OT-Best Rental Truck company?

I need to move a 3br house full of contents 3000 miles towing my car. I heard tha t UHual is terrible-there is even a website entitled "dontrentuhaul.com...I think Matt Isserstadt mentioned he sees them broken down all the time.

What do you all recommend? I am all ears.

I've rented smaller trucks from Budget and a 18' truck with liftgate from Penske. Budget was OK and the Penske truck was very nice. Both Budget's and Penske's prices were fair.

To me, it's not a matter of maintenance, it's a matter of "bumping". Some of the companies like U-haul and Ryder will take your reservation with credit card and so you go, dumb and happy, to the rental place on the appointed day. Unfortunately, there may or may not be a truck there waiting for you and if there is not, too bad for you.

I know Penske only takes reservations for the trucks they have. Check on this before making a reservation whoever you use. Penske trucks also have standard bumper hitches although you are only supposed to hook up Penske trailers (wink, wink).

Steve.

I should add that my Father in Law and Brother in Law have done several moves with U-Haul and for some reason, it seems that U-Haul gives out its crappier trucks for a one-way rental than for local/round trip rentals. My Brother in Law had problems with a truck on a move from NY to Idaho, while my Father in Law has done OK with in-state rentals, but has had some issues with point to point.

I've had bad luck with U-Haul.Old slow truck.
Had better luck with Penske.Even place that rented out U-Haul trucks , didn't have good things to say about U-Haul .

it's a matter of "bumping".

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U-Haul did that to my Brother, on a trailer, a few years ago. He made reservations by phone, several weeks before the move. He drove down from NY, & even called a few days before the pick-up date, to verify.. We went to get the trailer on Sat. morning... none were there, & they did not even seem to care... He got on the phone, & found a place 30 miles away that had one, that was closing at noon, so we had an hour to get there & get it rented. I wound up spending the afternoon re-wiring & replacing bulbs.. Needless to say, I have a very low opinion of U-Haul. Most of the equipment they rent out should not even be on the road.. I am surprised the DOT has not shut them down.

I think that Ryder is the best place to rent a truck.. I have had breakdowns, but Ryder has a good service network, they can usually get you back going in short order.

I have driven medium duty Ryders from Michigan to Arizona and twice from Arizona to Georgia.

Good trucks, zero problems, these were loaded to the gills.

The diesel I rented from Mich to AZ was woefully underpowered (probably because of the governor) on anything other than flatland. I think flat out it could hold 65mph on level ground....got down to 15mph at one point climbing hills near Flagstaff, AZ.

Due to that, I specifically got trucks sporting Ford 460 gasoline V8s for the trip to Atlanta, these did much, much better in terms of driveability, would do 70mph on level roads easily, I did not care about the additional fuel costs over diesel.

Uhaul is one of the worst-managed companies on the face of the earth, and make incredible amounts of money inspite of their ineptitude because they have little competition and have a monopoly in trailer rentals as far as I'm concerned. I've used their trailers many times in the past, but only because I found a single location (that I use over and over) that is managed by someone with a brain in their head and we seem to be on the same wavelength as far as how the rental experience should go.

I once was in Uhaul (a different location than the one mentioned above, before I found them). A corporate auditor had showed up and was reviewing maintenance records. Whether he was showing authority or just tired of pinheads pencil-whipping the planned maintenance intervals, he had put something like 20 trucks out of service from that location due to improper or just plain failure to do anything. Consequently he derailed the plans of 20 renters and the line was out the door and around to the next corner, for those awaiting additional instructions.

I have never dealt with Penske but would do so without hesitation.

All-
You are REALLY helping me a lot with my moving homework! Yeah, I FIGURED there was a reason why somebody went to the trouble to build that website trashing U-Howl. You guys ROCK!

-Neil

I have never dealt with Penske but would do so without hesitation.

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Yes, Penske is OK, also.. Nice FL-70 trucks, w/ the 8.3 Cummins & Fuller 6-speed, last time I rented one.. Seemed to be well-maintained..

I should add that my Father in Law and Brother in Law have done several moves with U-Haul and for some reason, it seems that U-Haul gives out its crappier trucks for a one-way rental than for local/round trip rentals.

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I was told that's because part of their franchise agreement includes repairing anything that breaks while checked into that location. So a piece of crap comes through, they want it back on the road ASAP and out of their area. I got caught with this on a cross country move years ago. Road side mechanic (contracted by U-Haul) said it should NEVER have been put on the road and it had just been band-aided to hold together till it could get out of town. He also explained why and that he saw it all the time. Wound up having to "trans-load" to another truck in Colorado Springs. Never used U-Haul again...

I just moved from Maine to Indiana,and I used Penske. They were the cheapest,and had diesel powered trucks,which I wanted for going thru the mountains of Pennsylvania (I-80) with. If you are a member of AAA you also get a discount of (I think) 12%.

The truck I got was almost brand new,had like 20K miles on it. I'm sure I had it overloaded by their requirements,and also hauled a Caravan back behind it.The truck towed down the road nicely.

I wish they didnt weld the balls on the trailer hitch though. They all have 2 inch balls on them I have an enclosed trailer I have to get out here to Indiana sometime,and it takes a 2 5/16 ball.The thought crossed my mind of cutting the 2" ball off and putting a 2 5/16" ball on,then welding the old ball back on before returning the truck. If it was a U-haul,I dont think they would even notice,but the Penske trucks are better upkept,and they would probably notice the new weld.

http://www.uhaul-sucks.com/

but the guy is a whiner ...

Penske is by far the best rental place out there right now. I have rented from them at least 20 times. We usally get the 24' box truck and it seems that ever one we rented is just about new. U-haul is horrible.

I used Ryder Commercial, which is a seperate company now from Ryder Consumer, very professional and top notch equipment, not the cheapest. on u-haul you have to be care ful of the milage charges!!!!! I have stories to tell, they are a bunch of sheet heads.

Guys-
Thank YOU! Sorry you had to have the bad experiences with such crappy companies, but the information you have imparted is NOT falling on deaf ears. This really makes my life a lot easier, let me tell ya!

Darn it. I used to be a U-Haul dealer many many years ago. At that time the trucks and trailers were well maintained. I was an independent dealer, quite often the U-H rep would show up just to make sure that the equipment was being maintained to their standards. Also at that time they paid very well for any maintenance that was done on the equipment. That has probably changed over the years.

Part of that may be because of the work ethic of the area, and things do change over time. I'm sorry to see the drift of this thread. U/H and I both made money, and we both were concerned that the customer had a good experience.

Ross

I've used them all, but Ryder and Penske by far have the best maintained (and newest) equipment... 1st choice Penske, 2nd choice Ryder....

About 10 years ago I made the move in a Penske. It broke down! It was a 26 foot truck. Luckily they repaired it overnight. It was near Salt Lake City it broke down. Fuel controller of some kind went bad.

I have rented from penske probably close to 100 times in the last 20 years and always had a good experiance . If I had to rent from U-haul I would find a way not to do the job

Neil said:

About 10 years ago I made the move in a Penske. It broke down! It was a 26 foot truck. Luckily they repaired it overnight. It was near Salt Lake City it broke down. Fuel controller of some kind went bad.

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Penske had to do FOUR alongside-the-interstate road-service call-outs for me, ~ 1,000 road-miles, Pensacola, FL to Sterling/Dulles, VA.

Near-as-dammit brand-new (13K miles?) 26-foot Cornbinder box truck. Faulty wiring, fuel system, OEM. Issue was already all over the 'net, any operator, that breed of International - once I got back and researched that.

Penske DID dispatch those third-party contract repair services rapidly, each time, every time, and even late at night or into the wee-hours of the morning. No cost to me. Damned small delay.

Plenty of same-same "one way" 24-foot // 26-foot Penske box trucks rented since. Only if "local" do i even LOOK at other providers.

Fewer mental "changes" to get used to quirks. And.... the 26-footer has driver-adjustable air-suspension.

Nary a problem since.

"Works for me", Penske does.

OTOH, If it ain't Diesel, or dasn't have BIG MIRRORS, big TIRES, and air-brakes?

Not on my dance-card - regardless.

That rules out most of U-haul's fleet, of course.