Uhaul, Budget, or Penske

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I drove a 26' Uhaul across Northern USA 8 years ago, It drank $1500 of gas and 10 quarts of oil. The charge light came on after the first 100 miles, but whatever it was, the battery held out.
The seal on the back door let in water, the truck was filthy, and it had a real bad shake that prevented more than 60 mph
 
Originally Posted By: expat
I drove a 26' Uhaul across Northern USA 8 years ago, It drank $1500 of gas and 10 quarts of oil. The charge light came on after the first 100 miles, but whatever it was, the battery held out.
The seal on the back door let in water, the truck was filthy, and it had a real bad shake that prevented more than 60 mph


Back in the late 90s we rented a moving truck from U Haul to move my grandmother. The transmission let go on it. Still drove it, though! Hold the foot to the floor long enough and it would kind of move.
 
For a move that long, Penske. Best equipment hands down. Not necessariliy the cheapest...

U-Haul is extremely hit or miss on what equipment you will get. I'll only rent from then for local now.
 
I was literally stranded in rural upstate New York, this time last year. The only option within an hour's drive of where I was located... was U-Haul.

I worked one-on-one with the local U-Haul office (this was a corporate location), and they were able to come up with a 2014 Ford V-10 powered 14 foot truck (with only 6,000 miles) within 24 hours (during the weekend, no less). I drove this back to Illinois, with two Honda Goldwings strapped in the back.

Of course, since it was so new... it probably hadn't needed any maintenance. It didn't have a governor on it, it pulled like a mad ox, and it would run past 80. Gas mileage was in the high 8's and low 9's. I usually ran it between 70 and 75.

I was in one HUGE bind, and U-Haul came through for me.

One bonus of the U-Haul trucks is that their boxes are usually closer to the ground. Many Ryder/Budget/Penske trucks are dock height for commercial customers (and that's a long ways up there when you're doing a home move).
 
Rent from a large place that has selection of available vehicles. Not a gas station who gets a truck in and has limited interest in fixing niggly stuff.

That way if AC is failed or the vehicle shakes like mad you can return and get addressed or another vehicle. A test drive is key before you drive off to your home,load it up and then realize something major is amiss.
 
I know I'm late to the party, but we always used Penske. We moved from Mississippi back to Pennsylvania back in March. We rented a 16' and their car hauler to haul the Jetta. It was a GMC with the 6.0 gas. It wasn't a race car by any means but it was acceptable. It did struggle in Virginia, but we had the truck overloaded and the car had about 700lbs of clothes and tools in it. I was floored and was only able to do 45mph up the mountain passes. The truck had over 100k but was maintained well. The trailer was great, even for being overloaded it tracked well and the long tongue made it easy to back. As always buy the extra insurance.
 
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Get a Penske truck with a liftgate. This will make loading and unloading much easier. U-Haul doesn't have liftgates.

I'd love to get one with a lift gate, but they don't have a trailer hitch and I need to tow a car.
 
I'm late, but just helped the gf move this past weekend. Rented a 16' from Penske.

It was a fairly new truck, had 25k on it. Everything worked. Didn't check which engine, but it had the GM 6-spd auto. Averaged 10.8mpg over 250 miles of driving.

I'd do it again.
 
You can, but I wouldn't want to! We have Ryder trucks at work, and the maintenance on them is dismal. We have things we've been writing up for months that they just flatly refuse to fix. One truck has had dead A/C for three years.
 
Well, I have a 26' Uhaul truck and their enclosed 12' trailer booked to pick up tomorrow, going to load it tomorrow and drive to San Diego on Wednesday. We'll see how this goes.

I was going to get a Penske, but once we put her stuff into a 10'x20' storage unit that's full to the top, I realized I needed to rent a trailer and only Uhaul rents trailers so I figured I might as well get them from the same place.

I'll report back with if it makes it lol.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Well, I have a 26' Uhaul truck and their enclosed 12' trailer booked to pick up tomorrow, going to load it tomorrow and drive to San Diego on Wednesday. We'll see how this goes.

I was going to get a Penske, but once we put her stuff into a 10'x20' storage unit that's full to the top, I realized I needed to rent a trailer and only Uhaul rents trailers so I figured I might as well get them from the same place.

I'll report back with if it makes it lol.


Phoenix to San Diego is a mighty short haul. You should not have a single issue.
 
My personal observation is that whenever I see a broken down rental moving truck on the side of the road it is a UHaul. I have seen an article that states that UHaul's rental fleet is significantly older than the other majors. Add the fact that they are farmed out to numerous storage businesses, and not centrally located and maintained like Penske and Budget, you are rolling the dice that you will make it to your destination with a UHaul without major problems.

I've rented from both Penske (big truck, interstate) and Budget (smaller truck, local) and been happy with both. I would pick from either with the nod going to whichever has the truck that fits your needs better.
 
Back when I owned a small business, I tried all of the truck rental/lease companies.

I found Ryder to the best. But that's also taking into account the fact that I was close to one of their large commercial and private rental and lease locations.

Well maintained, and I could always get what I needed on short notice.

A stark contrast to the U-haul my Sister rented, a few years ago. That thing had a non-functional parking brake, was in poor condition, and they had over-geared the speedo/odo to rack up about 2.5 times the miles actually traveled.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: KD0AXS
Get a Penske truck with a liftgate. This will make loading and unloading much easier. U-Haul doesn't have liftgates.

Unless they have redone their fleet (doesn't look like it from the website), none of the one way vehicles have liftgates. The only way you would get a truck with a liftgate for a one way trip is if the truck needed to be sent/returned someplace (previous breakdown sending back the unit, sending back a unit that was rented out because another truck broke down, returning units that were rented out and sent to another location by mistake, etc.).

One interesting thing about the Penske fleet(s) is that there are actually two separate fleets, one way trucks are owned by corporate, and local trucks owned by the local district locations. Local locations are compensated by corporate for work done on the one way fleet, and penalized if maintenance is missed on the assigned schedule. Doesn't matter what's going on, if you miss something while the truck sat on your lot you heard about it. The local trucks keep coming back to the same location and the tech hears it if they messed up. The shop and rental guys were also measured daily on how many trucks were down for maintenance and preventative maintenance, out on rental, etc.
 
Picked the truck up today and loaded it. Checked the oil and I went and bought 2 quarts of 15w40 (what it calls for) and it brought it up to halfway between the full and low mark. Is an 06' with 125k miles, 8.1L. Pretty good power. Power steering howls like you wouldn't believe, fluid is full but black as tar. Will pick up another quart of oil for it for the drive tomorrow. Oh and when you get on the gas pedal it sometimes makes popping sounds under the hood, weird.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Picked the truck up today and loaded it. Checked the oil and I went and bought 2 quarts of 15w40 (what it calls for) and it brought it up to halfway between the full and low mark. Is an 06' with 125k miles, 8.1L. Pretty good power. Power steering howls like you wouldn't believe, fluid is full but black as tar. Will pick up another quart of oil for it for the drive tomorrow. Oh and when you get on the gas pedal it sometimes makes popping sounds under the hood, weird.


Gees...what a real piece.

That's Uhaul for you.
 
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