Rental Truck Reviews (Penske and Budget are good)

[Diane]

Re-posting a rave review of Penske for a move from Memphis to Austin:

12/22/06 - I rented a 25 foot Penske truck from Medical Center office. David Potts gave super service and advice 901-527-6261 --- about $800 without fuel.

I made an overnight stop half way at the Best Western at Mt Pleasant TX. Each leg took about 6 hours.

Rent a Penske! My truck was clean and only had 33,000 mile on it. It drove, ran and stopped like a top.

My CB radio with a Wilson "Li'L Will" magnetic antenna on the top of the cab was a real help and I would highly recommend a CB, with a quality antenna.

Loaded with Tony Lanigan movers in Memphis 901-680-9130 and unloaded with HIll Country Movers in Austin. I would recommend both. They were fast, careful and both around $200. - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10804

[Diane]

Re-posting a bad review of U-Haul on a move from WI to St. Louis, MO:

1/5/07 - I used Wheaton to move from Fresno,Ca. to Madison Wi. Found them to be quite good.
Couple years later moved from Madison to St. Louis. Used U-Haul. Major mistake. Only 24 ft. truck available had broken rear springs and despite careful packing normal driving ruined lots of furniture. Would never consider a do it y'self move any farther than across a small town with U-Haul. They're an awful company to deal with. - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtop ... 8180#78180

[lovely78]

let me not get into uHaul.. the internet reservation system is a scam.

reserving a truck online doesnt reserve anything.. you still have to reserve the vehicle thru the local office. all reserving online does is rip you off $5, especially if you cancel the "reservation" as I did.

also they've got idiots working the offices. The 4th Ave & 6th St Brooklyn locale should be shut down. No customer service whatsoever. I was repetitively hung up on because their phones didnt work. And it was obvious that some of them really don't want to work there.

uHaul was a total waste of time.

[Diane]

Re-posting another bad report on U-Haul:

1/17/07 - Uhaul is a joke!
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On Dec 6th 2006 I went to the office here in Anchorage, Alaska to pick up a 14ft truck one way to Florida, when I arrived at the pick up location all they had was a 17ft truck which they gave to me but tried to charge me more money for the truck. So because the reservation was messed up they wanted me to pay for a 17ft truck to florida. How is this fair? Anyway that situation got resolved right away. On my way to florida the truck started to act funny and not running properly so I called into the road breakdown number and was told, " Sir I know there cant be anything wrong with that truck it is a brand new truck so if we send someone out to look at the truck and they say there is nothing wrong with it we will charge you for this." So I continued to drive the truck again 2 days later I called Uhaul back to find out what was going on with this truck, and again I was told the same thing. Finally upon barely making the New Mexico border I called in again and told Uhaul," Get me a mechanic out here now this truck is not running properly", it took them 3 hours to finally get back to me to tell me that noone would be coming out that night because noone was available and that i should get a hotel room, I tried to explain to them that the truck would not go into gear so getting a room would not work. At this time the represntitive hung up the phone. So i slept in the front seat of the truck, now keep in mind I 6ft 230lbs and at that time i was on crutches. The next morning I called back and was finally able to get a mechanic out to me. Me and the mechanic began to talk about the truck and the whole situation, I had told him what uhaul told me and he started to laugh and said, "Noone called me last night and I am the only Uhaul authorized mechanic in this area", and he had to come from almost 70 miles away. This young man was told I would need to change trucks at his shop in Demming,NM he was able to get the truck to move so it could be driven, upon arriving at the shop to my surprise it was myself and this young man who had assisted me. When he was tolod I had to change trucks he was also told that there would be 2 other people at the shope to assist in transfering trucks with all of the belongings. So there I am on crutches in NM trying to help this mechanic move everything from one truck to the other. The job got done none the less. The only thing that Uhaul did for me was return 450.00 150.00 for the truck transfer and 10% of the rental cost. This trip should have cost no more than 3000.00 it turned out to cost over 4000.00 because the first truck was only getting around 2.4 MPG.

I think personally that anyone who has had a similar experience with Uhaul should file a formal complaint with the better bussiness beareu and with enough people we can file a class act suit against Uhaul. This type of treatment is uncalled for. I would more than willing to talk to anyone in reference to this. I can be emailed at [email protected].

Thank you,
Tony - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11011

[eilros]

Here's an Epinions review of a move I made with Penske in 2001:


I recently moved from Philadelphia to Minneapolis and had an excellent move in part to my Penske rental. I first logged onto the Penske site to get a quote. The quote was quite high compared to Ryder so I called the Penske agent (Public Storage) and requested a quote. They quoted $569 for a 15' truck (around $250 less than the website quote) and another $100 for the car dolly. I received a 12% discount with my AAA card.

The Penske website said to expect 6-10 MPG. I averaged 10.75 MPG while towing my Honda Accord at 65-70 MPH. I was pleasantly surprised.

My only complaint involves Public Storage. When I rented the truck, there was quite a bit of garbage (pop bottles, newspapers, etc) in the cab of the truck and there was only 1/4 tank of gas. I'm sure that wouldn't have been the case had I used a Penske corporate site.

I will use Penske again and would highly recommend them to everyone.

[eilros]

Here's an Epinions review of a move I made with U-Haul in 2005:


Where I live (Grand Forks, ND) you only have two choices when you move, U-Haul or Budget. Unfortunately, I chose U-Haul.

Getting a quote and making a reservation online for 17 foot truck for a 300 mile, one-way move to Bismarck, ND was a piece of cake. It only took about 5 minutes to complete the reservation. I made the reservation two months prior to my move. The rate was $179.

The day before the move, I received a call from the regional U-Haul reservation office saying that they didn't have any trucks available for me at my "preferred" location. They did, however, have two trucks available at another location over 80 miles away. They graciously offered to let me go get one of them! I told them that wasn't acceptable and they could deliver one to my "preferred" location (when I made the reservation, I had three "preferred" location choices and all were in the same city). After about two hours of phone calls to the reservation center, I received a call from my original "preferred" location letting me know they had miraculously had a truck available for me right away.

Even though I wasn't scheduled to pick up the truck the next morning, I immediately went to the location and picked it up before they could give it to someone else. The local U-Haul office was very nice and it was a breeze filling out the paperwork.

I was given a 24 footer instead of the 17 footer that I reserved. They honored the 17' rate of course. My truck had over 200,000 miles on it but was in pretty good shape. I got 4.86 mpg on my trip. The truck was gutless going up even the most gradual incline.

The total with taxes for my rental was $249 which included the truck, a dozen furniture pads and the damage waiver.

[Diane]

Re-posting a review of U-Haul for a move into Canada:

5/4/07 - Hello,

First of all, I'd like to thank those who responded to our original post and clarified the whole moving risk for us. Here is what we did for our move from Indianapolis to Ontario...
After getting a few quotes from some companies in Indy, we decided we would have to do the move ourselves, as the companies have delivery times that were unacceptable. No one would commit to guarantee delivery in less than 14 days, and given our circumstances we could not wait that long.

So, we booked an u-haul truck, as they are the only ones that allow for drop off in Canada. After coming back to this website, and finding quite a few others with less than favorable reviews of uhaul, decided to cancel the uhaul truck and book a Penske truck. This was only possible because we moved quite close to the US-Canada border, so the plan was to drive our stuff here (Penske confirmed we would be allowed to drive the truck into Canada) and then cross back to the US and return the truck. One week before the move Uhaul called us and offered to equal the Penske rate and give us extra miles, so it was in fact better, because it would save us the 1.5 hour drive back into the US after moving. So we booked the Uhaul as well, and weren't sure what to do next...

Because we read so many aweful reviews of Uhaul, we decided we needed to have the Penske backup. So we booked the Uhaul truck with a pickup date one day before the Penske, and decided that if it was a piece of trash we would just say we were not accepting it and get the Penske truck. If it was OK we would cancel with Penske. Two days before the scheduled pickup date the Uhaul regional office called and gave us our pickup location. We went there to look at our truck and were pleasently surprised by the quality of service and the quality of trucks. So, if you want a Uhaul truck in Indianapolis, I'd say go to the SOUTHERN PLA branch on the south side. Everybody was extremely helpful, they tried really hard, gave us a nice truck with 11,000 miles on it, helped us hook up the car trailer and arranged for an extra day for free!!!

We hired the "two retired guys" from emove for help with loading, they got to our home a few minutes early and were REALLY FAST. And they didn't break a thing.

The driving was the biggest challenge. This was the beginning of February, but I guess we were lucky, as it didn't snow on us. We did get into the weirdest wind storm in Michigan though, but it only lasted about 30 min. Hubby did a GREAT job driving a 24' truck with a car trailer, but we did get stuck twice, once in a gas station and once on a parking lot. Both times we called the local Uhaul and they came and helped us to manouver the truck out of the mess we got it into.

The people at our drop-off Uhaul were not as nice and helpful as the Indianapolis branch, but they are still OK. Got one month of free storage for all the stuff we couldn't fit into our new apartment, dropped off the truck and THAT'S IT!

Overall I guess we were pretty lucky, because nobody let us down, we got help every time we needed it, we had a nice new truck, our toddler thought it was fun to drive across the border to a new house, the whole thing actually turned out to be a great adventure!

And now SPRING IS HERE!!! Good luck to you all, and thanks again! AJO. - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtop ... 7310#87310

"Fred0844" (works for a United agent in Toronto) commented in response that U-Haul has spent a lot of money fixing up its trucks before they enter Canada since they are inspected very carefully at the border for safety violations. In other words, I think he is implying that they are likely to be in better condition than the average U-Haul vehicle.

Updating with two more very useful posts by AJO and Fred on bringing cars into Canada:

5/6/07 - We crossed the border between Port Huron, MI and Sarnia, ON. So first we had to export our car at the US immigration office. There wasn't a convenient way of doing this, i.e. there is no parking and really no way to access the US immigration when you are leaving the US, so we just parked on the side of the road and walked through the most incredibly cold wind... The US officials were not very nice, but since we did fax them the title few days earlier and had all documents in order everything went fine. It took us over an hour though, and we were the only ones in the office....

Once we reached the Canadian officer we told her we were moving to Canada and importing a car. We had a "Goods to follow list" from when we first landed as Permanent Residents in Toronto and she asked if we had acquired any more goods. We had actually, and told her so, but she didn't think much of our new goods and send us to the Customs office just to complete the car import process. We also had an itemized list of everything in the truck, every box had a number and I made an inventory of the contents of each one, in addition to listing all electronics with serial numbers and all jewelry separately. We showed that to the officer as well.

It seems to me like the car import process is quite confusing and there is lots of room for interpretation of rules by the customs officer in charge. They looked up the value of our car (VERY high, according to the little red book our 2-year old car was worth exactly what we had paid for it when new!!!), but then did some math, applied some exemptions, and we ended up not having to pay duties (because of that we can't sell our car in Canada for the next 12 months, but we weren't planning to, so it's not a problem for us). We still had to pay a registration fee and excise tax, but it came up to be only around 400 dollars. The whole thing took probably 20-30 minutes, most of it spent filling out paperwork. The officers were very friendly, nice and helpful, and I think they really tried to find a way for us to pay only what we absolutely had to and apply all the exemptions we were eligible for.

I would recommend this particular crossing point to anyone moving to Ontario, it was very quiet and the Canadian officers were all very helpful and truly friendly. When exporting a car, it's absolutely CRUCIAL to fax the documents beforehand to the US office, as I'm sure they would have not let us out had we not faxed them. I almost felt like they were hoping we had done something wrong so that they could send us back... Or maybe I was just too anxious to get to Canada and get the crossing over with

In conclusion, I think the boder crossing and importing of our stuff went as smooth as it possibly could.

One more tip on importing a car: they told us at the border that we would receive inspection forms in the mail within 10 working days. Because of my husband's job arrangements we were very tight on time, and that's how we discovered that it is possible to call the 800 number after about 5 days, talk to an agent and get the forms sent immediately by e-mail. If you are in a hurry that is of real help...

Hope this is not too long for anyone to read... Good luck!

5/7/07 - You did pick a good crossing, many drivers will go out of their way to avoid Detroit/Windsor. Lewiston NY/Queenston On is also another good one. Only certain ports clear cars.

[NYtoTexas]

I just reserved a Penske 22' truck for a late June move from NY State to Texas.

Online I received a discounted rate of just over $3000. When I called, the Penske rep (who was unfailingly polite and helpful) was able to suggest an alternate pickup location that, combined with my AAA discount, brought the rate down to $2640 before tax. This is a nice discount off the $3709 base rate, and she assured me that this would be a newer truck with a tank full of diesel fuel and a 3 person bench seat. She also pointed out the cost savings of diesel vs. gas, which is substantial. I also added a dozen moving blankets at a discounted AAA rate of $12 per dozen. I'll check with my auto and homeowner's insurance, but will probably add the liability insurance as well, just for peace of mind.

I'll post a review after we move. Am hoping for a nice quiet, uneventful move and drive, but I already got a good feeling from Penske.

Can't wait to move! Thanks to this site, I got great information and was able to make a large move for under $3,000.

[Diane]

Re-posting a note about a very sobering investigative series on U-Haul:

6/25/07 - FYI, the Los Angeles Times is running a very comprehensive, three-part series of investigative reports this week on U-Haul and its shenanigans regarding the rental of faulty, dangerous equipment:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... ome-center

6/25/07 - Thanks for posting this - yes, this is a very important series of articles describing serious injury and death among renters of defective U-Haul equipment. Joe Shoen's rather bizarre behavior is also described in Part One of the series. I myself would hesitate to ever rent from U-Haul after reading this.

http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14109

[MusicMom]

I just reserved a budget truck for my daughter in DC for her move to NC at the end of July. I found a code that gives 25% off instead of the 10% online discount. It works on Monday-Wednesday rentals. Just type in FASTB where it asks for coupon/code.

[Diane]

Re-posting a detailed account of an eventful move from TX to OH using Penske:

8/8/07 - We rented the Penske truck with help in loading coming from a company named Holland. They were nice guys and they worked hard. Left on Saturday morning. One hour out of Houston on 59 a car on the road alerted us that something was wrong in the back of the truck. We pulled over. My husband walked to the back of the truck and examined the car carrier. The rear wheel on the passenger side was smoking and then on fire. No fire extinquisher on the truck and no liquids in our possession. My husband rushed to unload our car. Another driver pulled over and ran back with every liquid they had in their car. Fire went out, started up again. Truck drivers pull over with extinquishers--fire went out and started up again. Fire department comes, fire is put out.

Penske 24 car sends a tow truck prepared to fix a tire when clearly told we needed a new carrier. The brakes on the wheels had not been adjusted correctly by the office in Houston and they got hot and set the tire on fire. (Westheimer office near Galleria just pass Sage.) Four hour wait for new carrier. Finally, we get car carrier. Get back on the road.

Somewhere in TN, around a hundred miles from Memphis, the brakes on the truck lock up. 24 hour care sends a local maintenance guy that informs us that the ABS system is out and the box burnt up. Penske tells us to take the truck to Memphis (outside of our route). We get to Memphis and wait eight hours for them to put new brake pads on the truck and are informed that it will be a number of hours longer to get the anti-lock brakes done. We determine to go on without them.

The rest of the ride was fine. Get to Cleveland and the Baer car movers deliver the car just fine. So, Gator is to be commended. While I am giving directions to the unloaders, Your Movers, prior to their arrival, I receive a call from my husband. Three blocks away from our new home, he and my son are hit on the passenger side by a truck. The driver of which didn't even hit his brakes prior to impact. The car we towed on the car carrier, our beautiful BMW, is totalled.

No one was hurt which is amazing considering the damage to the car. The whole car was bent with the back seat rearranged so that it rested against the front, front windshield was shattered, passenger window completely gone. My son was burned by the side air bag and my husband's brains were scrambled a bit, but no injuries beyond this. (Husband may even be better than before )

The car carrier guy was wonderfully patient as I had to go to the accident scene to get the money order to pay him. The unloading guys were wonderful and got everything out of the truck in a timely manner and even caught my husband a couple of times when he collasped having refused to go to the hospital and helped him to a seat.

All in all, I actually enjoyed the trip. The dogs (two large dogs) did well in the truck as it was a 26 footer. I could have done without the drama; but, everyone involved, except the Houston Penske office should be commended for the work they did. Oh, Penske took off the cost of the car carrier, reimbursed us seventy dollars worth of gas, paid for the extra night in a hotel, and gave us two hundred and fifty dollars off of the rental cost. We were so glad to give that truck back to them we could have kissed the girl at the desk when we brought it in. Never, ever, ever will we do this again.

8/9/07 - We came in around fifteen hundred dollars below the one in home estimate that was made [by a full-service mover]. I should say that Penske said that problems like our's were rare and this came from the girl that checked the truck in on its return and it was her last day at work. She had worked for them for three years. Also, folks we met along the road that had rented Penske trucks, and had taken them across the country on a move, all said that they had no problems. I suspect the Houston office was to blame. We will still never make a move like this ourselves again.
- http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14554

[gatorinmn]

After reading the LA Times article about UHaul, we decided to cancel our reservation for a UHaul truck, which we intended to use to pick up some things from storage and bring them to our new house in Minnesota. Instead, I booked with Budget.

The day of the move, I called the Budget office to tell them that I was going to be about 45 minutes late picking up the truck. Mohammed, the person at the office, told me, "Oh, well, that's good, because I am still trying to find you a 16-foot truck," which is what I had rented. He asked me if I would take a 24-foor truck, and I told him that I'd prefer not to. I told him if that's all he had when I arrived, then we'd cross that bridge at that time.

About 30 minutes later, just as I was leaving the house to pick up the truck, my cell phone rang. The conversation went like this:

Me: "Hello."
Caller: "Hi, this is Mohammed from Budget. You have a truck rented with us today?"
Me: "Yes, I just spoke to you 30 minutes ago."
Him: "You did?"
Me: "Yes, I told you I was going to be about 45 minutes late to pick up the truck."
Him: "Oh, yes, I remember. Well, sorry, but we don't have any trucks for you. Can you pick one up in St. Paul?" (It would have been a 45-minute drive to the location of the truck.)
Me: "No. What happened to the 24-foot truck you had 30 minutes ago?"
Silence
Silence
More silence
Him: "Um, well, I'll try to find you a truck and I'll call you back." Click.

Thankfully, we were able to get a Penske truck a short time later. Mohammed did call back (to tell us he found a truck in Bloomington, still a 25-minute drive), but my wife gave him an earful.

Budget's trucks may be newer, but that won't do you much good if the truck isn't there when it's supposed to be!!!

[MusicMom]

It's hard to arrange reservations when people don't return the trucks on time.

[Diane]

This is a very good report on Penske (and its customer service rep Chris) for a very large two-truck move from Dallas to Seattle - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14674

[OnTheMove4us]

Date Rented: 09/25/2007
Move Date: 09/26/2007
Truck Return Date: 09/29/2007
Cost: Truck-16' w/Car Trailer, Hand Truck and 12% AAA Discount: $508.
Company: Penske

Vehicle was clean, mechanical condition Very Good. We rented from the E. Patchogue, NY Penske office of A&A Trailer and Container. The staff were plesent and the check out of the truck and car trailer was efficient.

Well we arrived in Maryland safe and sound. The Penske truck, 16' and car trailer towing my wife's car, we had no problems. Oh it took a while, about 100 miles to get used to driving while towing a vehicle. But once we got out of LI and dealing with the roads in Queens and Brooklyn in NYC, all went well. As my wife said "I drove that thing" LOL. I highly recommend PODS and Penske for household moving.