is ridiculous considering they couldn’t get us a truck within 3 hours of us. We’re not in the middle of nowhere, either. We’re outside of Philadelphia.
This, in addition to trucks not being able to make it up modest hills in southeast Pennsylvania without a check engine light coming on or trucks stalling makes me spend more money on Budget every time.
I loathe Uhaul.
enterprise rental car also has trucks and has the best customer service for both and another option to consider is a company that normally hauls regular freight not just household stuff like overpriced movers is called ABF they will drop a trailer at your location then you load it and then they will have one of their drivers take it where you want and you unload on the other side saving you a bundle so if the truck breaks down they have to deal with it but not to worry because they have a large well connected company and many trucks available to replace any problem trucks but that rarely happens because they built there business from on time deliveries so there trucks are new and maintained properly
i have been a penske agent for over 5 years now, i have seen many things and heard many things that drive me nuts. i have this story pretty interesting actually. they come to my location and i give them a rate for a 16′ truck and they start freaking out like omg thats so expensive and uhaul is cheaper and i start laughing and i go ok go try uhaul….2 days later they come back to my location and they’re like uhaul sucks! we broke down…im like heyy i know we’re expensive but our trucks wont break down on you. of course there are VERY RARE occasions about them breaking down but its 1 in 20000 truck so ur ok. plus myself and other penske reps. are sometimes nice and say get me a quote from uhaul an ryder and i will match it, so yea thats all i had to say
plus penske renews its trucks every 3 years, after the 3 years they make sure they are in PERFECT condition and they sell them for a good price.
penske is the way to go, if you want to go one way shop around and get quotes from everywhere
after you do that go to a penske location and they will match it for u no questions asked
Ugggh, U-Haul’s are awful. We’ve moved A LOT. And being in WV, U-Haul is just about the only choice around. They are always old, dirty, no ac, broken parts, etc. But the worst experience with one was the 20 year old extra long one my husband had to drive that was a stick shift. It only had 2 working gears, the others would just grind and squeal. We barely made it up our long sloped driveway. I was surprised it made it. Anyhow, if I HAD a choice, I’d go with someone else.
All the stories I read on disasters with U-Haul rentals I really believer because it happened to me on my U-Haul rentals. My experience was with the main San Francisco location. they will find a way to nail you for something extra before and after you rent. The trucks are definitely terrible to drive if not unsafe and noisy especially on long trips. Watch out when you have to go back with gas at 3/4 full-with high cost of gas, you may find yourself paying more because either you’ll forget to do it or don’t fill up to that level.
One time, they tried to charge me for pads that were “purposely left unstrapped” as if I used them when I returned the truck!!!
Go Penske, its safer, people are honest and helpful, esp if you mention U-haul experience.
We had a funny experience back in 98 with a Uhaul truck. We rented it, took it home and it broke down on the way back ot the house. I called them, brought it back and they gave me another. After packing it, it made it to our new home 100 miles away and then wouldn’t start when we went to take it back. They towed it and when I got my final bill, they charged me towing and mileage for the other truck. I fought them on it and won, but I shouldn’t have to fight about it. Their junk equipment blah blah blah.
So, 5 years later I buy a new home and rent a penske truck. It was clean and had much more space and contrary to this article, it was cheaper for an intown move that Uhaul.
Two years ago, I decided to move back home 100 miles back and my wife rented a Uhaul. I knew instantly it was a mistake. This thing would barely run and I had to drive through Indianapolis in a truck that wouldn’t go more than 40 fully loaded and then on I-70 for 90 miles at 40 miles an hour. I had to pay fuel on it when it averaged about 3 miles to the gallon. BUt, the fuel gage was broke and wouldn’t register the tank as full and I had to fight with them to get them to try to put more fuel in it and check. It cost me well mroe than Penske jsut because the old beater truck they have consumes much more gas from being poorly maintained.
I’m up for moving (yet again) and Penske is giving us a sweet deal. Three days, 200 miles and after discount we’ll only pay 130 for a 24 foot truck. The only problem, and the reason I came here is no one seems to know what the mileage is and for a deasel truck, this is a concern.
Can anyone tell me if any other company has cargo rental trailers other than U-haul for a one way move from Pa to Florida? It seems like only U-haul carries trailers which kind of makes me have to rely on them. Please Help anyone !!!
An interesting though long story –
I just brought a Penske truck from Atlanta to Seattle. I had reserved 11 days as I was traveling with a 7 yr old, a dog, a cat, and my mother, and knew I would not be able to drive for long periods of time, 6 hours max!! Somehow my reservation had gotten mixed up so they had the wrong truck waiting for me and I had to wait several hours for the rep to un hook the car carrier from one truck to another and their computer was not working. (not Penske’s fault). The engine light was on when I picked up the truck. I was averaging about 4 miles to the gallon from Atlanta to MD and when I called the 800 #, the guy I talked to said they did not have any service stations anywhere in the area and could I talk it back to Virginia? Well uh, nooo! So I dragged it up to their service station in Michigan which was my next desination, where they ran a computer diagnostic and said nothing is wrong, don’t worry unless the RED engine light comes on. Still, 4 miles to the gallon…In South Dakota the RED engine light did come on and I barely had time to pull over to the shoulder. They did have a repair shop there and what a super bunch of guys! The tow truck driver took us on the scenic tour and the repair guys were very concerned and competent. 4 hours later we were back on the road back to the campground we had just come from as that drive day was wasted.
The next moring, same thing!! RED enginge light, truck dies call the repair shop, took it in again, they said this truck never should have been sent out on the road, but they fixed it up so we’d have a safe ride in to WA but to tell the drop off rep to not rent it out again.
As for the 4 miles to the gallon we’d been getting that’s because a dohicky in the engines turbo thingy was open all the way – sucking gas- and they fixed it so we’d get better gas mileage now! But whatever they did also sucked all the power out of the engine. So we limped our way over the Rockies at 25-30 mhp and coasted in to WA 14 days after our original start date!
Everybody has been very apologetic and making sure we knew this was a total abberation from the norm. They didn’t charge any extra time. I do however have to go to bat with them because I need them to reimburse me for the extra time on the road ( hotel and campgrounds) and the insane amount of $ I was burning getting 4 miles to the gallon. I don’t anticipate that it will be pleasant as the rep seems very argumaentative.
With all the profuse apologizing from all but one Penske rep, I would still rent from Penske again because I believe them.
Rented a Flat bed for 2 days. Truck broke down on the first day.
They had the audacity to charge me for 2 days, and $1200 for repair! The truck broke down by itself when I shift gear on the freeway exit. I did not hit anything or ran over anything.
They basically charge me for their own equipment failure!!!
WARNING!!! DO NOT RENT FROM THEM EVER!!!
I see this post is very old, and you’ve already moved, but I thought I’d offer you a little advice, in case you ever need it in the future (or know someone who does). I worked at U-Haul for about a year, and I would only rent from them under very certain conditions, if at all.
It is important to understand that U-Haul has two types of trucks: 1) trucks they considered “in-town” for local moves, which must be returned to the same location they’re rented from (complete garbage, trucks that are falling apart & cannot be trusted to get anyone very far) and 2) “one-way” trucks that are for longer moves & can be returned to any U-Haul location (most are newer and in good shape, but of course a few are on the verge of becoming in-town trucks, due to high mileage). For the first type of truck, you pay as you’ve listed here (truck + mileage); the second type of truck includes mileage and is priced according to where you’re going.
When you make a reservation, if you are planning a local move, you will automatically be set up with an in-town truck. One-way trucks are reserved for people going longer distances (the further, the better – you’re more likely to lose a truck if you’re not going far, because when they’re overbooked and don’t have enough trucks, they “save” the trucks they do have for the people making the most expensive moves, telling other customers they don’t have any trucks left).
The only way to get a decent truck from U-Haul is to get a one-way truck. On a weekday, when not much else is going on, you might be able to talk an employee into letting you rent a one-way truck that you can return to that location (in order to get the in-town price), but that is a case by case situation, and I wouldn’t count on it. If you want a one-way truck for a local move on a busy day, you can offer to pay the price for a one-way truck and return it to another location, but if you’re not going far, they’re not likely to allow this. For one thing, they’re taught to be suspicious of people moving to the next town over who are willing to pay that difference (substantial), because the one-way trucks are much more frequently stolen (the in-town trucks are hardly worth stealing). Also, they’re trying to make the most money they can off the one-way trucks they won’t get back, so they aren’t going to be thrilled with the idea of sending it out to a nearby city, when they can save it for someone moving cross-country.
I haven’t read your piece on reservations with U-Haul, but I can attest to the fact that they almost always overbook on the weekends (puts a smile on the face of the manager who sees $$$ and a growl on the face of every screwed customer – the managers are always sure they can get hold of enough trucks before the weekend comes, but it doesn’t always work out).
If I ever make a big cross-state move, and I need a truck, I’ll consider a one-way truck from U-Haul. However, if I needed to move something local, the only way I would ever do it is if I could talk an employee into giving me a one-way truck to return to the same location (to get the in-town price), which must be down in-person, at the time of rental (meaning, if this is a very important, time-sensitive move, and/or if it’s on any day Thursday-Sunday, it’s not a good strategy).
If you don’t to deal with the hassle, or you can’t secure a one-way truck for what you want, Penske is the better way to go. You will pay more, but the truck won’t fall apart on the way out of the parking lot (happened many times at the location I worked at with the in-town trucks).
I used U-haul’s 6×12 trailers numerous times. For the first time traveling from Nebraska to Florida, my trailer was newer, but had problems with the brake and turn signal on the drivers side, as it wouldn’t flash right, or not at all. It worked before I left, but had problems down the road. So I pulled over to a truck stop, and ran new wiring while it was raining, by myself, along the outside of the trailer and spliced it in. So I wouldn’t get a ticket from being pulled over. When I turned in my trailer at my destination, U-haul didn’t compensate me for the bad wiring, and the loss of my materials, and AGGRAVATION.
Then a year later I towed two trailers with my car and my truck (military) from Florida to California. The two trailers were U-haul at a fair price. Didn’t have any problems with those trailers, I made sure to triple check the lighting before leaving.
A word to the wise, with the trailers: Check that the trailer safety stop mechanism works if the trailer were to breakaway, it is a hydraulic box mounted to the top of the trailer tongue, that is actuated by a safety chain that is hooked to your hitch. Also check that all the lights work: clearance, brake, running and turn signals. Check the tires before you leave for enough tread, and air pressure. Check to make sure the leaf springs on the double axle trailer aren’t cracked or missing chunks of metal.
Uhaul ok for trailers. But use Penske for Trucks.
Please, Please, Please Do NOT RENT U HAUL. If I have done anything worthwhile on this earth it would be to save any one any grief or from death by using a U Haul. DO your research. U Haul is notorious for roll overs with their trailers. I was one of them. I lost my SUV, all my valuables that I was hauling, and had to recover from a back injury. I thank the Lord that my children were not in the car they would have been killed instantly. I did my research after the accident and was shocked by how many people this happend to. They lost loved ones and others were wheel chair bound. I ended up having to pay U Haul $1,500 for their trailer, but they never sent me a dime or a letter. THey will kill you if you rent from them. I am serious. Read up on all the cases across the U.S. and Canada you will be exhausted from the articles etc. BAN U HAUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had a great experience with UHaul a few years ago…now need to
rent again and was searching for price comps.etc. I still am going to
go with bottom line $$.
But it occurs to me,there have to be 1000s of people who are happy with U-Haul but they don’t speak up. It’s only the ones with a horror
story who bother to write about it.
I have used U-Haul and Penske over the years, but 21 years ago we moved from Northern Michigan to Arizona in a 26′ Penske with a car dolly. We had a great trip. No problems at all and a nearly new truck. In 4 days I will be doing a move to Missouri in a 26′ Penske truck with a car hauler. I am looking forward to the trip and the great thing is that it is about 1/2 the cost of the 1987 price. Of course, it is about 600 miles closer. Still, great price and they promised a new truck. More good news, our last move, this time it’s to our retirement home.
I have to agree with Elizabeth. I had an exceptional experience with Uhaul and everyone I know has nothing but good things to say about them. Just this past August I reserved a truck and tow dolly from Uhaul. Upon arriving at the intended location the truck was waiting for me with tow dolly hooked up and ready to go. I was in and out in less that 15 minutes. And this was a dealer (privately owned business wanting to supplement their income by renting out Uhauls). I read all of the above comments and it disgusts me that all of you had such bad experiences with Uhaul. However, it sounds to me like most of you that had bad experiences rented from dealers. 99% of the dealers that rent out Uhaul equipment just do not care. If you got overcharged or your reservation went “missing” I can only attest that to the lack of care and/or interest in the customer from the dealers. Unfortunately if you have a problem with a dealer the buck stops there. The only thing you can do is complain about them and hope they get pulled as dealers never to be able to rent Uhauls again.
However, if you rented from a Uhaul owned or managed facility (an actual Uhaul center owned and operated by Uhaul employees who are paid by Uhaul) and still received this kind of poor customer service I urge you to demand a phone number for their MCP (Marketing Company President) and call him/her up and let them know whats going on in their centers. They will take immediate action I assure you. And if they don’t demand their ADVP’s (Area District Vice President) number. Going through the right channels will get you results.
My two cents
I’ve rented from U-Haul 3 times and every time my reservations were screwed up. They’ve never gotten my reservations right and they always stick it to me when it comes to how long I reservation for. I’ve always gotten short changed on my rental times, which doesn’t help also when the service is so slow. And they always charge me for my reserved rental time without even budging or offering to cut me some slack on price. The trucks were always beat and always had 250K+ miles on them. The last one even stalled out on the highway several times. I’ve called coporate each time but the buck always gets passed and I vow to never use them again.
I have driven u-haul trucks before and have had nothing but bad experiences. I was moving my mother from Alabama to Indiana and the truck could only reach 40 mph on I-65. It was scary to say the least. I ended up putting my flashers on and praying to god I didn’t get killed.
Growing up I moved ALOT! My parents always used UHaul, and although they always seemed like older trucks and a bit on the dirty side, we didn’t really have any major problems.
I personally moved from Michigan to New Mexico, then to Sarasota Florida-each time I used Penske because of their reputation. The trucks were virtually new (both under 300 miles), and when I locked my key in the cab they had someone there to get me in within a half hour. I have nothing negative I can think of with Penske. If I move again, they WILL get my business.
Uhaul sucks. I just rented a uhaul yesterday. The darn truck did not have a loading ramp. Are you kidding me. I didn’t think they even made these trucks without a ramp. And, of course, they did not have any more trucks in that size. I would have had to pay more money for a larger truck, even though they gave me a truck with no ramp.
From now on, it’s Rider, Penske, Budget or anyone but uhaul.
It is true that 10 foot trucks of Uhauls do not have a ramp… but thats cause a ramp wont fit under a 10foot truck without being extremely short and useless. If the ramps a problem *(john rivers) go with a 14 foot, its the same price. As for Ryder, ryder is the same company as Budget… They “technically” are no longer in business. As for reservations, as with any truck company, you do have a reservation and expect it to be there when you reserved it for. but if the person previous to you decides to not return the truck (which does happen often) then thats when you run into a truck not being there for your reservation. Uhaul does have a Reservation Guarrentee… which means if you dont get your truck you get $50. Local uhauls are older but are maintenenced every time the truck comes back to the facility. one way trucks are brand new! Diesels dont exist in the moving business except for with penske, so diesel horror stories can be disregarded.
Look’s like this post is still up-to-date…as I suppose it should be because so many of us move all the time! Ugh. I’m a bit surprised no one has mentioned the alternatives to renting a Uhaul truck, but than again, this was exactly the first thing I thought of when my wife and I needed to move. We skipped the whole truck rental thing and tried moving pods instead. This was a local move so I looked at costs very closely. When it was all said and done, it was SOOO worth it and cost less when considering our time, which well, is priceless 🙂 Unless I need to move just a few small items, I will most likely never rent a truck again. Door to Door Moving and Storage is a fantastic company that I’d highly recommend to anyone. The whole moving pod idea is here to stay in my opinion. They often have deals too so check em out – http://www.doortodoor.com
My wife and I are planning a move almost completely across the country. I just checked rates for both companies on line. U haul will charge me $ 1719 for a 17 foot truck and allow me 9 days and 2439 miles. To make the exact same trip Penske will charge me $880 for a 22 foot truck and allow me 9 days with unlimited miles. Using these numbers I can get a truck and car carrier from Penske for less than just a u haul truck
My husband and I are military, and we have always done our own moves. We used uhaul for all of the moves except this last one, we used Budget. Uhaul was going to charge us nearly $1000 to move from TX to VA in 7 days, with unlimited mileage. The quote online with Budget w/15% discount was about $400! A HUGE difference, we thought…until we got to Budget on the day we were picking up the truck and ended up with some $350+ in hidden fees and taxes! So the savings ended up being a couple hundred dollars. I’m not entirely sure it was worth it though. The truck got terrible gas mileage…my husband was using a tank of gas in the Budget truck at the same rate that I was in our Ford Escape…I thought diesel got better mileage?? Plus the truck was SUPER-SLOW! I’m talking 0-60mph in 5.2…MINUTES! Thats really not even an exaggeration. It topped out at about 68-69 going downhill…needless to say, that was the LONGEST 1300 miles of my life!
you will not beleve this one,on feb/09 i was moving from yougtown,az to modesto,cal u haul cote was $1375.and i was told they. will give me a better deal if i book then.i told theme i will be back ,i walked to penske it is next door located close to down town phoenix,and with no tricks or upsell they charge me $850 for same service , but begger and newer truck and better insurance cover. thank god and thank penske for good and honest serivce.this is very true story and god know that.
People. look at the facts. over half of these people have had people have had problems with there uhaul truck. given they are cheaper than penkse but you get what you buy. I am a proud penske employee and i just think some of these articles are funny. Tires can happin to company truck out for rent. its just the way it is but penske trucks are inspected everytime they are returned from rental. i know, im one of the people doing inspections. our trucks are top of the line and nonone else compares to us. Do you people know how to price haggle, penske base rates ARE higher than other companys however we are always willing to knock a feww dollars off here and there. common guys, be smart and come to the better company. i promise, you will not be unsatisfied.
Uhaul is awesome! They also sell out their old trucks and it can be very cost effective. Check out their website for more info on the trucks.
http://www.uhaul.com/trucksales/
I JUST WANT TO LET YALL KNOW I HAD A GREAT EXPIERENCE WITH UHAUL. IF PENSKE OR BUDGET WAS MORE CONVIENT, A BIGGER MOVING COMPANY LIKE UHAUL..LOL THEN YOU ALL WOULD BE SAYING THE SAME THNG ABOUT THEM JUST LIKE UHAUL..LOL MAYBE BECAUSE UHAUL TRUCKS GET USED ALOT THE REASON WHY SOME OF THEM ARE IN BAD SHAPE..THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND….
I have used other companies such as Ryder, Budget and U-Haul and will never use anyone else but Penske. Their trucks are always in outstanding condition. Even if you happen to get a formerly leased truck. They are always polite, friendly and eager to put the customer first. One of the times we rented from them, we got charged the “lack of fuel” surcharge. When we called them up and faxed copied of the reciepts, they fixed the issue right then and there. Penske is they only way to go when renting a truck.
I only have had one experience with U haul and it was a positive one, no hidden fees or extra charges. The bad thing it does not allow you to cancel on the website, bummer.
Well my friends had moved from MI to OK a couple of months ago and We are following next week. They used Penske and the wife had thought they paid $800. So I went online and it said $1200. I spoke to their representative and he gave me the truck at $800 out the door with unlimited mileage. Well then the husband had informed that they did indeed pay $1200. So I got to thinking and I sort of started a bidding war between Uhaul and Penski. Uhaul dropped my price $100 and Penski dropped my price $200. The total price that I have ended up with is Uhaul offered $639 and penske offered $664. I opted to pay the extra $25 because the penske price was out the door, and they gave me unlimited miles. Uhaul still charged tax on top of their price while only giving me 1000 miles which the move was 977 miles and then I have to drive it back however many miles to drop it off in Muskogee, OK. So yes I would definately go with Penske, and I also found out that there was no “guarentee” to recieve the truck the day you needed it.
We’ve moved x-country north to south a few times and always used u-haul, and while nothing ever broke down it was white knuckles all the way. Now we are moving back north over 1000 miles did a rental on penkse online but saw no insurance so called the number to question that and the rep gave me a much better price. Then later had to move the date forward two months, again the rep was outstanding and we also got a handtruck to move fridge and such, cost was still under u-haul. Went to the loction today to make out paperwork and pay for the truck, it was already there 7 days ahead of time, looked clean inside and out, good tread on tires absolutely no dirt, rust or anything,(I even slid under and ckd out grease fittings u joints etc). “Paperwork completed in under 5 minutes and I was on my way. Now i HOPE we don’t have to move again EVER but if we do its PENSKE for sure.
Rented a uhaul trailer 3 years ago. The lights didn’t work when I picked it up. I brought it home and found out the ground wire was corroded. I cleaned it up and reconnected it, and it was fine after that. No other troubles hauling the trailer 1200 miles south, but fixing the lights was such a stupid and easy process it’s a little ridiculous uhaul didn’t do it.
i am with a gospel group and we are looking for a used trailor to haul our equiptment. we are not looking for big $$$$$ type we are a small group with what the Lord supplys us with….just me:-)
Penske trucks are fabulous. I’ve used them in two capacities. One for a live sound business and two for a inter-state move.
For the sound business, my customers depend on me to be at venue on time and to put on a quality production. There’s no calling in sick, no excuses, and no cancellations. I pride myself on never having cancelled a show ever. I needed a partner like Penske who seems to share that commitment to their business. Everytime I’d go to pick up the truck, I knew it would be clean, functional, and safe for my valuable equipment.
For my inter-state move, my Penske dealer gave me a good deal because I gave him so much business previously. It was like a good “going away present”, if you will.
Penske is rock solid. U-Haul isn’t even in the same league. There is no comparison.
I use Penske anytime I need a truck. The price is reasonable,and the equipment is top notch. Great customer service!
My dad rented a U-Haul to move from Northern California to the Twin Cities in MN. We had a larger truck and also a hitch to tow my Tercel behind the truck. I drove behind my dad in their Ford Explorer. The UHaul had no power. My dad had the pedal to the the floor and was only going 55 mph uphill. That was to be expected but unfortunately about 6 hours after we left, our U-Haul broke down. We were in the middle of nowhere in Nevada and had to wait over 7 hours for the U-Haul tow truck to tow us to their shop. We had to wait a day for the part and it took them until almost 4pm the 3rd day of our trip for them to finally install the part and we were on our way. We got literally 15 miles down the road and the U-Haul broke down AGAIN – this time it was a different thing that broke! We had the towing/mechanic place take it back to their shop where my dad had a moving company pick up our stuff and bring it to MN. We detached my Tercel and my dad and I drove the rest of the way to MN in our personal vehicles. U-Haul did reimburse us for our hotel stay while the truck was being repaired but we were stuck in MN on Christmas with no furniture, etc because of the terrible condition of U-Haul’s trucks.
Needless to say when my parents moved back to CA 2 years ago they did NOT go with U-Haul. They rented a Penske and would recommend it to anyone who needs to do a long distance move. My husband is currently driving his mother from MN to Florida and I urged him not to use U-Haul and to use Penske instead. We got a 20% discount for reserving the truck online, plus the 12% one-way discount because I am a AAA member. The savings pretty much paid for the trailer for my mother-in-law’s car. We had to reschedule several times for personal reasons and Penske was very accommodating – one time we even had to reschedule the same day that we were supposed to pick up the truck and there was no issue. There were some minor glitches when they got the truck – the taillight was broken. But Penske had a mechanic out within the hour to fix it. My husband is able to drive 75mph with a fully loaded 16 ft truck AND a trailer with my MIL’s car on it. They are making great time and should be there sometime tomorrow morning! I’m really glad we went with Penske this time.
Yup, another vote for Penske. Uhaul just quoted me a price 3x that of Penske for a long haul move so they aren’t even cheaper.
Penske might be twice as much, but definitely twice as good…Uhaul needs an overhaul
Penske. All the way. Rented a 10 footer “$19.99 in town special” from UHaul a few years back. Easily paid nearly $100 for the rental alone when all the ‘fees’ were added. Also was a crappy truck and they had to have a $100 deposit even though I was paying with a card.
Moving again. Penske offered me unlimited mileage and better gas mileage with diesel for about $100 less than UHaul with an online reservation. Plus, the gas tank will be full and need filled up, not playing gas pump tag trying to get it back to the arbitrary ‘line’ it was filled to when I picked it up (U-Haul). Do you know how long that takes?
So I spent about $100 PLUS gas for a crappy little in-town move with U-Haul and had $100 hanging in the wind for about a week because they took their time releasing the hold on the account. This time, I chose Penske, where I’m spending about $200 plus gas for a 22 foot truck to move 120 miles. You do the math.
Trucks cleaner and better maintained. Mileage unlimited. Diesel engines on big trucks for better fuel economy. No ‘fees’ or holds (unless you pay cash). Online reservation discount that made the actual truck only $162. U-Haul wanted $219 just for the same size truck. No thanks.
Have moved six times in twenty years and used U Haul on all moves, I must say I have only had good experiences, some have been exceptionally good. Never any hidden fees, never any of the holds described the trucks have always been in good shape, yes some have had high milage, yet some have not. The last one I rented had only 1,952 miles on it. I have found that not all locations are company owned. I have also found that the company owned locations strive harder than the non company locations to send out cleaner equipment verses contract locations.
Contract locations are not al bad as with any thing some are better than others. I have been to clean Mc Donald’s restaurants and some not so clean ones. Either way I guess in the big scheme of things if you look at the over all picture U Hual rents hundreds of thousands of trucks every year and is bound to make mistakes and the ratio of complaints as listed on this web site compared to its revenue and repeaters like me, they do a good job. After all they are listed every where
as number one in the do it your self moving industry. The vast number of locations speak for themselves, in my town alone U Haul has seven locations versus Penskes one, Budget does not even have one any longer, it used to but it closed after U Haul opened across the street.
I am a Uhaul Independent dealer. So naturally I would have more information about U-Haul than the average end user or customer. I really would like to make a few points concerning U-Haul Trucks versus Penske Trucks.
1) All U-Haul trucks are lower to the ground for easier loading
All penske trucks are dock high and harder to load. Uhaul trucks are lower to the ground, a lower incline on the extendable ramp makes for much easier loading up and down multiple times in and out of a truck.
2) All U-Haul trucks are regular unleaded gasoline trucks.
Easier to refuel, better for the enviroment and about the same mileage per gallon as a diesel truck. We also have more dealer locations closer to your home, Thereby creating a smaller carbon footprint on the enviroment.
less fuel, less carbon.
3) Hidden fee’s
Define “hidden”…. U-Haul does say in the printing on all literature, signs, advertising and on the web that the price of the vehicle is “plus mileage & fee’s”. It is called an enviromental fee. It is usually only a dollar or two for an average in-town rental.
4) Enviromental Impact & Sustainability
U-haul has the newest trucks on the market at this time (as per UHaul University Courses that I have taken to be a dealer). The old U-haul with tthe junk broke down trucks is a thing of the past. With that in mind, Any machine can break at any time. How many of you out there are aware that 35% of all laptop computers have a hardware failure in the first three years of their life. (reference – PC magazine). If we accept the fact that one of our most important technical devices has an acceptable failure rate of better than 1/3 of all made or manufactured then why do you only allow for less than 1% of all total rentals for breakdowns with U-Hual trucks.
U-haul has received multiple awards for green awareness and enviromental sustainability (reference Uhaul.com)
Each of you will have individual horror stories no matter what company you use. With U-Haul. you get to leave feedback about your experience on the website through an email link after your rental experience. We take these things very seriously and we do not have the capability to reply to yor comments left. We take it and strive to improve off it.
Reserved a 26′ box truck with Penske for driving a load from Sun Valley to Portland. Manager “Bryant” presented himself well, filled out the paper work…felt a bit of scamsmanship through his fake smile “concern” spiel asking if additional insurance was needed beyond insurance to cover the truck, “liability” he called it.
Things became colorful after “William” rolled out the truck. Insect gook and body parts covered the radiator face and windshield. The cab was drenched in dog hair and reeked of vomit… 9 Penske air fresh sticks stuffed in the vents.
Depressing the accelerator halfway to the floor caused the 77k diesel to groan loudly and inch forward…NO WAY was this truck making it up the Grapevine. Air/fuel filters cleaning perhaps or a rebuild??
The “F” bombs flowed freely and Bryant offered to bring in another truck from a site 2 hours north. Likewise, corporate said that was the only option on their end. To be continued…
My sister rented a Penske truck last week from Home Depot. It was a 2008 model GMC truck, 16ft. Had stero/cd input, and automatic , with ac. Drove it from Home Depot, in Kpt, TN downto Charleston, SC. Truck drove great! I have rented UHaul trucks myself in the past for moves. Hated them! Your reservat9ion isn’t guaranteed. With Penske it is! She called in that morning to tell them we were going to be late on the pickup, no problem they said! The truck was full of gas, and ready to go! I’ll never rent a UHaul again if I can help it. She got a great discount with AAA membership ,and by booking online.
Maybe UHaul is using newer trucks, but if you read the posts, its because, they are buying some of them from Penske, when Penske is done with them! Why stand in line, a reservation is a reservation, otherwise it isn’t!
If Penske will price match UHaul, why would anyone go with UHaul, oh right, they sit lower? Nope, the ramp on the 16ft was as good as the one I got on a UHaul several years ago.
I used penske to move from the south, to the pacific NW.. . I was given an unsafe vehicle. NONE of the seat belts worked, and were even tied. I had difficulty with the vehicle the entire trip. I ended up rolling the truck, lost everything (believing I had purchased enough coverage -and got NO re-imbursement)
-& I broke my back. BUT for us to still be alive- I’m thankful for!
My job has required me to move several times in my life; sometimes short distances, sometimes across country. Here are my experiences:
1. UHaul trailer for a 70 mile move: The trailer was not hooked up properly by the dealer and when I noticed a change in how it was behaving, I stopped at a UHaul dealer in another city on the way that offered to get me back on the road but it took 2 hours since he “had other customers.”
2. 22 Ft Ryder truck for a 280 mile move: No problems – the service was fast, friendly, and when I got to my destination, the local dealer offered to come get the truck at no charge so I wouldn’t have to drive a bulky truck in unfamiliar heavy traffic – and he didn’t charge me for refueling.
3. 17 Ft UHaul, Bloomingdale IL to NY City: Truck was not available at the time promised. I was told it would be ready when the dealer opened but because the previous user was still three hours away, I had to wait. There was another dealer across town but they wouldn’t get the truck from them and I would have had to pay a taxi a hefty fee if I had gone there myself. The truck promised for me didn’t arrive until almost 3 in the afternoon. No discounts, no “I’m sorry,” nothing. They also wouldn’t extend the rental period. When I got to NY City, the dealer there was extremely nice and tried to get an adjustment for me on the bill but his attempts weren’t successful. Manager said a flat “No.”
4. NY City to Seattle: Penske rate was better than any other, truck was like new, with 2 dozen furniture pads thrown in at no charge, and the company gave me 2 extra days because weather conditions were terrible on the route.
5. Seattle to New Jersey: Penske again. No problems, great rate, and the service was incredibly friendly. I felt the dealer truly appreciated my business.
6. Northern NJ to Plainsboro, NJ: Employer paid for UHaul against my wishes. Broke down on the NJ Turnpike for 2 hours before anyone showed up and I had to load my stuff on another UHaul without any help while the guy sat in the truck to keep warm. I was, to say the least, livid.
Not long afterward, my friend rented a UHaul for a move from Baltimore to Indianapolis. She was traveling with three children. Her truck broke down in Pennsylvania. Took 5 hours for someone to rescue her and the children – after dark, but to UHaul’s credit, they transferred her stuff from the old truck to the new, gave the kids some toys, fed them, and took 1/2 off her rental charges. While she was treated well, the truck should not have been rented for long distance moving in the condition it was.
I’ve used Budget and had excellent service and good equipment each time. I had to use UHaul again and had no problems but I insisted on a later model vehicle with low mileage. My preference is still Penske, even if the rate is higher. As with almost any service, if you try, sometimes you can negotiate a better rate, especially last minute, but not always.
Helped a lady move from Wisconsin to Arizona a year ago. Rented a 26′ with a car hauler from Penske. Excellent equipment – no problems. And all of the personnel I was in contact with were excellent.
i have rented from all major truck rental companies ,hand down i prefer and will tell everyone to rent from penske,i also do raodside load swaps,i see more budget trucks with breakdowns then penske,but by far i see more uhaul trucks in last 60 days i have performed swaps as follows u haul 27,budget 16,penske 1,ryder 1,i see and hear all the stories from customers,penske willl go out of there way to help you,they offer customer satisfaction refunds if you are not heepy with truck performance
Moved from New Mexico to Wisconsin with a Penske. New truck, clean interior, no issues. Wonderful customer service, no surprise fees. Will not consider U-Haul for next move.
Setup an online Penske truck rental a week ahead of time for a 12ft truck.I went with Penske because a sales person had called me at my home and suggested I make the reservation with them, because Uhaul would probably not have the truck I reserved if I went with Uhaul. I got two confirmation emails from Penske. I showed up and they had no 12 ft trucks,but could give me a 16ft for the same price. I was so mad I couldn’t see straight. Less mileage, harder to drive and park and I was going 650 miles one way. The nearest 12 ft truck was in College Station. They never intended to have the truck I reserved. I was actually warned by a friend who had reserved a 12 ft truck and had to take a 16 ft truck at the Pasadena location.———— So just be aware that PENSKE MAY NOT HAVE THE TRUCK YOU RESERVED. —————- My wife called Uhaul from the Lowe’s and we had an appropriately sized truck an hour later, though it did cost me more to do it at the last minute. I am so angry at that woman who called me from Penske. The guys at Lowe’s were just there, and I realize this was Penske that screwed me around.
Uhaul has changed a lot in the last few years we have more ways to move your stuff then any other Company ( trucks ,trailers , at and td ) . Also have more locations to pick up from and drop off.
Now we all know moving is not anyway cheap with that being said I do believe that we are a better company . We can’t make everyone happy no matter how much we try To help are going to complain just so they can save money ( crappy people if you ask me )
I do my best to save people time and stress of moving.
I work in north richland hills tx ( Uhaul ) if you need help I am more then happy to find the best deal for you . ( not all uhauls are the same )
*we can’t make everyone happy there are always some people looking for things wrong just so they can yell and cus us out . (you know who you are )
Also can’t say we are crapy bc of our trucks they do break down ever now and then we can’t stop that .
I would like to hear back from people on how we can make it better for you.
Write subject as Uhaul and I will get back to you ASAP
(wildwrestling@aol.com)
The little business I work for uses Uhaul all the time for moving. We always rent one-way trucks which means they are the new ones (not the old, used, in-town trucks). We have probably rented a truck (usually their big 26′ truck) more then 30 times over the last four years. Never have they broken down. One had funny break lights. We took it to the nearest dealer (main hub, not some rinky-dink, Mom and Pop gas station, stay away from those) where he fixed it within half an hour.
Uhaul’s reservation system is flawed however. You call their national line to rent a truck and they say that a regional manager(?) will call back before 6 pm. Only once has that ever happened. Knowing this, we usually find the nearest dealer with the truck we need and set up the reservation with them.
Overall, Uhaul does a good job considering the franchisee’s they have allowed to display their name.
My advice: Find a main hub or bigger Uhaul-only business and deal with them. They are more knowledgeable and quicker with their customers.
I’ve worked at a Uhaul center for 4 years now. Yes, we have one-way and in-town trucks. No, we do not send out the old trucks one way, unless we are trying to send a “stolen” truck back home, and this usually results in the customer getting a deal to help us out, which is generally negotiated prior to the contract (very rare). Obviously with any rental company, the dedication of the employees of the location tells how good your experience will probably be. If I pull a dirty truck, I make the idiot who didn’t clean it when he should have do it right then. If you are renting a truck from a gas station to go cross country you are a braver soul than I am. In regards to the trailers being notorious for flipping your vehicle; 60 minutes did a special on this a while ago. It pretty much comes down to this… we rent to anyone with the money and the ID… if someone loads a trailer incorrectly, there is an exponential increase in the danger. If you don’t know, ask, I certainly don’t want anyone to get hurt. In regards to price, all 3 of these companies generally match each others price on one way rentals. Also know that this requires You to do the research, If you ask me the price, I’m gonna tell you Uhaul’s price… if you do the research, and I can verify it… I’ve seen some customers save 50%. I’m suprised I haven’t seen a bunch of ranting about fuel fees here though considering most of our arguement’s/complaints are about the gas. Most people don’t understand how many liars I see in a given day… about the 5th time in a day someone blatently lies to my face about this, I might not be over the top nice when you only put $10 in when you shoulda put $20, but I guess the fueling fee is universal. All in all, it’s just like any company… you all know the fast food places you avoid because they can’t get an order right to save their life… is no ketchup so hard? At my store, we take care of your citizens.. some do not, I’m sure our competition has the same trends. Lastly, I have rented 10,000 or so pieces of equipment, and a wheel has yet to “fall off”……..
I rented a penske 26 foot truck 3 years ago to move from southern California to north Carolina. I also towed my mid size pickup on a trailer. It was fairly new had under 40,000 miles on it. It was a International medium duty truck (diesel) fuel milage was horrible, I would use penske or budget over uhaul. The only problem I had with my penske truck was the a\c stopped working and the a\c light came on. I called the roadside assistance and they walked me through on how to reset the a\c. It worked fine the rest of the trip.
i have used both penske and uhaul, the uhaul truck was newer and lower to the ground which made loading easier, the penske truck was alright but having a loading dock high truck made it difficult to load our bigger furniture, when i went to turn in the penske truck i had to drive an extra 65miles to turn it in,driving past a uhaul about a mile from my house made me wish i had chosen them, i read a post here that said that uhaul doesnt have reservations, in my experiences i saw several people turned away at penske just canceling their reservations when they failed to get the equipment, though they did have mine, uhaul on the other hand put me in the next size truck and gave me $50 for my troubles,(their resevation guarantee) another thing was that the penske truck was diesel and the uhaul gas, as diesel is more expensive that is another plus for uhaul
All of the truck rentals have ther faults. I work at U-haul and love dealing with customers. What I have learned is that if you do your job and committ to making the customer happy, and you can. The only time we have to upgrade a customer to a bigger truck is when a customer takes a truck for a reserved 1 day and keeps it 2 day. Now that next customer in line is screwed and I do my best to make sure I can fix the problem and keep them happy.
After comparing prices for a 1,103-mile Texas to Colorado move at Penske, Uhaul, and Budget, plus looking over this blog and several others, we decided to go with Penske. They actually had the best price of the three, especially when you factored in the 10% off for web reservations and additional 10% off for the student discount. Penske gave us unlimited miles, and pickup (at Home Depot) and drop off (after hours at a Penske shop) was easy. The 16′ truck was INCREDIBLY new – it only had 3800 mile on it! By the end of our trip, I’d put over 20% of the miles on the truck myself.
All of the companies do this, but Penske made us rent for 6 days because of the distance of the move, but it was still the cheapest. We actually did the driving in 2 long days, plus a day to load, 1/2 of one to unload, and had planned to spend a couple days hanging out with family along the way anyway, so it worked well for us.
The truck was fantastic – super smooth ride, great AC, and it even had cruise control. The cruise control won’t engage over 70 MPH, and there’s a governor on the engine that keeps the truck from going over 75, but I wouldn’t ever want to drive it more that a couple MPH faster than that anyway. Had 2 captains chairs instead of a bench, so you can only bring 2 people instead of 3, but that was great for us.
For what comparison I can give: I’ve used Uhaul for one in-town move, and rented a trailer from them once too. While I completely understand all the companies put their older trucks on the local-only moves, I do remember the Uhaul having a LOT of miles. It didn’t feel quite like a death trap, but I wouldn’t have trusted it to go very far at all.
All in all, we were very please with Penske, and would highly recommend them.
Like most people here I did a serious side by side by side comparison of the three companies. I went to all of their websites and filled out the appropriate inquirey forms and ONLY Penske called me back within 24 hours (This was in April and the other two still haven’t called me… It’s July) This was for a move from NY to Los Angeles…Anyhow… When all of the rates and HIDDEN FEES (not on Penske mind you) are considered Penske came out leaps and bounds ahead of the others.
Biggest factor is Gas Mileage… Penske uses NEW trucks and as a result the gas mileage is far better than the beaters that the others offer up.
My better half (she’s a short lil woman) is actually driving the 16 foot fully loaded truck across the country right now with my daughter (I am already here in L.A.)…
Go Penske you will NOT be sorry and you will have a few extra dollars in your pocket in the end
My two cents
I’ve made several long distance moves and have used both uhaul and penske. The first time Iowa to Illinois (400 mi) and then Illinois to Colorado (1000 miles). The trucks were fine (after reading the stories above, I apparently got lucky). However, the service was terrible both times. People were rude when we went to pick up and return the truck. The other issue was that for the move to Colorado from Illinois, we had a gas engine and it was extremely difficult to get into an unleaded pump with a 26′ truck. Plus, after our move, I did some further analysis and it looked like based off of gas mileage it would have been cheaper to move with a diesel. For our most recent move – Colorado to Texas (1210 miles) we chose Penske. We had a 26′ truck and car carrier. The truck was fairly new and clean. I booked it over the phone and told the lady that i had found cheaper prices elsewhere and she dropped the price for me. Then, later I saw that the price online had dropped even more ( I originally booked the truck in March for a July move) and called them again and they lowered the price again. And on top of that, Penske offers a 12% discount if you are a AAA member. I signed up with AAA for $75 and saved $157.60 from Penske on my truck rental. Plus with the other benefits you get from AAA, it completely paid for itself and then some. The move went really smooth with the Penske truck and it was so much easier stopping at the truck stops and pulling into the diesel pumps. We didn’t get as good of gas mileage as I had hoped but we also average between 65 and 70 miles per hour on the interstate. But with that said, for long distance moves and large trucks, I would definitely recommend Penske over uhaul.
Throughout my teenage years, my parents and I had moved around the company and have used both Penske and Uhaul. What we noticed was that when we dropped the trucks off we waited to see what the company’s exactly DO with their trucks right after a rental. Heres how it went….
PENSKE: We dropped the truck off at the “center” and they did the normal check in process, pricing was fine, but then after our rental we told the people that we were “waiting for a ride” and so we went outside and watched the truck. The man with the badge of General Manager came out, hopped in the truck and just went and parked the truck in the lot. A couple went into the store a minute later, came out and then they were given the same truck that we had just brought back!
UHAUL: We did the same process at UHaul as we did at penske, and when we came in we were hit with NO “Extra Fees”, because in all honesty, there are none (Please look below for more). We went outside after our return was finished, yada yada, and a worker came outside and handed us some waters while we waited. He jumped in the truck and swept it out, cleaned it, raised the hood and refilled what looked like coolant and Windshield washing fluid, went to the bed of the truck and swept it AND mopped it. Then after he was done he went and parked it!
Now notice everything i just said, Uhaul made sure that their trucks are finely polished and running smoothly with something called “Preventive Maintenance”. Penske just went and parked the truck, then turned around and rented the same truck to someone. Who knows what we could have done to that truck, we could have stolen anything from below the hood and they would have never known because they simply never go under the hood.
As faw as “Hidden Fees”. There really are none, they have all their fees on the wall right behind the counter in plain sight. For instance, Fold blankets = $5, Take trash or objects out of bed of truck = $25. These may seem like outragious costs, but they are simply no brainers. Its our duties as customers to make sure the truck fits their expectations as we expect the truck to be when recieving it from Uhaul. Also I’m going to assume that the “Hidden Fee” that the owner of this blog is referring to is the “Environmental” fee. WHICH IS ONLY $1! Its only a dollar, get over it!
Not sure why everyone is bashing U-Hauls, maybe you all work for Penske or Budget. I’ve moved across the country three times and used U-Haul each time. No problems whatsoever. If you guys want to pay double the price then it’s up to you. I recognize great value when I see it. I don’t need to rent a brand new truck just to move my stuff.
Today is the first day I have ever posted a comment on this site although I have read many. I would like to say I have rented from every major truck rental company in the US as I log many miles a year in a rental truck. I saw something recently at a U-Haul dealer that I have to tell about. A young army soldier and his wife were in Trident U-Haul, in Summerville SC to rent a truck to move one bedroom set. Standing there listening, I learned the young man behind the counter who was only about 27 or 28 years old, was the owner operator and had only opened sometime earlier that week. An older gentlemen who turned out to be his father was behind the counter also. It took longer than the young man thought it should to get this soldier his truck. When the young man finished the paperwork, he apologized to the couple for the delay, turned to the young woman and said “you wont pick up furniture today” and with that he picked up his car keys and told his father to take over the counter that he was going to go help this young soldier move his furniture. He turned to the man, thanked him for what he does for our country, shook his hand and lets go, Im going to help you move your stuff. THIS IS CUSTOMER SERVICE TO THE MAX. If anybody anywhere wants a U-Haul I suggest you call…(I have his card in my wallet)…Drew Coker owner/operator of Trident U-Haul. Their phone number is 843-871-2348. I listened to the presidential debates last night as long as I could stand it. We hear a lot of talk……Our politicians talk of new startup business and how they are going to help, but here is a young man who seems to be doing it on his own with a little help from his family.
I HAVE RENTED FROM U-HAUL BEFORE AND THINGS LIKE THIS JUST MAKE ME WANT TO CONTINUE TO DO SO.
I have probably used U-Haul 3 times in my life, but never anyone else. Maybe it was because I didn’t know of any other options. But, all 3 times were fine. No issues. I wonder if there are so many bad stories about U-Haul because so many people use U-Haul. My point is, maybe U-Haul has 3x more horror stories because they are used 20x more. I wonder what percentage of “moves” end up badly. Is the percentage anymore (or less) than the others? Just a thought.
I just wanted to chime in as I read this thread before deciding on a truck rental. (Or, I should say, I read it AFTER I booked a U-Haul but then was told that they are awful and that I should go with Penske.)
I am sure that Penske is also great, but I just wanted to chime in to say that I had a very good experience with a 14′ U-Haul on my recent move from the Midwest to the East Coast. The truck was new-ish (450 engine hours) and we had no problems at all. I’m certainly not saying NOT to use Penske, but reading threads like this, one might think that using U-Haul is something between a suicide attempt and dumping money down a gaping hole, but it was fine in my experience, and based on this one, I’d rent a U-Haul again.
It seems like maybe they tried to clean up their act after the 2008 LA Times exposé? Since most of the comments here were from around 2008 but the few recent comments are more positively inclined toward the company.
I wish you safe travels, whichever company you choose!
I am a fleet mechanic for UHaul, and though the dealers are all independently owned, the trucks still have to undergo regular 5,000 mile preventative maintenance services at a certified repair facility. I’m sure there are tons of horror stories but on a fleet of over 100,000 trucks, some are bound to break down. We have repair guidelines and specifications that are followed precisely, and vehicles are man made machines, which are all prone to breaking at some point or another.
Matthew (Sept 7, 2011) stated Uhaul might be buying from Penske. That can’t be the situtaion. Penske runs on diesel, Uhaul runs on regular fuel, plus they are lower loading docks (Penske’s are higher). This is not a pro or con, just stating some facts.
One other comment. One person stated there weren’t hidden fees, and are stated (ie cleaning, fuel, etc). People often call “hidden” what they fail to read. If you are going to say HIDDEN rates, please tell which hidden rate you are talking of. Other than that, it just sounds slanderous. What I will say is READ CONTRACTS BEFORE YOU SIGN THEM. I always take the time to do that. Give yourself enough time to do that. And when the initial contract is handed to you, that is the time to question those “hidden fees” on the front of the contract.
Okay, okay, one last point. I don’t know where the rumor got out that Uhaul “double books”. Reservations are made on a grid governing a certain location (city, state, zip code). Once the time for a rental for a specific customer is made, you cannot write over it. It will contain a contract (reservation or order) number and the time is clearly blocked out by color. Only open slots are uncolored. It might happen that there is a conflict if a reservation is made by two separate entities for the same equipment at the same time at the same location at exactly the same moment (someone placing one online and someone placing one with a reservation clerk), but that is the only way that can happen. Since Uhaul hooks into the same computer system with all locations, even the local Uhaul can tell if someone is booked for one of their trucks, even if it wasn’t made at that particular location.
Someone questioned “regional” office. Life would be a lot more chaotic without those. Like any corporation that is located in every state of the union and Canada, there have to be offices that handle things demographically. That is all that is. They are responsible for the reservations made that fall in their geographically designated area. It’s at that level there are managers responsible for the Uhaul centers in their area as well as the dealers in their areas. For dealers(Uhaul has field managers who are responsible for dealers, and go around to those and is, for all intensive purposes, a mobile manager, one on the move constantly. The reason most reservation changes are directed to a regional office is because they are most efficiently handled this way. A necessary evil, but better than if everything across the United States and Canada was handled by one big office. It’s the same as having a President (Corporate office), and then states run by governors, cities by mayors, etc.
Final point. Uhaul customers are unique in that not only do they rent, but they are the ones to move our equipment from state to state. There is not a division that picks up trucks from a warehouse and delivers them to a location with a reservation. No company can afford to have millions of dollars of inventory sitting idle waiting to be called for. Because our customers move our equipment, often Uhaul will discount a move to encourage someone dropping off the equipment at a location where it is needed for other customers. Sometimes, there simply won’t be a certain piece of equipment within a radius because no one has dropped one off there recently. That’s when the regional office or sales reps have to locate the equipment at the closet possible location. Often that may be farther than a customer likes, and in those situations, unfortunately, we may or may not be able to accommodate the customer. Don’t be fooled by trucks on a Uhaul lot. Some of those will be for in town use only. Those are the only ones a certain lot knows they have for certain, and allows them to book local customers. Every store must have a number of these. One way rentals are fluid because it all depends on customer’s and where they are going and dropping off.
As a customer service rep, I would say 90% of the calls I take in any 8 hour day are customers who want to change reservations. Either their time frame, or needing extra rental time, etc. When a customer extends a rental, usually it means the next customer in the rental cue will be inconvenienced. That is why guarantees pertain only to the confirmations done 24 to 48 hours prior to the rental. It is not because Uhaul doesn’t want to guarantee. Think of it this way. You made a reservation one month in advance for a 14′ truck for a one way move. At the time that truck is on the lot. But that won’t be the same truck one month later. The regional office has what is called a traffic manager. The traffic manager’s goal is to orchestrate the movement of equipment to get what is needed where it is needed when it is needed…and mostly if the customer’s comply. Sometimes, it simply means finding the equipment as close to the desired pickup location as possible. But remember. There is not a staff of movers. That is why you’ll hear complaints “I had to drive 30 miles to pick up a truck.” Whenever someone complains to me about going 5 miles, I think, “That’s not bad at all!” I know regional offices have their hands full trying to make everything work. But with over 100,000 trucks to orchestrate, I hope I have given you some understanding of why things are the way they are. Uhaul really does try to accommodate their customers.
Used Penske 26 ft. Diesel for a coast to coast move. Truck was clean, new looking, and worked fine for the entire trip. However, because we had a really light load, on a few roads the front end would bounce like we were hitting evenly spaced bumps. Would use a much smaller duty truck next time. Would recommend Penske for quality do it yourself moves.
Used Uhaul for a move from PA to CA almost 2 years ago. Didn’t have any huge issues. At pickup, I was told they had no more 17′ trucks left, so we were given a 20′ truck. Not a big difference anyway, and no extra fees were charged for the difference. The rep said the easiest thing would be for us to load the truck and then return to pick up the car trailer I had rented to go with it. As the place was not very far away, that is what we did, after agreeing I would pick up the trailer the following day. When I returned to get the car dolly that we had discussed less than 24 hours before, the person at the counter had no idea what I was talking about. After showing the paperwork and clarifying the issue, we were told there were none on the lot except a broken dolly, and he would ask the mechanic if it could be fixed for us. It couldn’t, so he called another Uhaul place, and they had one delivered for us. All in all, it took about an hour. Not bad, and our issue was handled, but it seems a little ridiculous that no one had any idea what was going on that day. Other than that issue, which was resolved, we had a reasonable trip. I did notice the truck had very little power on hills. Wasn’t much of an issue for us, as we were driving Rt. 40 most of the way, but we did have a few hills in Cali that brought us down to 20 miles an hour.
I do think some of the comments about the trucks going 55, and that being to slow, is crazy. Moving trucks are not designed to be driven faster than that. Don’t drive more than 55!
We are going with Penske for our upcoming move. The rates were better this time to use them because of the AAA and military discounts that they offer. Plus, they have a location at Fort Irwin, so we won’t have to drive an hour away to pick up our truck, which we had to do to drop off the Uhaul when we arrived here.
Our experience with Uhaul wasn’t bad, and I would consider using either again in the future if the price was right and the pick up/drop offs were convenient for us.
PLEASE never use Budget Truck Rental! We have been fighting them for a month and a half over a claim they made against us stating that we damaged their truck.
Unfortunately the agent in Texas did not complete the pre-trip inspection properly and we did not notice it. We were sent pictures of “our damage”. It was obviously very old damage. When they researched it they supposedly found where someone else paid to have it fixed and a Budget employee signed off saying it was “fixed”. Bottom line — we had to end up paying $322.74 (half the bill) so we would not have to hire a lawyer because of a scam I am sure they pull on other innocent people all the time. Please like and share this post and tell all your friends and family to not use Budget Truck Rental.
Thank you.
I used Uhaul once. They had a flat rate of $100 but their was an extra charge if I passed a certain amount of miles. The roundtrip was about 120 miles. I had no problem with them at all. What I”m considering for my next move is whether I’ll hire professional movers or go with Penske. You see Penske offers a one way drop off. In other words after I get where I”m going I drop the vehicle off at another location. Yeah the price is double but its worth it for me not to travel an extra 120 miles. So Penske or movers?
UHaul has a one way drop off as well. I just moved from LA to San Diego and didn’t have to take the truck back.
I’ve always used U Haul to move, my family uses them too. I haven’t had any trucks break down, they do tend to run a little rough though. I haven’t had any hidden fees, or problems to speak of. 🙂
I have used Penske, UHaul and Budget. I have used UHaul 2 times in last 4 years, Budget 4 times, and Penske 6 times. Penske is the least expensive overall in this area, has nice clean trucks, and 24 hour drop off near me. When I picked up a Penske truck 2 years ago, the patron ahead of me returning a truck had a hard luck story, but sometimes things just happen and no one company is immune. Historically, Uhaul has been the go-to company for us. Equipment quality is all over the board, but even so no horror stories in my UHaul experience. On Budget–they were close by and I let convenience take over– they were just a little higher than Penske, and on 2 occasions a little cheaper. The Budget trucks are always always always dirty. Not just dirty, but “do-I-really-want-to-sit-in-here” dirty. The ones I used from Budget were cab-over models–all I could get. Rough ride. That said, no mechanical issues, and performed adequately. When reserving now, I go to Penske first and then check others to make sure all the rates are good. When they weren’t better, they discounted for me –matched rates. Couldn’t ask for more.
I have had the exact opposite experience to most people here. I just moved this past weekend and Penske FAILED. They delivered the truck to a place that was closed on the day I was scheduled with them. And then when I tried to remedy the situation they had me on hold for a total of 45 minutes with 3 different reps. I was PISSED! Then they told me I would have to drive 20 miles in the opposite direction of where I was to get their last truck available. After all this I called up UHaul down the street, they found a truck for me, it was clean and nice and I was on the road in a couple of hours with my stuff. Penske can SUCK IT!
Penske says they offer unlimited miles one way on truck rentals. Two-way they charge per mile. Picking my desired distance resulted in a quote much higher than choosing locations much closer. Okay, makes sense….. But as I was needing to travel back to get the stuff I needed anyway, it occurred to me I could pick one-way, and choose a location very close by (say next town over where I can get a ride back from easily. This on their website results in a very cheap rate, and even adding a day to play it safe (and for sanity) results in a MUCH cheaper quote, like 20% of the quote using the other location. Yes I would have gasoline for the empty truck on the way down but still much much cheaper. Then, I pick it up where I am, drive to another state to get my stuff and drive it back, and return it a few miles away and catch a ride back home from a friend. Unlimited miles and all. The website says to take the ‘scenic route’, which this is, just very scenic as it were. I called their 1-800 # to ask point blank if this was allowed, and I was told this wasn’t “encourage”, but it was allowed, and to “go for it”. Has anyone tried this? Do they in fact let you do this? It seems like a scam but via questioning the person on their 1-800# and looking for fine print I don’t see any reason why you can’t….
I used 8 years ago a truck from budget overseas. What a scam ! They charged me for an old damage, that was already on the truck. I never got my deposit back ! I never used U-haul, every time I tried here in Washington State, the people were rude in the Store or the store was ” closed ” south of here, while they were supposed to be open. I looked at the trucks, and many looked in bad shape. So I decided one day, when I saw a Penske Truck, which looked clean from the outside- to take a look at these trucks. They were very clean, looked well maintained, and I know about trucks a lot- plus the transaction went smoothly. I would use a Penske Truck rather than any other company. The other thing is, to know, who the local businesses are and how they are actually maintaining the equipment.
Plus Penske gives a military discount !
That helps a lot, when moving a lot out of pocket especially !
Moving went fine because it was only about 18 miles total, but the condition of the truck was terrible. It was dirty, had a lot of mileage, and wobbled a lot, and the brake was terrible. Other than that everything went fine until… when they charged me the final bill..
They charged me furniture pads fee even though the truck that I rented DID NOT have the furniture pads in it. They also charged me extra cent for no reason..
Penske wins hands down. They actually now beat U-Haul on the price. I’ve used both for in and out of state moves. While U-haul has never broken down on me the fact that twice I had a reservation and had to drive 10 & 20 miles to a different location irritates me. In fact I’m moving from SC to CO tomorrow and when I checked all the major truck rentals Penske was cheaper by $300 without a coupon.
I don’t know about U-Haul, but I will never, EVER deal with Penske again. They wasted an entire day of my move sending me to 3 different locations to pick up a truck I was told would be ready at 11:00 at a particular location. Awful, awful company.
it make be quite a few years late but anywayz i hate u-haul, we moved from redwood city to modesto, bouth on the same state, we calcuted we would spend about 200 bucks, final cut was up to 450 bucks, even when we reserved overnight to return the truck the next day we had late return fee, reason? unkown. we are moving inside modesto and we will try penske, hopefully it will work better.
I rented a 16′ Budget truck for a 1000 mile move from Pittsburg, PA to Tulsa, OK.
The truck was a piece of crap. It was dirty. Leaked water into the cab when it rained (which it did for 2 of the 3 day move). Super uncomfortable. Tires in bad condition. Lacked power to the point of utter annoyance and frustration. I could barely see anything out of the mirrors. The heat kind of worked when it wanted to but mostly didn’t. I was physically exhausted after driving the truck to keep it on the road.
Uhual was twice the price. Penske wasn’t an option.
I looked over at Budget and the trucks were in terrible shape, dirty. UHaul has worked to update their fleet from the trucks looked at. But the price was almost $400 more to go from FL to NV. But I called the customer service number and UHaul price matched Budget right their on the phone even with the Budget 20% off coupon applied. The truck is a 17′ with the “mom attic” compared to the 16′ box truck from Budget. So overall more than 100+ extra SQ FT for the same price. This also includes the car dolly. I have also had issue with Budget car rentals in the past where they took my reservation to only cancel it the day I went to pick up the car. They said “My debit card would not work alone, they needed a credit card also” They could have told me that at the time of reservation. I just couldn’t chance it again. Penske was $250 more but they did not have a close drop-off point. UHaul it is!!
For every bad experience with UHaul you will find one for Penske and Budget. If people would realize for one second that not every location had every single vehicle in their fleet on hand and that there are a lot of moving parts to get a vehicle or trailer. If you get a peice of garbage, it’s on the location where you rent it from as they have to make sure you’re getting a safe vehicle. If people would file complaints so that they eventually speak with a manager to describe the problem and get it resolved, the problem can be rectified. Having a bad experience and jumping into your blog to bitch about it does nothing. Nothings perfect nor is one company better than the other.
I have always had good luck with Uhaul; renting many auto transports from them over the last few years. However recently, I missed the store hours at my usual neighborhood location and had to use another with later working hours. This other store manager argued with me about the fact that I intended to haul a ’67 Mustang with my 1-ton truck. He then put an e-alert on my account so that I could no longer rent from Uhaul until I cleared things up at the regional office. At the behest of my regular Uhaul dealer, I called the regional office, spoke with a very nice and apologetic manager who offered me a $40 coupon to try them again. Last week I went back to my preferred store and the e-alert was still on and we were not able to reach HQ as it was nearly 5 pm. As far as I know, I am banned for life from Uhaul for confronting a very poor service representative of Uhaul. I was able to convince my wife not to leave me and prove that I still have purpose in life even though I can no longer rent from Uhaul – nor will I waste my time trying. Your comment about people having bad experiences and blogging about it is why I am responding. This Post was started about 8 years ago and continues to pull in new comments. No individual comment encapsulates an accurate portrayal of Uhaul versus “anybody” but I think if you read through, you will see a story that supports the first part of your comments and completely contradicts the last part of your comments. For all the uses of the Internet, being able to bitch about a raw deal and have it live forever – well now, that is Perfect.
Called Penske Salt Lake to confirm a one way to Roseburg oregon May 2015. Price was firmed at apx $640 each truck. Two trucks were to be involved. Confirmed the flights into SLC for my three husky kids (men actually) so they could pick up the trucks sand meet me to load up in Idaho. called Penske back to reserve and the price had went from $640 to $1040 per truck. I was committed for the airline tickets and elected to use Uhaul instead. Besides poor logistics their tactics of letting folks down is beyond belief. Penske called me up later and pleaded with me to drop Uhaul and figured that a 10 percent drop in fees would sway me. Uhaul has been hit and miss in the past for truck maintenance but they never pulled this stunt. Goodbye Penske.
Agree with all the above– U Haul Sucks!! Terrible service, terrible trucks, sudden fees, treat you like a dog.
First, already had rented from Penske over the years and this would be the third truck trip in 12 months for a MA to FL run. Penske was always less expensive than U-Haul for 1500 mile, one-way rentals.
For the most recent move, we originally reserved a 16′ truck, but a week before, changed to a 22 footer. Penske called, as we were driving to pick it up, and said they didn’t have a 22′ truck, but they had a 26-foot truck. So we took the larger truck, even though we didn’t need it. They did give us a fair discount on the price because of the late notice, so we paid somewhere in between the price of the 16′ and the 22′. Also, we had originally reserved 4 dozen moving blanks and upped that to 8 dozen when we changed the truck size. They only had 4 dozen available on pick-up day. [This location is not a Penske corporate site. It is a service by a storage place.]
On a good day, the truck rode harshly and the cab, with A/C on full, was still hot. My wife’s soap melted in her bag. But the truck ran. On day two, we were about 35 miles north of Jacksonville, FL when the Check Engine light went on. We called Penske. They scheduled a guy to look at it. “He should be there in 60-75 minutes.” (We had made it into the just-down-the-road-so-close-you-can-see-it Florida Welcome Center.) We waited 2 hours for him to show up. He said it looks like a fuel injector, “Let’s go to Penske. Maybe they can get you back on the road.” So off we go to the Penske garage. Nice folks. Sal, the manager, said we can drive you to your hotel, we’ll call you when it’s fixed. If we can’t fix it, we’ll have another truck and a crew to move your goods. They made us feel they would take care of us. A fellow named Duane hooked up a PC and he determined that it was an informational Check Engine light as opposed to a Stop Right Now Check Engine light. He ran full diagnostics. We passed and got back on the road. All told 3.5 hours wasted. $40 in tips. And a curse for whoever designed that error message.
I filled in a survey for Penske after the rental and told them the story. All I wanted was for the next renter to not have the same problems. Never expected anything from Penske other than a thank you for filling in the survey. Two months later, I get an e-mail from the Customer Development Manager in Florida. He says he was very sorry for the problems we had and issued a $300 credit to our credit card. Also offered a discount on the next Florida rental. I was really blown away by that. Penske went out of its way to make a customer happy – and that customer hadn’t even complained. Penske stays #1 in my book.
I used uhual to move from NY to NC and had Not 1 problem, price was exactly what was quoted. Truck was in great shape. And half the cost of Penske.
Long distance Penske truck rental rates went up to the roof:
– 2011: $350 quoted
– 2013: $890 quoted
– 2015: $2450 quoted
Same 16ft truck, same from/to locations, same time of year. Unbelievable. They are at the point where the truck content usually is below rental value. No point of renting anymore.
Dec 18, From AZ to MI (1950 mi) Penske16′ w car hauler was $575 and U-Haul was $1,035 for a 15′ – car-hauler. Penske gave us 20% for AAA and RSVP on-line, (they also honor Veterans discount). So much for U-Haul being the low cost leader. . .
A word about the truck from Penske, it was a 2015 E-350 bare bones truck with roll up windows, manual mirrors, no cruise control and a speed governor set to 75mph, but it did the job reliably. The last two items are an issues when you travel 2000 miles and need to pass a truck and the governor kicks in, or you need to keep to the posted 65 -70 mph, I found myself following truckers to rest my eyes and left leg. An empty trailer at 1,950 lbs, you don’t have a lot of power especially when the governor kicks in! So be prepared for 6-9 mpg or less on hills, because the trailer is steel. You can buy aluminum car haulers that weight about half that! They will give you the newest for cross country, but I would ask for cruise as many don’t have it.
I’ve gotten into the moving business it seems and have had to rent several trucks for friends and for mission work. I’ve used four different local UHauls, one Penske and one Budget. Three of the UHaul locations offer excellent service and one location is crap. The Penske location is pretty good as long as you don’t need anything on Saturday — it’s a tool rental place and they are VERY busy. The Budget, well, it’s a newer location and I guess they are still learning the ropes, but they have to get better. So it seems to me that the rule is that customer service matters, but it’s still a local thing. Some will do it better than others. I don’t any of these locations reflect the quality, or lack thereof, of UHaul, Budget or Penske.
As for the trucks, UHaul is better. Much better. They have five sizes of trucks and the deck is VERY low. I know that doesn’t seem to matter to most here, but if you think you got a good deal on a Penske truck, you must not have had to unload a Penske 26 footer. Yeah, Penkse’s big trucks do have lifts, but they take forever, esp if you have multiple people unloading. And not using the lift is suicide on the back of a middle age guy.
I gather a decade ago that UHaul trucks were not as good as they should have been, but I have been renting for 6 years now and I’ve never had a problem. I do mostly 200-400 mile moves. The three “quality” UHaul dealers in my area keep the trucks clean and they seem well maintained. Same with the Penske location. The two Budget trucks that I rented, well, those were the ones that sucked. One was filthy and one I wouldn’t take, made them upgrade me to a better truck.
And looking at the comments, well, I wish that UHaul would stop renting trailers. Most people don’t know how to pull them and they, the drivers, are unsafe on the road.
We rented a Uhaul for a local move (Boston) and we didn’t have an issue. The truck was cheaper and they also referred us to a site for movers to load and unload our truck for us. Not only did we save on truck rental cost, the movers from Moving Help Center costed us only $100 total.
The agents at Uhaul really helped us move and stay within our budget. Thank you.
I have moved cross-country multiple times. From New York to Kentucky, Kentucky to Minnesota (plus numerous in state transfers within MN), and now Minnesota to Washington. With all of the above moves, I have tried them all and I feel I have to provide my experiences to help ensure others don’t have to deal with the same issues I did.
BUDGET:
My first move was through Budget. Rented a 16′ truck and showed up an hour early. The truck I was reserved was not there, period. After an hour, they could not find it. They then decide to give me another truck, but it would not start and turned out it was suppose to be worked on, but the mechanic never did the work. I should have left right then and there, but I was heading out the next day and didn’t have the time. So, they finally found a truck they could rent me, only took them 3 hours from the time I got there to give it to me.
So, I had my truck. Got home, loaded it up, and headed out the next day. All seemed fine until I got into Illinois and hit a major rain storm. That is when I noticed the wipers were bad. Ok, no big deal. Would stop at the next truck stop and replace them. However, I also noticed the cab was leaking. Water started pouring into the cab in multiple places. When I got the the truck stop, I got the wipers and decided to check the back. Sure enough, holes everywhere and 40% of my boxes were now wet.
Ok, let’s move on. Next issue I had was vibration. This wasn’t a minor vibration either. It was a severe issue. I had to contact Budget on 3 different days regarding this and kept being sent to different mechanics whom would not fix anything. Finally, on the last day, they force me to weigh the truck. Even though the weight comes up under the limit, they try to say the issue is because I did not ‘pack it right’ and was therefore my ‘own fault’ and if I kept complaining about it, I would have to ‘upgrade’ to a 26′ truck for an extra $1000 and have to reload my own stuff. Or, I could continue my trip and shut up. Guess you know which option I picked. By the way, this was corporates words. They also refused to reimburse me for any of the hotel stays they forced upon me by making me stop for nothing.
Also, on another note, while they were threatening me, overheard how another person had rented a Budget truck but it was not available. They went to the U-haul across the street.
U-haul:
For the most part, I can say U-haul was not a bad experience, as far as the move goes. However, they did screw me over at the end. Apparently, they wanted me to drop off the U-haul at a location that was 3 hours away from where I moved to, even though there was a U-haul location literally 2 miles away. I did not notice that until after I dropped it off and they decided to charge me an extra $700 for that mistake.
Penske:
I’ve never had any problems with them. In fact, I am about to rent from them again this week and will leave an update regarding this one once done.
Ryder:
Do they even allow one-way drives?
Well, there you have it. My experience with these companies. Hope it helps someone.
I reserved a 16 feet truck and a dolly 3 weeks in advance my move (I paid more for the larger truck just because I needed to tow the car, I actually didn’t need such a big truck). The website let me reserve a truck (with a nice 20% discount), and I got an email confirmation. A days before my move I got another email confirming my reservation.
The day I was supposed to move I call to ask if I could pick up the truck a couple of hours later and then they told me that they didn´t have a dolly and there wasn’t any available. I had to FOUND OUT THE DAY OF MY MOVE that my equipment wasn’t available. I called the 800 number, and was told that the system can’t guarantee availability!!! so why did the send TWO CONFIRMATIONS but nobody called in advance nor the day of the move to let me know that the equipment wasn´t available?!?!? They gave us a 5% discount (which equals to $37) for the inconvenience!!! 5%!!! and we had to drive the vehicle. DO NOT book Budget Trucks unless you like to play risky games, it is cheaper than Uhaul or Penske but the risk/reward is not worth it. YOU WILL NEVER KNOW IF THE EQUIPMENT IS AVAILABLE UNTIL THE DAY OF MOVE!!!!! go somewhere else, pay more and sleep well without having to worry about availability.
We run a group that brings Blu-rays and DVDs to military veterans who are in the V.A. system 24/7. Every so often we need a large box truck to transport recently delivered donations. This time we went with Penske. In making our reservation, we requested and they confirmed we would get a ramp and NOT a lift-gate. We made it clear and they understood we had never operated a lift-gate. They called the evening before our rental to say the Home Depot where our truck was supposed to be did not have a ramp available and asked if we did not mind driving 8 miles to the nearest Penske location where a truck with ramp was waiting. That’s great customer service – right? The next day we arrived to find our truck had indeed come with a lift-gate. We told the rep we needed a ramp and had no experience operating anything else. He was too busy to give us any instructions. Turns out he was not even authorized to deal with customers as he was a mechanic. When we began using the lift-gate, we noticed it vibrated several times and even leaned back away from the door. A call to the local Penske (guess who answered) responded with their saying it was normal operation. Maybe someone can explain why our team member ended up with a crushed right foot while operating it which resulted with a partial amputation. We were later told by someone who witnessed the incident the lift-gate did not appear to be working safely, likely due to worn down pins and bushings. When we returned the truck, the Penske manager didn’t seem to care. Didn’t have any incident forms to fill out and even implied if he called this in, corporate would not do anything about it. Worse part about this was five minutes before our team member was wheeled in for his amputation, a representative from Penske called and asked “how much is he looking for”. We went with Penske because we thought they were a top notch company. Little did we know they have little if any regard for customer safety.
Went to Penske specifically for a truck w/lift gate . I was told that one would be delivered from another location and would be there on 8/31/16 @ 7 AM . Went there to confirm , and vehicle was not there . Called the Customer Service in PA , got transfered to the call center in Landover MD , and they made excuses and stuff .
Called back to Cust Serv in PA and was transfered to another person who was not even awake and seemed not to concerned or even to rectify the situation . Sign me not happy in WASH DC . Thanks a lot PENSKE . Reservation # 56634430 . You ruined my move and cost me big money . PENSKE YOU SUC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The dealer in New2U, Granbury is amazing. Excellent customer service and well maintained trucks and trailers. They really care about their customer.
I would not use Penske if Roger Penske himself drove the truck. They caused me a tremendous amount of pain and anguish. In fact, please refer to the comment two above. I am the team member who had the crushed foot and subsequent amputated big right toe.
If you want to review the problems other Penske customers have gone through and if you have Facebook, I suggest you check out: https://www.facebook.com/PenskeComplaints/
You can see for yourself there are a lot of unhappy Penske customers out there.
I rented a U-haul once, NEVER again.
First off, we reserved a 16’ truck a week ahead of time. When we showed up to pick it up, they advised us that it was not available. All they had were 24’ trucks…they even had the nerve to charge us for the larger truck, even though it wasn’t what we requested in the first place. We eventually got the truck completely loaded, which took several hours. When it was time for us to leave, the parking brake was…stuck. After about 15 minutes of finagling with the parking brake release, I contacted “customer service” They were absolutely terrible and told me that we needed to unload the truck and they will send a mechanic out in a few hours. At that point, I was so furious I almost just drove the damn thing with the brakes dragging. Eventually, I was able to get the brake to release and we were on our way.
This thing drove absolutely awful, it shook if you went over 40mph, it was severely underpowered and I question whether it was even safe. Finally, we filled the tank up to where it was when we rented it (about 4 gallons) and hoped to never look back. That is, until we received the bill…$300 for a 1 day rental and we only drove about 30 miles…are you kidding me? We stormed into the uhaul store and apparently they charged us for a dolly we never rented, blankets AND said that the gas was below the level when we first picked it up…oh, and they charged $10 a gallon and supposedly put in 5 gallons.
STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM U-HAUL!
Yes, U-Haul may not have all brand new trucks for local moves. In fact, they tend to use the newer trucks for one way use, then hold them for local customers. U-Haul as far as I recall does not provide lift-gates whereas Penske does. We rented a Penske and told them we never used a lift-gate. They never offered us instructions and whatever paperwork in the truck on how to operate a lift-gate was not found. Make matters worse, my boyfriend crushed his left foot on the Penske lift-gate plates and may have to have a few of his toes amputated. Penske’s response? None so far. We’ll stick with U-Haul, thank you.
I rented a 26′ Penski from Mississippi to Idaho for a military move. UHaul would have been easier, as the pick up and drop off location would be in the same town but Penski offered to reduce the price since their drop off was 5 hours away. I chose Penski, the trip was smooth and the fee was less than UHaul.
Penske over U-Haul ANY DAY!!!
To make a long story short: Yes, U-Haul trucks are as described above, filthy, unreliable, falling apart, hidden fees appearing out of an invisible hat. And on the top of that, a very poor Customer Service. No thank you, life is too short to pay to be mistreated and risk my life and/or my family’s life in an unreliable vehicle!!
On the other hand, Penske is your top notch option. Before giving you a short testimony, allow me to let you know 3 amazing things of Penske from the get-go:
1) Unlimited miles – 2) Military discount – 3) AAA discount, between many other great things!!
One of my testimonies about Penske:
My family and I were moving from Orlando, FL to Columbus, OH. Due to the fact that we needed to wait a little longer for them to bring a flat bed trailer to our location and we were in hurry, we thought that using a hitch would sufficed. But when we arrived to North Carolina, we realized, that a hitch could actually be a problem even a danger going up the mountains. So we called Penske and explained the situation, at this point it was already late afternoon. Well, they graciously told us, to get a hotel, that next morning they would be sending us the solution. And as promised, next morning they were promptly there with our flat bed trailer, they did their job and we were good to go. We’re a family of 5, Penske paid for the night at the hotel and neither any hidden nor extra charges were added to our account. What it could had been a nightmare, it became an amazing experience and a great satisfaction of choosing the right company for the right purpose. Since then, I look not any other company for my moving truck rentals!!
First and only time I will rent from Penske. Rented a 16′ one way to move from San Diego to Austin, paid by debit. The whole process went smooth, better price than their competitors, got a brand new 2019 truck that had less than 100 miles on it, no issues the whole trip, easy pick up and quick return. I was quite satisfied with the experience and even told my wife that I’d consider paying a bit more for Penske if we need to rent a moving truck again.
About a month rolls by and I’m looking through my bank statement and see a $40.20 charge from Penske pending… no notification whatsoever, if I had not scanned my bank account I would have not known Penske tacked on an additional charge. After navigating their automated customer service number and explaining the charge, I’m told it’s a toll charge they received from the time during my rental. I’m 100% confident I did not pass through any tolls, I intentionally looked up the route I was to take before I made the trip, no tolls. My wife followed behind me on the same route during the move, no tolls were charged to our personal vehicle. In California I traveled a small section of the I15, CA94 and mostly eastbound on the I8… no tolls. Arizona and New Mexico have no tolls within either state. Texas I traveled east on the I10 across most of the state, then the 290 east to I35 north until the 290 east picks up again, I get off on the last exit before the 290 toll begins after the intersection with the 183. My new apartment is off this exit and explicitly remember thinking about how it was nice to be avoiding the tollway right at my journey’s end. I ran the Penske truck’s plate through the Texas site that tracks all pass through tolls, no records of a toll with that plate. I run our personal vehicles plates through the same Texas site, no records of toll charges.
I explain this to the rep, who informs me that I need to speak with the ‘citations department’, gives me a number. That number goes to another company and an automated messages asks for a parties extension and NOTHING follows, just silence… tried pushing 0 for operator and other numbers and NOTHING. I call back to the customer service number, they transfer me to the same number with the same dead end message. I call back to the customer service a third time, getting upset at this point. The rep is empathetic and transfers me to the ‘Austin Division’ as this is where I turned in my rental. I get a guy who seems genuinely baffled that my call was transferred to him, he asks me for the invoice number of the charge and I explain that I received none it was just pulled automatically from my bank account. I explain further that I don’t believe I passed through any tolls and went into detail with what I described above and asked to be sent verification of the charge from whichever state it was supposedly from. He claims he can’t see that or access that, though he can see the additional charge on my account. He doesn’t know who would be able to do that for me. I’m feeling pretty taken advantage of by this point, as I did a little internet research before my calls and found I’m not the only person that this has happened. The Austin division rep admits there may have been a mistake, another renter may have passed a toll and it was mistaken for my rental period, though he is unsure about this. After a little further back and forth, I can sense he is tired of my now angry banter and reluctantly agrees to refund the $40.20 back to my card on file. He takes my email and says he will send a receipt. This was about 6 hours ago and I still have not received any email. I’m currently giving him the benefit of the doubt as a charge back to a debit card can take several business days. We will see.
This whole experience of dealing with Penske customer service reps that can provide no customer service, can’t access toll billing files to verify for the doubting customer and generally just given the runaround on a unverifiable automatic charge just ruined all good will I had for the company. I have rented from ‘the other’ big name moving company on several occasions for local use and once for a move from college in Iowa City, IA to Chicago, Il and had 0 issues on the many times I’ve used them. I’ll be going back even if Penske has the better deal, this B.S. charge and how I had to fight to get it removed is just shady and apparently I’m not the first.
Penske You had a new customer and you killed a new customer.