Uhaul alternatives

Ryder, I guess?

BUDGET

ZIPCAR

FLEXCAR

HERTZ

Whoever has the yellow trucks.

basically any agency that will rent you a vehicle with wheels is better than u-haul

Also, this is for moving the contents of a 1 bedroom apt 370 miles.

also tell me about how uhaul is bad, etc

enterprise, penske, and on and on

I've never had any problems with U-Haul

all of the bad stories i've heard about uhaul basically involve bait-n-switch scams. you reserve one type of vehicle and show up and they claim to be out of what you reserved and force you to take something bigger, or go without.

u-haul was way out of the way, franchise was totally sketchy one-old-man-in-a-shack-by-a-scrapyard type action, truck was in a condition I'll describe as "tolerable" and had exactly 0 amenities inside, I ended up paying way too much for additional unnecessary bullshit that comes for free with budget or basically any other rental agency (like the frickin rope) and I basically hated everything about it.

budget staff and locations and equipment are all much nicer in my experience.

I only get my information from non-partisan sites like http://dontuseuhaul.com/ and http://www.uhaulisbad.com/

Or their incredibly small windows in which you have to use them, thus adding a race the clock element to the already stressful exercise of moving.

I prefer a friend with a van.

ally OTM re: uhaul, plus I have had technical problems with both trucks I have rented from uhaul, plus they were filthy inside.

plus plus plus

People really seem to like Budget

http://consumerist.com/consumer/investigations/u+haul-knowingly-rents-deadly-trailers-271697.php

They are also a little more expensive than Uhaul though I'm not sure what the price covers as of yet.

I really liked my Budget truck and experience, and also had a no fuss experience with Ryder. I have hated uHaul with their ghetto trucks and locations, but had a good experience recently renting a brand new van to pick up a sofa.

Uhaul is ALWAYS more expensive than you think it will be.

mules, oxen

http://consumerist.com/consumer/u_haul/?view=full

I mean consumerists' take on it is basically accurate in my view that the franchisees of u-haul are pretty much allowed to run the business any damn well they please, so you could find the one nice dude who is a proud upstanding businessman and actually gives a shit or most likely you'll be treated to dickhead fuckwad #50032 who'd just as well see you and your kids go die horribly as soon as you sign the dotted line.

yeah seriously nobody has ever in the history of u-haul actually managed to rent a u-haul for the advertised price

bubb rub, l'il sis

you are high

that's only in the mornin'.

oh ok

They are also a little more expensive than Uhaul though I'm not sure what the price covers as of yet.

-- admrl, Monday, July 16, 2007 2:49 PM (Monday, July 16, 2007 2:49 PM) Bookmark Link

Price covers the vehicle being a less likely cause of death to you and your loved ones.

franchisees of u-haul are pretty much allowed to run the business any damn well they please,

I think this key. I've used numerous types of U-Hauls from many cities and many types of moves - in-town to cross-country. I've never gotten dirty trucks, or broken-down ones, never been ripped off nor had a hard time finding convenient locations.

Maybe it's best to go on-line and find reviews for moving/rental places for the area you'll be moving from.

UHaul franchise comments OTM. I've had some pefectly good experiences and some where I've taken my business elsewhere.

Altho the last time I participated in a moving we used a Budget van which was v v nice and also easy to pick up/drop off.

Any hidden costs to look out for with Budget?

I've had nothing but good times with U-Haul (the hidden expense bit notwithstanding but that is part and parcel of renting any car); maybe they only work in the Boston area?

And Dallas, Houston, Austin and Brooklyn.

I like Budget for renting cars but they are not well-located for me.

I can't remember having any surprise charges the times I've used Budget.

I can recommend City-to-City Moving. You pack your stuff into storage pods and they deliver it to your new place. Was cheaper than renting a truck for a Seattle - Miami move (also less stressful). For truck rentals, Budget has been the best for me, with Penske better for local moves. They have been less expensive for our last 3 one-way moves, and we've had no trouble with them or their trucks. Issues with U-Haul ended for me when they didn't have a truck I'd reserved available when we went to pick it up (and none to substitute so we were stuck). Also, the packers we hired (and paid in advance for) from their site failed to show up and didn't answer their phone on the day we had to pack and get on the road. I'll never use them again.

I had a decent experience with U-Haul back in March. I booked online for a much larger truck than I needed, for the entire day when I only needed four hours. Once I got there, I saw that they had a smaller truck, and took that for the cheaper price. Mind you, the move was only about 15 miles there and back, so they really couldn't get me for milage or fuel, which is a big reason they get a bad rap. The only option I took was their damage coverage, which having worked for a car-rental company for a few months, was entirely worth it to me.

We used U-Haul for x-country moves in 1998 and 2001, no problem either time.

my last experience with u-haul wasn't that bad (someone else was driving, i was only renting). i got the truck i asked for, paid about what i expected to pay. the only real hassle was that the office was way understaffed for the volume of business they were getting that day, so on pickup and return the one woman working the desk kept putting me on the back burner while she fielded these long, involved phone calls.

uhaul once made me wait to pick up my truck until like 6 pm on the day i reserved it. then i had to drive 20 miles to pick it up and it was bigger than what i'd asked for. also: too late to actually move that day so i had to find someplace to park that shit.

I moved from DC to San Francisco with a driveaway van. It was a gas guzzler but still was cheaper than a rental.

You can rent cargo vans from Enterprise for $70 a day, no mileage charges. They aren't really big enough for huge things like king size beds and such (though you could probably figure a way to tie them to the roof), but for anything less, if you're willing to make a couple of trips or whatever, it's way the fuck cheaper than U Haul, and the things are much easier to drive.

my experiences with u-haul have been okay. but i would advise checking around for prices--there have been surprising differences in one-way quotes from uhaul, ryder, hertz/penske, budget, etc. probably to do with the deployment of their fleets, i guess.

it seems like a 370 mile trip would not lend itself too well to a few trips in the cargo van
xpost

yeah i have had good and bad uhaul experiences, may depend on luck or what time of month you're moving, etc.

all of those companies are somewhat bad. i've moved tons of times and i swear, it's always a little eff'ed up. "we've gotta be out by 2! i can't drive stick very well! wtf is this weird emergency doodad?!? it won't go faster than 45mph and we've got 700 miles to go today!!"

the pod thingies are pretty cool. hot. watching the truck drop it off and pick it up was nearly worth the price.

i will say this, any of these DIY moving companies are a million times more ethical than any of those buttheads that move your shit for you. tragic "$.70/pound of damage goods" insurance. bullshit subcontractors so they can avoid bad ratings in better business bureau. late with your shit. hold your shit hostage. "we've got to move it to a second truck because we can't drive our 18-wheeler down your tiny street." obviously they've moved your shit around in their truck 5 times. drop your shit ...no... drop and break your wife's FAVORITE thing in the whole world in front of you with no apology. (remember the tragic insurance above.) outrageous cost. etc etc. there's a special place in hell for those.... unspeakable adjective+nouns....

good luck... and remember, early bird gets the worm at the rental place. pick up at 3pm at your peril. "sorry, they're not back yet...." or "sorry, the truck you've got is broken down about 50 miles from here. we'll have it back here at 7pm." WTF?!?
m.

I'm moving soon and someone recommended Door To Door Storage as a good moving alternative. Does anybody have any experience with this outfit?

lol i don't know why but i find this read very funny

penske!

Door To Door Storage as a good moving alternative

See my link above for City-to-City moving - it's the moving side of Door-to-Door storage. They've been great for us, also much cheaper than truck rental for longer moves.

That said though, they only cover very specific urban areas - they weren't able to move us from Seattle to eastern Washington for example.

they only cover very specific urban area

That's okay, I'm a specifically urban guy.

We went with Penske. They had the right size truck for the right price and were very helpful and we get a AAA discount.

Time for the Moving/Garage Sale thread?

hey where ya moving

I am moving from the East Bay of San Francisco Metro Area to Los Angeles.

UTHROW?

Last time I went into a U-Haul building, it was just to buy some packing supplies. It was some low-key new hire & he had the building alone for a while. He just said, "This stuff is way overpriced, just take what you need and don't worry." !!! But I used to do that when I worked at Kinko's when managers weren't around. "There's a 500% markup on this, just don't worry about paying today. But keep that under the table and don't expect it in the future." *wink wink*

you have a lot of stories.

Abbot OTM regarding Kinko's.

whiteeddiemurphy.jpg

"When young twenty-somethings are alone together, they give away things to each other..."

My short U-Haul sucks story:
On my move to Chicago from St. Louis, they made me drive about 45 minutes east into into East St. Louis to pick up the truck. Apparently that was the closest place. The lady at the desk talked to her friend on the phone for about 10 minutes before she finally hung up and said "....What?" at me. The piece of paper they handed me said that the gas meter was at 1/2 a tank, even though it was at 1/4. I would have went back in to inform them, but...the desk lady scared me and hated me, I think. I'm wimpy.

I drove up to Chicago, not taking any detours, but I ended up going over the alloted miles, because I had to drive back west for 45 minutes to load up the truck. That resulted in a fee. I also had to pay to cover the 1/4 tank of gas they gipped me on in the first place. Plus they were jerks at both ends of the process.

My suggested U-Haul alternative:
I'm going with Penske for my move to Ithaca. They have unlimited miles, and you get a rental for 5 days, and if you go here you can get a decent deal, with a 10% discount for going through that link, plus an about 8% or so general web discount. Total savings: about $115. Nice!

i only read about a third of this thread but uhaul blows in comparison to ryder. ryder sells their trucks after 3 years, and unlike uhaul if you break down they will unload the old truck and load up the new one. uhaul will drop off a new truck if you break down but it's up to you to get your shit out of the old one and into the new one. which is a huge pain in the balls is you're moving an apartment full of furniture.

i only use uhaul for small local moves.