The escape from this place (California) is beginning. We are going to take a truck load of stuff to the new home in Washington, Utah in a couple of weeks.

Been looking at renting moving trucks.
For One Way Rental of a 26 Foot Truck,these are some of the prices:
Penske - $3650
U-Haul - $2750
Budget - $975

We went by the Budget and Penske offices today.

The Budget trucks seemed old and beat up, thou they had many trucks on the lot. It appeared to be a distribution / repair center. My thought is they may give me a truck they want to "get rid of", since it is a one way rental.

The Penske trucks all seemed to be much newer and in better condition.

The drive is about 700 miles. Interstate 5 to 58 to I 15. Pretty straight shot, some mountain. Somewhere in the 12+ hour driving range.

The Budget price included their Liability Insurance and Roadside Assistance package.

Is it worth the extra $2-3,000 for the piece of mind of hopefully getting a much newer truck?
Or "it is only 700 miles and I not buying the truck" ?

Also any information about having to stop at scales ? Going through California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

Thanks, as always.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TomV,

That is crazy money. Unless you absolutely have to have these items arrive when you do, a day or two after packing, consider PODS or a similar solution.

They will likely be half of the Budget quote, you load it up at your home and they can have pickup scheduled for whenever you want and take them to your new destination for arrival on a day of your choosing.

$3650 - WTF????

For me it would be "its 700 miles and I'm not buying the truck." Spent 16.5 years driving trucks and renting from Penske/Ryder. Have you checked Ryder as well? In my experience Penske had the nicer trucks but both Penske/Ryder had about the same amount of re-occirring issues. I wouldn't be so concerned with the look of the truck as long as it passes pre trip inspection.

Shit no! I’d get the cheap truck

Trust me, Pods are NOT cheap. At least not down here. Maybe rates are better where you are.

Pods doesn't service my destination.

Ryder recently changed to "Business Only" rentals, from what I read.

Part of the cost in truck rentals revolves around how badly the company needs trucks where you are going, how difficult it will be to get the truck rented at your final destination, and if the company will be required to "dead head" the truck elsewhere to get it rented again.

You can also toy with days to get some relief.

Length of use also matters.

I have rented from all companies mentioned and Ryder. I prefer Penske or Rider. Last time I used Budget I spent time cursing their governors on the truck that held me at 55 while everything around me was doing 70 or more. I threatened to cross out the "t" on the side because it would barely "Budge."

Good luck with your move.

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:
Pods doesn't service my destination.

Ryder recently changed to "Business Only" rentals, from what I read.

Could you have the pod delivered close to your destination the rent a truck to move it's contents a much shorter distance?

Those trucks are nearly $100k outfitted. Renters drive them hard and tear them up all the time. Folks not accustom to driving something that big leads to issues. See http://11foot8.com/

100k?

That sounds at least twice as expensive as I'd expect.

I'd go with the cheapest one, budget. Also keep in mind you're going to chew through about 120 gallons of fuel as those trucks only get about 6-7 mpg.

No one is going to remember if the moving van had power windows. Get the lowest truck and buy yourself an X Five.

If you were going the other way it would be practically free. It’s supply and demand.

I just rented a Penske and was really happy with it, but there’s no way I’d pay that much more than the Budget truck. My distance was similar and I got a 26 foot and a trailer for my car for under $900.

I’d go with the Budget truck.

Since PODs doesn’t serve your area it doesn’t matter, but just for comparison I also got a POD and the cost was $2500. That included 2 months of storage and all the transportation.

We just moved my daughter from College Station, Texas to Sugar Land, Texas with a Budget truck. I was about to go with U-Haul or Penske, but when I searched Budget as a last resort, I went with Budget since it was close to $150 less.

One negative was that we had to drive to Magnolia, Texas(North Houston - 60 miles away) for pickup up, but at least we got over 50 miles free.

The Penske trucks look pretty, but we weren't unhappy with the Budget, especially for the 170 miles we had it for. I will use them again if their price is similar or below.

ABF Freight offers U-Pack, look into that. Looks similar to PODS.

Does Budget offer a roadside plan?

We used UHaul to cross the country a few decades ago. We had issues. Including them taking 18 hours to get us a replacement tire when one of our drive wheels went flat.
We got a discount in the end, and lucky for us the timeline allowed for such incidents.

What is your time/ frustration worth to you in the end?

I rent a 26' box truck a couple of times a year. If you book under the commercial listings, you can get a lift gate and generally nicer trucks; front deck isn't going to check if you're an actual business. The problem with one-way cross state rentals is the supply/demand paradigm. As I'm sure you're aware, trucks leaving the SF Bay Area are flowing out but, none are coming back so, availability may be an issue, not to mention certain destinations may be over-filled with one-ways. Whatever you choose, get the insurance, big trucks usually result in big problems (if they happen).

I'm sure each office/location is different, my experience is the following:
- Budget: reasonable rates and commercial has lift-gates, the trucks at the location I use ride well and aren't abused pig stys.
- U-Haul: purely household rentals, trucks ride like hell and underpowered, trucks are abused badly.
- Penske: runs the gamut from solid rentals to abused. I had a rental once and the brakes only worked if you literally stood on top of the peddle. I rear-ended the car in-front at a stop light, a 1-mph bump, luckily no damage, no foul, the driver was very understanding.
- Ryder: only does business rentals ergo lift-gates, unless that office is pretty anal, they aren't checking.
- Enterprise: haven't gone there yet, closest office is the next county over.

For that money, quote having a moving company do it for you and rent nothing.
Sometimes your time, aggravation, body, and safety are worth a few dollars.

Drive your own car in comfort and let the help do the work.

My .02

Bruce

No one has answered your question about going across scales and that will depend on GVW (gross vehicle weight) of truck. It's written on the side of the vehicle. Most rental trucks are small enough that they are not required to cross scales but for your own peace of mind ask your sales agent about the one you get.