Pods or Uhaul....How did you move for residency?

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psych.MD

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Does anyone have experience moving their furniture, etc in pods?

What is the cost difference between pods versus U haul truck or having a mover drive the furniture cross country?

The pods seem like the most cost effective choice but I'm not sure how reliable this is????

Thanks!!!
 
Hi I am not in residency but I ahve been in this situation before.
When moving , your best option in my opinion is in the following
order.

Moving cross country will cost somewhere in the order of 1000-1500 at least ( but agins you should do your homework on this)

1. Get the stuff moved if money is not important.
2. U haul cargo VAN ( I am not sure they let you rent those one way).
3. Uhaul 10' ( please please spend the extra 20 bucks for the dolley and protective cloth).
4. The trailer pod.


If you are moving cross country I strongly suggest you invest in a GPS
navigator, or if you are really ahrd on cash, do what I did. delorme usb gps
thingy that hooks up to your laptop(90$). I dont suggest that you use it for turn by turn directions like with the expensive units, but it would be good to locate you .

Hope it helps.
 
If you want to drive yourself, your best bet would be to use Penske. They have the nicest trucks and great customer service. Budget would be my second choice. If you want someone to do the driving, I've heard great things about ABF Upack.

I'd make a reservation now because the price will go up the longer you wait.
 
I also vote for Penske if you're driving yourself. I've used U-Haul and Penske- similar price, but Penske's trucks were in much better shape and they promise you a pick-up time, whereas with U-haul, you could end up getting your truck at the very end of the day. I didn't have any problem with navigation and didn't bother with GPS.
 
I also had great luck with Penske when I moved to my med school - clean truck, low miles and a student discount. If I have to move for residency, I'll use them again.
 
I was going to use a POD for storing my extra stuff while in fellowship (I could not afford the 2 bedroom, 1000+ sqft apartment I had in residency while living in a much more expensive state), and even scheduled its delivery, but cancelled at the last minute when I decided that since the nearest POD storage place was over 1.5 hrs away and that it was only $125 to rent a 24' Uhaul (which I needed anyway, to get the rest of my stuff I coulf fit in the new studio apt.) as compared to the $150+ POD, it made more sense to bring everything over and store the excess in a monthly storage.

I know a lot of people recommend Penske - but they are not as ubiquitous as UHaul. I've never had a problem with a truck being ready, or in poor condition. Then again, if you;re renting the 24-27' its not rented very often, so is more liekly to be available and in good shape.

So...

I agree with ocean. Using professional movers can be quite expensive, although if you pack yourself, it does cut down on the price. But if spending $5-$10K (if you have a full house of furniture) to move across country (it will be somewhat less if you are just moving a shorter distance). Bear in mind that although they are "professional", IMHO, they are not as careful with your belongings as you would like. There have been many media scare stories about companies quoting you a low price and then holding your possessions hostage until you come up with several hundred or thousands more dollars. Obviously having a contract, which is read carefully, as well as using a national company with a good rep is key.

I have moved several times - as a child of a military family, as a footloose college and grad student and then as a resident. I've used UHaul trucks many times and I have a lot of stuff -so always get the large truck.

If you really only have a tiny bit of stuff you can rent the Cargo Van, but these are only for in-town moves. You cannot rent one and drop it off and the other end. Always overestimate the amount of moving truck you will need - it takes more room to store your stuff than you really think.

For my money then, packing your own stuff and driving it yourself beats giving it to someone else to move. You can haggle with UHaul or other truck rental companies - they will come down a lot (even hundreds) on their quotes if you say you've gotten a better one elsewhere or you dither. Sort of like haggling in the souks of Morocco.

If you get a really good quote from POD and they deliver right to your new residence, then perhaps that makes sense. I haven't heard of any horror stories with them.

Finally, consider when moving to a new destination - will you have help unloading? If you are moving yourself, you most likely will not, but can "rent" people to help you - UHaul can assist you with this.

So...bottom line:

professional movers to move a 2 bedroom house, probably around $5,000; up to $10K for a larger house, or if you have appliances. Make sure they know this is a personal move - they are known to up their quote if they think you are being reimbursed or have a moving allowance ($10K is a common job relocation allowance).

UHaul truck rental and gas for cross country move: I spent around $900 but that also included hotels for 4 nights and meals. It was a number of years ago, but I think I got the largest truck for a little over $350 rental and the rest was gas (those things are gas hogs!!! - it might be more now, since gas prices are much higher than they were in 2000). Remember they will bargain with you.

POD - well have never investigated cross country, but you should have the price since it sounds like you have.

Hope that helps - good luck!
 
I will pack my stuff, hire people to load the truck, and drive myself to my new hometown. There, I will pay people to unload, and two friends are coming with me to hang for a few days, unpack, and settle in. Total cost: about $2000 for a 600 mile move (loading, truck, gas, unloading, and plane tix for my friends to get home after their generous help).

I considered hiring a company, but one of my best friends lived the "horror story" of her things arriving almost a month after they were due. I am given a generous 7 days to close on this house, leave here, move, close on a new house, unpack enough to find scrubs, orient, and start my fellowship. It will be tight, but with loading help and friends to help, I think it will be fun. And, far less stressful than worrying where my stuff is.

Also, moving expenses, if not reimbursed, are tax deductible if you move more than 50 miles.😀
 
On a related note, how would you move your pets across country?
 
Go with Penske. Their consumer rentals are a side business to their commercial fleet rentals. As a result, they have a contractor in every village ready to tow you if you break down. I blew out a tire on the trailer during one of my Penske moves and they had me back on the road within an hour. (with Uhaul you can be stranded in Nebraska for a day or two until they come out with a similarly decrepit replacement truck). And as already mentioned, Uhaul doesn't guarantee you a truck for a particular time, just for some time during the week with a lot of 'outs' if they don't have equipment available and the like.

Hire a local 'two guys with a van' team to load up the truck for you and another crew to unload at your destination.

And don't worry about the driving part. It takes some getting used to, but at the end of the day it is just another big-a## car. If you have to take a vehicle along, rent the platform carrier rather than the dolly. It is easier to handle if you have to back up.

I actually like the driving part, you have an opportunity to see places you wouldn't get to otherwise.

Be very careful with interstate moving companies. There is some amendment to the constitution that immunizes them from liability for your stuff and exempts them from state jurisdiction. As a result, they are well known to hold peoples stuff hostage at the destination and slapping on all kinds of 'fees' before it can be unloaded (if you want to lodge a complaint, go ahead. The federal office regulating them has like 3 investigators nationwide to follow up on your complaint).
 
dara678 said:
On a related note, how would you move your pets across country?
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I would consider doing the same thing people do with their furniture. Sell it and buy a new one at the destination 😉
 
I have a divider in my SUV, so my dogs will ride in the back. I think I am going to ask the vet about sedation though b/c they get car sick.🙁
 
psych.MD said:
Does anyone have experience moving their furniture, etc in pods?

What is the cost difference between pods versus U haul truck or having a mover drive the furniture cross country?

The pods seem like the most cost effective choice but I'm not sure how reliable this is????

Thanks!!!
Click to expand...

Rules of moving:
1. NEVER NEVER NEVER rent from UHaul. They suck. I have had two experiences, both horrible. Their vehicles are not that nice and their customer service is piss-poor.

That's really my only rule. Now, here is what I did and what is cost.
I had to move from Wichita, KS to Detroit, MI approx 800miles. Rented a 22 foot penske with a flatbed trailer for my car. The rental cost 750 bucks. I had the truck for 5 days. Gas was about 250-300. So grand total of 1000-1100 bones. It pretty reasonable. But there are a couple of "hidden" costs to consider. You have to pay hotel fees for long drives that require overnight stays and the cost of boxes/moving supplies.

I have never used PODS or had anyone else move me, but I have heard that you can hire some people to do the packing and unpacking for you for a per hour fee.
 
Tigger14 said:
I have a divider in my SUV, so my dogs will ride in the back. I think I am going to ask the vet about sedation though b/c they get car sick.🙁
Click to expand...

a 40lb dog can take one benadryl and be totally chill for 6 hrs. i do this for a trip i make about every 8 weeks. works like a charm.


-tm
 
Cool. My dogs thank you. So do I for that matter, since I occasionally get symathetic motion sickness.🙂
 
+5,000,000 on not using UHaul

http://dontuseuhaul.com/


I've had miserable experiences with UHaul. Trucks were just not there despite reservations (multiple times!). They actually said that the reservation was more of a "request." One truck had wipers that stayed on the entire time of a four-hour drive.

Penske, OTOH, has been great. Clean, newer trucks. Great service. Once I had a flat tire, and they came and fixed it within one hour. It is entirely worth driving out of your way to find one.

DON'T RENT A UHAUL!!!!!
 
This was covered in a thread sometime last spring but I'll re-offer my 2 cents.

1. If you can afford it, hire one of the big name moving companies (Mayflower, Allied, Bekins) otherwise do-it-yourself.

2. Rent from Penske. Better trucks, cheaper and more locations in my experience than U-Haul or Budget (and friendlier, even in NYC).
2a. Get a truck one size larger than you think you'll need. If you have to cross any mountains you'll appreciate the extra power.
2b. Join AAA if you rent from Penske...our $55 membership saved us about $500 on a cross-country rental.

3. Pay people to load and unload your truck. We spent ~$200 on each end of our cross-country move for 2 guys to do the dirty work and it was worth about 5x that much. $75 worth of pizza, beer and Gatorade for your friends to help you out may seem like a bargain but having done it both ways the extra cash is more than worth it.

4. If you're taking a car, get the full-on trailer, not the tow dolly (ours cost ~$75 more). The tow-dolly will handle strangely and unless you regularly drive a semi-trailer, you'll have enough to deal with driving a big-a$$ truck with a trailer attached to it without having to deal with dragging four unruly wheels behind you.

5. If you're moving more than a 1 day drive away, consider shipping (via commercial airlines, not UPS) your pets, children and possibly spouse. I think the only reason my wife doesn't want to move back to NYC when I do my fellowship is that she dreads the thought of another 3000 mile drive with the cat in a moving truck. And if we move for my fellowship it will be with a 1 year old child...just to make things that much more fun.

6. A 25' truck towing a 14' trailer does not go as fast as your Honda Civic. Assume that the best you'll do, on the average is 50 mph (and if you're crossing the Appalachians, Rockies and Cascades, make it more like 40 mph on average). If you're expecting to be able to cruise along at 75 mph on a long trip you will be very disappointed.

So there you have it, gutonc's 6 easy rules for long-distance residency moves.
 
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agree with above posters about penske. i rented a 22 foot penske from michigan to colorado, about $700. nice new truck, automatic, no problems. that is in contrast to my move out to michigan for med school, used u-haul, and the truck broke down twice on the way there, plus it topped out at 50 mph.
 
I agree with the above post that movingscam.com is a great resource. I used them when I moved across the country for med school and then again for a local move during med school. I used ABF Upack when I moved across the country. They have a few ways to move, but I used something like pods, but were much cheaper (the relocube). Another company that uses similar things to the pods is door to door. They were more expensive then ABF, but they let you store things a bit longer. The relocube I had arrived earlier then expected and nothing was damaged because I packed everything tight. I used the company labor ready to help me carry boxes, etc up to my new apartment. They were pretty good. I would definately look at movingscam.com for more info. I have added the links below. Good luck!

http://www.upack.com/
http://www.upack.com/moving-services/moving-container.asp?nav=service&nlnk=hvmenu
http://www.doortodoor.com/
http://www.laborready.com/default.aspx
http://www.movinglaborbrokers.com/
 
orientedtoself said:
agree with above posters about penske. i rented a 22 foot penske from michigan to colorado, about $700. nice new truck, automatic, no problems. that is in contrast to my move out to michigan for med school, used u-haul, and the truck broke down twice on the way there, plus it topped out at 50 mph.
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Did a similar move in a bigger truck. One thing. If you are in a college town, get your reservation in early for Penske. They price by where there trucks are and the demand. I had to move from Ann Arbor in June, there was a dearth of trucks and the price was a tad steep for a move to Utah. I checked nearby cities and found that if I went to Grand Rapids and rented, I could get the truck for about 70% of what it would have cost me in Ann Arbor. Save a couple of hundred bucks on the truck and trailer for the car. I've rented extensively for moving equipment locally and cross country. UHaul tends to have more poorly maintained gear. Penske has nicer equipment, and we did have a breakdown in Nebraska (AC in summer heat.) I called 'em an hour out of Omaha, got directions to their maintenance bay, arrived, they provided breakfast and fixed the truck while we ate. Very nice.

UHaul I would only use for local moves, and then only if they were cheaper.

Penske: Diesel (better economy), newer, cleaner trucks.
 
Say you want to make the move the week after the match. Obviously you won't find out where you're going until March 15th. Can you make a reservation now without telling them the destination? If anyone has successffully moved soon after the match I would love to hear about your experiences. Horror stories would be appreciated too.
 
coffeebeing said:
Say you want to make the move the week after the match. Obviously you won't find out where you're going until March 15th. Can you make a reservation now without telling them the destination? If anyone has successffully moved soon after the match I would love to hear about your experiences. Horror stories would be appreciated too.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you'd want to move so soon but I guess one way around this would be to make reservations for the cities of your top 3 choices and then (hopefully) cancel 2 of them on Match Day.
 
For self-moves, Penske all the way. Waaay cheaper than upack or pods for my 1 BR move. Budget is ok, too. Stay AWAY from U-Haul.

You may also wish to check out the ebay of moving: uship.com
 
coffeebeing said:
Say you want to make the move the week after the match. Obviously you won't find out where you're going until March 15th. Can you make a reservation now without telling them the destination? If anyone has successffully moved soon after the match I would love to hear about your experiences. Horror stories would be appreciated too.
Click to expand...


I've already made reservations to my top 3. Penske will allow you to change the dates twice without incurring a price change. I'm just going to cancel the reservations I don't need.
 
If you want GPS and have a Verizon phone I would highly recommend downloading the Navigator. It's something like $10 a month and the capabilities are great. It is also very accurate! It got me to all my interviews (especially when I got lost in Phili).
 
One more thing. If you have a pickup or other vehicle with a decent tow rating, you can rent a trailer from U-haul for very little money. If you get rid of a lot of the 'stuff' that has accumulated and chuck your matress, you can stuff a 1 bedrrom apartment into one of these.
(yes, I don't like UHaul, but they seem to be the only nationwide trailer rental provider)
 
I'm going to basically agree with what's already been said:

1. www.movingscam.com is your best friend in this whole process. period.

2. Don't use U-haul.

3. If you're ok with doing more of the work yourself (doing your own packing/unpacking, etc), but don't want to do the driving yourself, ABF Upack is a great, relatively inexpensive option. I moved 1/2 way across the country, and on the way there I rented a U-haul trailer, and had nothing but problems. Plus, we could only drive about 45 MPH the whole way....that was a painfully slow way to travel. On the way back, I used ABF Upack. I packed up my stuff about a week before hand and filled my rented container, was able to drive back going 75-80 MPH (cut my travel time almost in half) and my stuff was here when I got here. Pretty sweet deal. Cost me about $700 for a container. My only recommendation would be to make sure you box everything up, and then cover your stuff with a big plastic tarp, because it will get a little dusty.
 
Thanks for all the great info in this thread.

We're trying to figure out how to go about our move to TN. We have 3 dogs to move, as well as 3 cats, in addition to all our stuff.

I think I'm going to "ship" the cats...

😀
 
MJB said:
Thanks for all the great info in this thread.

We're trying to figure out how to go about our move to TN. We have 3 dogs to move, as well as 3 cats, in addition to all our stuff.

I think I'm going to "ship" the cats...

😀
Click to expand...
Check your local small airport flight schools. They might know a commercial operator that can charter a single engine plane to take your dogs and cats for not a huge amount of money. I don't know what charter rates are in your neck of the world, but when I was doing that in a single engine airplane, I got $1.20/mile. Figure about $2/mile now since gas has about doubled since then. Better ask around your med school to see if there's a private pilot who wants to come visit and bring your pets.
 
anybody know if there's some type of insurance to cover your losses if you get into a wreck or someone breaks into your rental truck?
 
Leche said:
anybody know if there's some type of insurance to cover your losses if you get into a wreck or someone breaks into your rental truck?
Click to expand...

Yes. Your auto insurance may cover it but if not, you can purchase it from the rental company. We got $0 deductible, no-fault insurance for damage and loss of the vehicle and contents for ~$300 for our cross-country move in a 27' truck. Since the whole rental was 10x that much it seemed like money well spent. YMMV of course but the insurance is out there.
 
Your personal car insurance typically won't cover a truck with GWV>10.000lbs. If you take one of the smaller ones, you might be covered. A larger rig, probably not.
 
Warning (from experience)- Weigh station at I70 Utah, just past Grand Junction CO Demands all 'commercial' trucks (including Uhaul like trucks) to stop AND Have a running LOG book (as do PRO truckers) properly filled out. Buy cheap at most truck stops-Fill out Perfectly(per rear page of book) or you will get a ticket (2008=$75.)AND possibly a 10 hr. NO MOVE PENALTY. Not sure its legit-but who wants to fight 'city hall'?
Also, I believe POD like containers(as ref. above)-Packed Tightly- are the most Economical way to go-Cross Country. Rental/Gas/Ins./Motel/Help/Personal-Physical wear+tear... Unless your just a Rd.Warrior.
 
I used PODS this summer to move approximately 750 miles. We moved out of our house, lived in a short term rental for 6 weeks, then moved to our new home. PODS was very easy to work with. They delivered and picked up exactly when they said they would. There was an issue that the POD delivery guy thought our street was too steep to leave a POD on (it probably wasn't, but how do you argue)? My husband had previously looked up the % grade and discussed it with them. Originally they had said it would be fine, but when they showed up they decided against it. In light of that, they took care of the issue, renting trucks (and men) to deal with the issue.

Our stuff was in great condition and arrived exactly when they said it would. Plus, the machine they use to deliver the PODS is pretty cool.
 
DME GUY said:
Warning (from experience)- Weigh station at I70 Utah, just past Grand Junction CO Demands all 'commercial' trucks (including Uhaul like trucks) to stop AND Have a running LOG book (as do PRO truckers) properly filled out. Buy cheap at most truck stops-Fill out Perfectly(per rear page of book) or you will get a ticket (2008=$75.)AND possibly a 10 hr. NO MOVE PENALTY. Not sure its legit-but who wants to fight 'city hall'?
Also, I believe POD like containers(as ref. above)-Packed Tightly- are the most Economical way to go-Cross Country. Rental/Gas/Ins./Motel/Help/Personal-Physical wear+tear... Unless your just a Rd.Warrior.
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I think this takes the grand prize for strangest bump ever, although I don't mind since its a nice thread. How much does,it cost to move with the pods?
 
I've been researching moving companies since I'm going to be moving about 900 miles for fellowship.

Pretty sure I'm going to go with ABF Upack. Pods was about 3x more expensive, although their containers do have more room than the 2 relocubes I'll be getting from ABF. If I have to, I'll get rid of some stuff, but I'm not going to pay over 3000 dollars for PODS.
 
Tiki said:
I've been researching moving companies since I'm going to be moving about 900 miles for fellowship.

Pretty sure I'm going to go with ABF Upack. Pods was about 3x more expensive, although their containers do have more room than the 2 relocubes I'll be getting from ABF. If I have to, I'll get rid of some stuff, but I'm not going to pay over 3000 dollars for PODS.
Click to expand...

customer service is better with ABF too
 
We moved with ABF when I started medical school, and they were pretty good. It definitely seems to beat the uhaul deal both on cost and convenience. I think gas pretty much kills you with those truck rentals, and I've seen so many of them broken down on the side of the road that I wouldn't want to mess with it.

We've hired movers, though, for our last 2 moves, and that's really the way to go. It's so ridiculously worth it even though it's expensive. Do your own packing, though.
 
For my transitional year to categorical program move I used the PODS website yesterday to see the cost of moving ~1,300 miles with their smallest pod. I should have known something was fishy when they wouldn't show me the cost after filling out a form, but I had to call in. After all this waste of time chit chat, I finally found out the real cost:

They want $1.45 a mile plus a lot of other fees for a grand total of about $2,500.

The rep wouldn't shut up with the sales tactics after I basically laughed in her ear. I had to hang up on her, and then I finally got an e-mail quote. Ever since then I've been getting e-mails from them despite clicking unsubscribe. After all the high pressure sales, I'm inclined to never use their services in the future.

The cost for a UHaul trailer is ~$350 plus a hitch for a few hundred. In this case I'll probably just cram my station wagon full of whatever fits and junk everything else.
 
You save a lot of money by renting the trailer, particularly if you're not leasing your car. Gas is much cheaper with a regular car towing a trailer and you'll also enjoy your car's cruise control, as no commercial moving truck has CC.

One lesser known way to make everything fit inside a towed rental trailer(or your car) is to save the trailer/car for valuable/fragile items and just ship your general stuff via greyhound or Amtrack. They both have a freight rate, (takes 1-2 weeks for delivery) and is very inexpensive. The only drawback is they that don't accept furniture.
 
Neuronix said:
For my transitional year to categorical program move I used the PODS website yesterday to see the cost of moving ~1,300 miles with their smallest pod. I should have known something was fishy when they wouldn't show me the cost after filling out a form, but I had to call in. After all this waste of time chit chat, I finally found out the real cost:

They want $1.45 a mile plus a lot of other fees for a grand total of about $2,500.

The rep wouldn't shut up with the sales tactics after I basically laughed in her ear. I had to hang up on her, and then I finally got an e-mail quote. Ever since then I've been getting e-mails from them despite clicking unsubscribe. After all the high pressure sales, I'm inclined to never use their services in the future.

The cost for a UHaul trailer is ~$350 plus a hitch for a few hundred. In this case I'll probably just cram my station wagon full of whatever fits and junk everything else.
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abf upack
 
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