Moving Truck Rental:UHaul vs. Penske...positive comments?

[CaraBoo]

We are moving in just over a week. Our options are UHaul and Penske for moving truck rental. I have been reading customer comments on both companies and get many more negative than positive opinions. I have to pick one...anybody have any experience with either company?

Penske truck rentals are picked up in the parking lot of other businesses like the Home Depot...I can't find much else, good or bad, on them.

Most of the complaints about UHaul involve the pick up location being inconvenient or the truck reserved not being available.

Please help!

 

[rgf207]

I've used both and I don't have anything bad to say except that Penske tends to have newer trucks than uhaul

 

[golfgal]

It really comes down to the people that work at your local U-Haul or Penske place. They are moving trucks, they are big open spaces that hold all your junk . They work. Dealing with the people that rent them is another story. We have had both good and bad experiences with both. Give them each a call and get quotes. You should get a good feel for what they will be like to work with just by doing that.

The BIGGEST difference we have found between the two in the places we have used them is that for LOCAL moves, U-Haul won't guarantee you a larger truck because they save those for people moving out of town, Penske guaranteed whatever truck size you wanted.

 

[eebadeeba]

We moved long distance a few years ago. I switched my reservation from U-Haul to Penske (I think it was Penske, although it could have been different one) due to price. We drove the truck, but I hired some movers to load it. I had ordered the same length truck, but the movers said that the U-Haul actually has more volume in the truck. I think he said they were a few feet taller. Anyway, we were not able to fit all of our stuff in, and had to leave some behind.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I've used both and I don't have anything bad to say except that Penske tends to have newer trucks than uhaul

Yes and you want the newest truck you can get. You did not say how far you are moving but old trucks beat you to death. If it is a short distance, who cares, go for the best price.

 

[FireDancer]

I've used both and I don't have anything bad to say except that Penske tends to have newer trucks than uhaul

This is what I found. Of course it is only anecdotal but I used U-Haul for my move to FL and Penske for my move back to Ohio. The Penske truck was much newer and cleaner.

 

[CaraBoo]

Thanks everyone!

We are moving almost 400miles...PA to KY. I have been worried about older UHaul trucks killing us on gas mileage. I guess I will call around and see what I can find. There are 10 UHaul places in the immediate area but only 2 Penske. This is the first time we have ever rented a truck for a move and I just wasn't sure what to watch out for.

I appreciate all your help!

 

[Hyonlyf]

I'm a Uhaul dealer and yes, more than anything I hate when corporate makes a reservation but fails to inform customer when their pick-up location changes. Always call day prior and confirm that truck is at the place you were told. Uhaul will match competitors prices so feel free to price shop! All the fleet is pretty new, especially the 20' trucks.

Good luck whichever company you choose

 

[simba20]

Well, the only moves I've done are short moves (about an hour), and my preference is for Penske. I've lived in the boonies and U-haul has outrageous "nickel and dine" charges. When going with Penske, all I've had to pay fpr is the truck, no worry about miles over or return time, and Penske allowed me to have the truck for two days at a minimal charge.

My preference is for Penske.

Oh and I've picked up a Penske turck at a large Penske center (near the airport), but been allowed to return the truck to a franshaise place (i.e. local storage rental place that leases Penske trucks).

We had friends who moved to Atlanta, and Penske was their choice just for a flat rate charge. They are the ones who turned us on to Penske.

 

[deegack]

I've never had luck with uhaul. I had one break down, one time they called the day before and the size I wanted was no longer available but I could get a smaller one for the same price or a larger one for more money.

 

[bettymae1121]

My experiance with Uhaul is pretty good.

Just rented a trailer for DH to move some stuff he had at his mom's house in PA to our house in IL. I reserved online here in IL for pickup in DH's home town in PA. DH drove to PA and picked up the trailer, loaded it and drove home to IL with no problems. The trailer he wanted was available, but he said he was glad I reserved it online ahead of time because when he went to pick it up, the place was mobbed and sold out of trailers/trucks for that weekend. Normally he just likes to show up and get a trailer, I talked him into booking it ahead of time, so good call on my part!

Another friend of mine rented a truck from them to move from IL to FL about 6 years ago, that also went very well. They even let her keep the truck an extra 2 days for no extra charge after her promissed apartment wasn't ready when we got there like it should have been (the apartment complex got a hotel room for us to stay in until it was ready).

So I have to say that Uhaul is just fine. I might try to get there 1st thing in the morning the day you pick up the trailer/truck, just to be sure it doesn't "accidently" get rented to someone else if they get really busy, but other than that I don't have any qualms about using them again.

 

[Lisa_M]

Thanks everyone!

We are moving almost 400miles...PA to KY. I have been worried about older UHaul trucks killing us on gas mileage. I guess I will call around and see what I can find. There are 10 UHaul places in the immediate area but only 2 Penske. This is the first time we have ever rented a truck for a move and I just wasn't sure what to watch out for.

I appreciate all your help!

We have rented both. We used Penske for our move that was about 400 miles and it was fine. We get Uhaul for local moves as it is dirt cheap. Our Penske truck was nicer than all the uhauls we have had.

 

[disneykidatheart]

We used Penske for a move from Oklahoma to Michigan--1125 miles. My husband reserved online. We got exactly what we ordered and a 10% discount for being a Sam's Club member. Worked great!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I had a UHaul location pretty much refuse to give me a vehicle the day I was scheduled to pick it up for a local move unless I agreed to have it back within 3 hours, despite reserving for 24 hours. I called UHaul and they basically said either take it with the condition of returning it within 3 hours or go without a vehicle as they had a long distance customer picking it up in 3 hours.

Another situation, my brother-in-law rented a UHaul to move from NYC to Skaneateles and he went to pick it up and the guy took him to the truck and there was a homeless man living inside the cab. The guy proceeded to get the homeless man out, scold him about sleeping in the cab AGAIN and then sprayed Frebreeze in the cab to help mask the odor. Needless to say, a few sprays of Febreeze doesn't cover urine and body odor for long.

I pretty much have vowed to never rent from UHaul again.

 

[malibuconlee]

Whatever you do, go to a local place in person to reserve your vehicle/trailer. We learned by experience that online they will reserve one for you, but when you go pick it up they won't have it. This was U-Haul in 2001 in the Dallas area.

 

[SookieStackhouse]

I don't know anything about Penske...but I have nothing positive to say about U Haul.

 

[Fire14]

Not sure if these are options for you but budget and enterprise do rent trucks also.

 

[mpls_mm]

I moved 2 years ago with a U haul truck, trailer and car trailer. We took insurance on the truck and trailer, we were told we didn't need insurance on the car dolly because it was being pulled by the Uhaul that was insured so it was covered. It actually came apart on the highway, as in the pieces separated, narrowly missed other cars and damaged my car being towed. I was on the side of the road and called, no one could come that day. I took the pieces and drove my car the rest of the way home along with all the other U Haul stuff. When I turned it in they said I deliberately sabotaged their trailer. The trailer with my brand new car on it. It needed it's own separate policy and they automatically charged the whole cost of the trailer to my credit card. The awful emails and stuff that came from them were ridiculous. This was also in winter, everything had to be returned spotless even though the roads were muddy and slushy and the closest car wash was 15 miles away. They admitted every customer was charged a cleaning fee. I had to file with my own insurance company and the only satisfaction I get is telling people this story. I also printed my complaint and the emails they sent me and I sent them to every Penske corporate office I could find welcoming them to use my story and contact me about Uhaul. Uhaul found out and to make it up to me, for all of my trouble, they sent a $50 Uhaul gift certificate. My SIL just used them against my advice, they double charged her and have been looking into it for 3 months. She used a debit card and is out the money. there are several websites called uhaul sucks, I hate Uhaul etc etc

 

[movingagain]

I've used U-Haul approximately thirty times...literally. Never had a good experience with them, but their convenient pick-up/drop off locations always kept me coming back. Also, I didn't really even know about Penske until a few years ago. U-Haul is a horrible company. Their trucks are dirty, smelly, old, rattling, high mileage broken pieces of crap. I've never once gotten a U-Haul truck that was in good condition or didn't have alignment issues, loose mirrors, doors that didn't close correctly, dents, chipped windshields, etc. I used U-Haul for a move from Tucson, AZ to Venice, Florida a few years ago, and it rattled and vibrated us to death for 2500 miles, and I found out two days into my trip that the U-Haul car hauler I was towing my pick up truck on didn't even have working lights! This caused me a lot of problems driving through Mississippi at midnight. I won't even get into that now.
After finally giving up on U-Haul, I used Penske last year for the first time to move from South Florida to Las Vegas. Penske was actually $600 dollar less than U Haul, and the truck I got was newer, cleaner and ran smoother than any truck I've ever gotten from U Haul in the past fifteen years...and the people there were actually nice, which you will never get at U-Haul. Penske doesn't have as many pick-up or drop-off locations as U-Haul, which is the only downside. Absolutely do NOT use U-Haul for cross country or long distances. They're OK for short local moves or very short distances...only because they have many pick up locations. U-Haul is also the rudest of all companies you'll ever deal with. I think they only hire employees with bad attitudes!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

U-haul advertised that their back end is lower which eases how much gravity you have to fight to load the truck.

We had a good experience towing a trailer from VA to FL. Plenty of options in both places. I wouldn't even know where to get a Penske. I don't see them much at all.

Both times I have rented a trailer, they did not let me leave the lot without confirming the lights all worked.

I have had pleasant experiences with the employees I encountered.

The only thing I didn't like was the price. Extremely expensive for a trailer with no engine for a one way rental.