Help!!! Penske vs Uhaul (packing, renting a trailer, discounts, cross-country move)

[gccpsy]

I used Penkse last March when I moved from Colorado to California.
I would go wit Penske ALWAYS... The trucks are reliable, newer and the customer service is great.
Sorry I never needed help unloading but you find people locally to help do that. There's always day labors looking for a work, at least in SF.
Good Luck!

[Dark of the Moon]

Originally Posted by tambre

Hi everyone,

My husband and I will be moving from NY to MO sometime next year. We have two dogs, two cats, two cars, and possibly some of our grown children coming with us. Would you recommend hiring a moving company, and if so, approximately how expensive is it? My husband has his CDL, so maybe he could drive a big truck out, if they rent to individuals? How many miles/gallon do you get with the 26 foot straight box trucks? Thanks for any and all information. Take Care and HNY2008!

Penske does rent 26' trucks, although you'd probably want to check with your local dealer to make sure they have the trucks readily available. Average mileage will probably be less than 10 MPG, but cheaper to drive yourself than to hire movers.

You can get all the info on their bigger trucks at Penske.com

[Bydand]

I would visit Farm Fleet and buy a wheelbarrow before using another U-Haul. Biggest POS I have ever sat in. Last time I used one it almost made it 1/10 of the way before I had to sit on the side of the freeway and wait for their repair facility to come out and get it going again. I had to baby that junker 1500 miles, the whole way uttering words that are unfit to print.

Penske on the other hand was in better shape than my personal vehicles, and still had that new truck smell. It had less than 30,000 miles on it and was in perfect shape. The Penske people on both ends told me that Penske pulled all the over the road one-way trucks out of that usage when they hit 2 years old no matter the mileage on them. They then just used them for local rentals for another 2 or 3 years then get rid of them. I can believe that because I now drive one of their 16' box trucks every day for work. I bought one they were getting rid of, because of the good experience I had moving with them. That truck was/is like new, and had the most complete service history I have ever seen. If I ever move again, I will look no further than Penske.

[VaNative]

When I moved to Florida from Virginia, I went with Budget. Penske was too expensive and U-Haul's trucks are OLDER than dirt.

[aragx6]

I got a quote for Penske that was more than the moving companies. I don't know if this was an odd situation for any reason, but U-Haul's prices were half that of Penske. I'd rather have an older truck than pay that kind of money.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by aragx6

I got a quote for Penske that was more than the moving companies. I don't know if this was an odd situation for any reason, but U-Haul's prices were half that of Penske. I'd rather have an older truck than pay that kind of money.

Good luck with that choice! Not being sarcastic at all, just U-Haul has the WORST service and reliability out there. Check Penske again, not just online, talk to a real person, there must be some oddball happening. Every quote I have gotten from Penske is a LOT cheaper than U-Haul (get the quote to dicker with Penske you know) or any other rental place out there. Also change either pick-up or drop-off points to those that are not too far away, there can be a difference in price if you are dropping off at a location that needs that size truck.

[Bydand]

Just ran a comparison for my upcoming move. Maine to Michigan. no extras, biggest trucks (26' for U-haul and Penske, 24' for Budget)

U-Haul - $1133
Budget - $1186
Penske - $752

And Penske has the better equipment, looks like a no-brainer for this move.

[aragx6]

This was 6 months ago when I moved; I talked to a real person. Even tried to negotiate, they wanted none of it. It may be a geographical thing.

I have actually said it on this thread, but it was long ago- we ended up using U_haul for our 500 mile move. Everything went great- our truck was even almost new (less than 10k)

It's obvious our luck with them is in the minority. I'm not suggesting everyone go with them, but don't completely cross them off your list.

[convergent]

Wow, I'm glad that I found this thread. We are getting ready to move from NY to NC, and I had planned to go with U-Haul. In 9 pages of posts, there is only one person that had a good experience with U-Haul (except for the 2 dudes that are U-Haul employees it seems). I don't think I've ever seen a comparison in a forum of two major competing brands, with no assumed bias, that was this one sided. I'm definitely going to plan to use Penske. Thanks everyone for the reviews.

[Denise in Fla]

Here's my story for U-Haul: I rented a U-Haul 2 months in advance for an in state move. I called to confirm the week before our move and was assurred my truck was "reserved". I called the day before pick up and when I was told "so & So' will call you back I knew we didn't have a truck. When U-Haul called gave me some bull story about the brakes not working, blah, blah, blah. Said would be fixed that day by 4: P.M. I called and still was not fixed, gave me another excuse what was wrong with the truck. Now mind you in the mean time we find out we are going to have a hurricane and so I was really under pressure to move. Long story short, I asked point blank, "there is no truck for me, is there?" Answer, no mam there isn't. Why jerk me around all day? Anyway I called every rental place there was and a U-Haul in my area was able to rent us one, had to pick it up asap and return it in 6hrs. We did it all in 6 hours, thank god for the nice person that felt bad for us and finagled a truck even though it was for a short time. I have used U-Haul before with problems, but we just moved and went with Budget, it was a breeze. Will never use U-Haul again!