Moving to school? Don't use U-Haul!

[AmateurChef]

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Hi everyone --

I just finished moving to Cleveland to start at Case this fall. I just thought I should warn everyone about U-Haul...they're a terrible company, their customer service is terrible, they probably won't have a truck for you, etc. Avoid U-Haul at all costs. Nearly everyone I know who has ever rented from U-Haul has been screwed in the process.

I'd recommend that everyone check out:
http://www.dontuseuhaul.com/

The site has plenty of U-Haul horror stories, as well as some suggestions on alternate companies to rent from -- Penske, Budget, etc.

Good luck!

 

[DRposer]

THis is no Joke. My best friends family rented a truck to move one of their sons to AZ, and the truck started on fire and burned to the ground; they lost everything. Their trucks are the most unsafe vehicles on the road; and they suck.

 

[Indryd]

Penske is AWESOME. Great service, great trucks, LOWEST price of all the big companies EVERY time I have moved.

If you have a dealer in your area, go with them.

 

[fantasty]

I got a one-way U-haul, and it ended up costing almost as much as the quotes I had for professional movers! Some of my friends used Penske (from a further distance) and it was almost $500 cheaper.

 

[ms. a]

I got a one-way U-haul, and it ended up costing almost as much as the quotes I had for professional movers! Some of my friends used Penske (from a further distance) and it was almost $500 cheaper.

U-Haul also takes advantage of the prime moving times by really raising prices. Last year, my parents drove a truck from Sacramento to Houston with a bunch of stuff they had saved for the house that my husband and I had just purchased. They called U-Haul, but because it was over Labor Day weekend, when every college freshman in the country is moving, the price was over $2,000!!!! They then called Penske and got a much nicer truck for about $500.

 

[KidDr]

Hi everyone --

I just finished moving to Cleveland to start at Case this fall. I just thought I should warn everyone about U-Haul...they're a terrible company, their customer service is terrible, they probably won't have a truck for you, etc. Avoid U-Haul at all costs. Nearly everyone I know who has ever rented from U-Haul has been screwed in the process.

I'd recommend that everyone check out:
http://www.dontuseuhaul.com/

The site has plenty of U-Haul horror stories, as well as some suggestions on alternate companies to rent from -- Penske, Budget, etc.

Good luck!

As long as we're talking about moving, check out www.movingscam.org before you do any move. It'll tell you who is the best and who to avoid. I recently used ABF U-pack and it was great.

 

[katrinadams9]

My husband and I had a really rough time with Uhaul this past weekend! He had called early in the week (Monday) to reserve the truck and was promised he would recieve a confirmation on Friday before 5pm for the truck he'd be getting early Saturday morning. They failed to call, so J had to call them and was transferred, put on hold, etc until the local Uhaul company closed. He then called the 800 number and got someone at the main office to promise to call first thing in the morning. So we had no idea when we'd be able to get a truck. The next morning, he called them (because they failed to call again) and was told there would be no trucks for the day. He then called every Uhaul in his area and mine (where we moved to) to find a truck. He located one that would be "possibly" be available at 5pm because the ramp was broken and they'd have to fix it. This truck was over an hour out of the way!!! He ended up with a much larger truck than needed, but luckily they only charged us for the original truck price. I would never, ever use Uhaul again!!!

 

[Kazema]

Yeah, UHaul really sucks. They didn't have my truck on the day I reserved it for, even though I made the reservation 3 weeks in advance. I ended up moving a day late, screwing up my plans. I'll have to go back to Rochester on Saturday to finish wrapping some things up there.

 

[epalantequevoy]

wow, i'm kind of surprised. i recently moved with a uhaul trailer attachment and the experience was just fine. it was pretty cheap for a one way, i had no problem attaching it to my suv, and everything is still intact.

 

[AStudent]

I moved out freshman year using UHaul and I'll agree not to go with them, primarily for the cost. IMO, use Penske - wayyy cheaper and better vehicles.

 

[evade]

Ah, I do love to rip on U-Haul! My housemate and I rented a truck to pick up some furniture a few weeks back, and the thing was just awful. When it was on 1/8 tank of gas (we'd received the stupid thing with only 1/4 tank), it had serious trouble starting. We were pretty panicked that we weren't going to make it home. Oh, and this was after having to rent from another location because the location near us didn't have a truck, despite our having reserved it weeks prior. Moreover, they never called us to let us know that we had no truck, so we were left scrambling. Another friend of mine tried to rent the 14-foot truck and ended up with their 20-foot truck instead. Said truck took GAS, not deisel, and chewed up a gallon for every ten miles. It also had its 'check engine' light on the entire drive, from Massachussetts to DC (U-Haul refused to do anything about this).

Moral of the story: use someone else! I would've used Penske, but there's no rental place near here. Sigh!

 

[xanthines]

[/snip!]

Yeah, Budget is better than U-Haul. It's cheaper and the trucks are generally newer and with fewer problems. I rented a Budget truck to move from Atlanta to Cleveland and the Budget guy here was pretty nice and gave me a chance to get my deposit back instead of bending me over.

-X

 

[samdwi]

I've had my U-haul bust its transmission's guts on an I-75 on-ramp. I wasn't even towing anything at the time either. It just roasted and never shifted in to anything more than second gear. I had to limp back to the lot going 20 mph sounding like I was going 80.

Budget Truck, however, worked out great. The dealer even threw in a free hand-cart rental after he saw how frazzled I was.

 

[vhawk]

Wow, and I honestly thought I was the only one who got totally hosed over by UHaul. They screwed with my reservation, then shorted me on the mileage so I ended up having to pay extra, and overall it cost me about 1400 bucks to go from southern MN to DC. Total screw, and I recommend anywhere but UHaul.

 

[morefire]

My husband and I had a really rough time with Uhaul this past weekend! He had called early in the week (Monday) to reserve the truck and was promised he would recieve a confirmation on Friday before 5pm for the truck he'd be getting early Saturday morning. They failed to call, so J had to call them and was transferred, put on hold, etc until the local Uhaul company closed. He then called the 800 number and got someone at the main office to promise to call first thing in the morning. So we had no idea when we'd be able to get a truck. The next morning, he called them (because they failed to call again) and was told there would be no trucks for the day. He then called every Uhaul in his area and mine (where we moved to) to find a truck. He located one that would be "possibly" be available at 5pm because the ramp was broken and they'd have to fix it. This truck was over an hour out of the way!!! He ended up with a much larger truck than needed, but luckily they only charged us for the original truck price. I would never, ever use Uhaul again!!!

I had a similar experience about a month ago. I ended up renting a truck from enterprise and leaving some of my furniture at my old place.

 

[NDMD]

I've also had a horrible experience with UHaul regarding lack of available trucks. Reservations don't mean much to them. Penske is awesome unfortunately they don't have a location near where I live now.

Check out this site for a few more horror stories:

http://www.epinions.com/hmgd-Moving_Services-All-U_Haul_Moving_Service

 

[Docsoon???]

Penske is AWESOME. Great service, great trucks, LOWEST price of all the big companies EVERY time I have moved.

If you have a dealer in your area, go with them.

I agree, I moved 2500 miles to go to med school and Penske was by far the least expensive and most helpful. I actually rented an appliance dolly from U-haul, but when I went to pick it up, they didn't have one for me (surprise, surprise). Penske rocks!!! 🙂

 

[tchantel21]

Adding my grievance to the pile...I used U Haul to move to my new place two weeks ago. I reserved it about a week ahead of time and the day before my move they told me that my truck might be in a different city than we'd originally discussed. The next day it was in a whole other city that I 'd never even heard of. I ended up moving way later than anticipated and it was very expensive.

 

[Diane Moore]

As long as we're talking about moving, check out www.movingscam.org before you do any move. It'll tell you who is the best and who to avoid. I recently used ABF U-pack and it was great.

Thanks for the plug--I'm a long-time unpaid volunteer on MovingScam.com. But just a note that the correct URL is www.movingscam.com. If you use .org you'll get an error message.

We have an entire thread on rental vans - http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2060 It contains info on how to get Penske discounts, etc. Also, with regard to what people have posted here about unavailability of vehicles that they reserved by phone, a U-Haul manager posted this on MovingScam.com (review #8):

Always make your reservation at a store whether it be a dealer or center. The 1-800 # first charges a $5.00 fee that is only supposed to be charged to reservations made with less than 24 hours notice, but they charge to all local reservations. You wont get a fee at a store. Plus the 800 # will do anything even lie or not disclose the full truth to get your reservation, those operators get $3 for every reservation they book even if it is canceled down the line. they want the $$ for themselves.

 

[zx6r]

Last year, my husband and I reserved a truck to move us ~650 miles to relocate for clinical rotations. It was a 1982 old loud piece of crap. About 450 miles down the road, the master cylinder decided to literally unbolt and fly off of where it was attached. We heard this loud crash that sounded like the engine blew up. We looked in the mirrors and saw a huge black cloud of blowing oil. Luckily we were near a rest stop on the interstate, but it took 2 hours to get ahold of someone at u-haul to finally tow us. The angle on the truck during the tow killed our entertainment center, our nice road bikes, and sadly our 36" TV of the most notable--many other items lost. My husband did all the talking to those losers. They basically flip flopped him around on hold and to different reps, and they actually had a simulated fuzzy sound on their end in the background to make it sound like he was calling them on a cellular with bad reception. They are so lame. Every time we have traveled back for holidays, we never fail to see a u haul on the side of the road. Usually it is the trailers--they jacknife so bad that they take out the side rear of the suv towing. I wish this company would go bankrupt and spare some innocent people.

 

[mshheaddoc]

I really don't know how uhaul is still in business. I rented from them back in college and the truck I had was like 8 years old. I vowed not to use them again.

Moving tomorrow and I'm picking up my penske truck. The truck is cheaper but I have the tow carrier which was $200 more than uhaul but still OVERALL cheaper than uhaul. As well as I KNOW my vehicle is under 48 months years of age and I get PURE floor space, no overcabs. And I get a free ramp for the truck.

I'm glad I researched first. Uhaul and budget didn't come NEAR the price i got. Plus I got a AAA discount! 🙂

 

[Deleted member 72527]

For me, Penske was going to be a lot more. Then Budget decided that they wouldn't give me a 10 foot truck (I really only needed about 6 feet!), only a 14 foot truck. I ended up having to go with UHaul, but the truck only had 27K miles on it (of course, it hadn't had an oil change since 20K!). I got a free month of storage, too. I will admit, it could have been really bad, though.

 

[Pembleton]

Penske has great rates, but you need to book them in advance. Trying to do it the day before a move will probably cost you more.

Recently, I used Budget. I was pleased but if I had been smarter I'd have booked with Penske earlier.

Uhaul does blow though. I used them once for a local move and the location they sent me to for the pickup truck did not have any trucks available.

 

[thatuvicguy]

I agree. UHaul licks. Just used them to move to Vancouver and the entire ordeal was hellish. ****ty service all around. Here's to them going out of business soon.

 

[DrBowtie]

Penske anecdote. Brand new truck. 14 hour drive. I believe it was a 14 footer. The ride was smooth and had no problems. I only have two complaints but those are about moving trucks in general.

The cabs don't have enough leg room. I was a passenger most of the trip and I couldn't get comfy. Even worse was that the AC was very weak. There just wasn't enough circulation of cold air and on the trip to FL I was sweating just sitting in there.

Overall though it was a good deal. Penske 👍

 

[lorelei]

I used U-Haul the first two times I moved after college and it was fine, so I reserved a trailer with them this time (two weeks ahead of time). As other people have mentioned, "reservation" doesn't mean to U-Haul what it does to us (i.e. they will actually have whatever you reserved). They were supposed to call on Friday (the day before) to tell us where to pick up the trailer, but they never did. So we called them and they said they didn't have one for us, but one MIGHT come in on Saturday.

Well, Saturday morning we called again and still no trailer. My parents called every phone number they could find, and no one could help us - they could look up trailers if we gave them a city name, but not just within a 50-mile radius of DC. Sorry, I don't know the name of every podunk town in the metropolitan area.

Finally we found an available trailer in Lancaster, PA - 2.5 hours from DC. So my dad drove up there to get it, then the lights didn't work so they had to fix that, and my trailer finally showed up at 5pm the day I was supposed to move. We loaded it up and got on the road after 9pm - not good considering the drive to St. Louis totals about 15 hours. We had to stay in a hotel in Maryland, only one state into the drive.

The only good thing I can say is the trailer stayed in one piece.

 

[fang]

another u-haul scare story:

I reserved a truck through the national 1-800 number. I even called to confirm it. Then, the day of my move, I went to go pick up the truck and the local office had NO CLUE about the reservation, and had no trucks available for 2 weeks. Luckily I found another company the same day.

 

[Deleted member 72527]

Penske has great rates, but you need to book them in advance. Trying to do it the day before a move will probably cost you more.

Recently, I used Budget. I was pleased but if I had been smarter I'd have booked with Penske earlier.

Uhaul does blow though. I used them once for a local move and the location they sent me to for the pickup truck did not have any trucks available.

I researched this all months in advance, Penske was still going to be more than U-Haul or Budget.

 

[8744]

I have had nothing but good luck with Uhaul. On my last move I rented a brand-new 26 foot super-mover that had automatic transmission, meat-freezer air-conditioning, and a working radio. Me and my dogs had a relatively pleasant 970 mile drive. It was a smooth ride for a truck, the automatic transmission made merging pleasant and it even got better gas mileage than advertised. (Around 10 MPG.)

I have rented some "clunkers" from UHaul but they have always got the job done. Plus they are considerably cheaper than Penske or Budget, especially for long moves. I paid $1100 for the truck, a trailer for the car, five days, and 1200 contract miles.

Budget wanted around $1800 for the same set-up. Not to mention that their decks are 2 feet higher than Uhaul's which makes loading and unloading very difficult.

You have just got to work around the limitations of Uhaul, the biggest of which is that many of their offices are run as sideline of gas-stations that sell crickets and other bait items. A minimum wage pump-jockey who's other major task is keeping the Slurpee machines neat and tidy might not know the ins and outs of Uhaul's national tracking system.

If you stick to the larger, dedicated Uhaul rental franchises you will do all right.

 

[rpkall]

I had issues with UHaul, though it wound up being quite cheap ($250 for a move from New Haven to Syracuse). Also, if you're planning on using UHaul, reserve the truck one day earlier than you actually need it, because they don't guarantee the reservations. I rented a truck for Friday for a planned move on Sat. I figured I would have the truck at least by Friday night, so I could start moving some stuff before my buddies arrived on Sat morning to help. Nothing. Then on Saturday morning, they said they had a 10 foot truck which was almost brand new (20k miles), which we took and everything wound up fitting. They tripled our miles in case we had to take 2 trips, and knocked some cash off too (it all turned out to be around $250).

So I guess, things I learned:

1) Don't move at the end/start of the month with UHaul.
2) Try to do it during the week, and not a weekend.
3) Reserve the truck a day earlier than you need it, if need be, and park it on the street/in the driveway.
4) Deal with a large UHaul-only center to start with, not a sideline dealer that's part of the fleet circulation system.