move me!

July 28, 2007 1:07 PM

Canada + moving truck rental + interprovincial move = only u-haul?

I'm moving from Toronto to Montreal at the end of August and have been calling everywhere trying to find a company to rent a small truck from. I've got a one-bedroom apartment and I think I would need a small cube van - I have a double bed and couch and stuff so I think a cargo/panel van might be too small. Based on estimates I've gotten online it sounds like about 2000lbs of stuff but I'm not sure what area that would take up.

I've called all the biggies (National, Budget, Hertz, etc.) and the only place I can find that allows the pickup in Toronto and drop-off in Montreal is u-haul. But I've heard so many bad things about u-haul and I'm a little scared of them. Mostly, the fact that you can't rely on a truck being available on the day of your move does not sit well with me. ("You know how to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation. And the holding, that's the most important part.")

Does anyone know of other similar companies in Canada? The only one I've read about is Penske but in Canada they only do local (same location drop-off) moves.

When I moved here from Montreal 4 years ago I borrowed a mini-van but I didn't have the furniture I do now, so I'm forced to do a REAL move.

I should re-state that this is a move within Canada so while I appreciate helpful American friends, probably your suggestions won't apply here.

Thank you!

posted by loiseau to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

When we moved from Montreal to Texas and back again, we used U-Haul for both moves. I was young at the time, so I don't remember if it was because of lack of choice.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:32 PM on July 28, 2007

Try Ryder. I don't much about them right now but my uncle has a rental franchise in Canada and I worked there in the summers in college.

At least back then they did both local and one-way (long distance) moves. As crazy as it sounds it might be cheaper for you to rent it for a "local" move (that is, pick it up on Toronto and come back there to drop it off). One-way rental costs can vary widely based on where the inventory of trucks are at any given time. And availability is going to be much easier mid-week than it would be on a weekend, and obviously very costly or nearly impossible on the long weekend.
posted by marylynn at 1:40 PM on July 28, 2007

In my experience with U-Haul, you are much better off renting from (that is, picking up at) the actual U-Haul depot (with hundreds of trucks on the lot) as opposed to a dealer (e.g. the gas station with five trucks)
posted by winston at 1:52 PM on July 28, 2007

I should re-state that this is a move within Canada so while I appreciate helpful American friends, probably your suggestions won't apply here.

Offchance, if you really REALLY don't want to use UHaul:

Talk to the US agencies and see whether their trucks are allowed to cross the border. If they are, book a truck from Buffalo to Burlington VT, and do your move as part of it.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:40 PM on July 28, 2007

Discount allows trucks to be returned to a different city, depending on where you pick up the truck (like winston suggests, from the depot). They're also less expensive than and more reliable than U-Haul.
posted by solid-one-love at 3:04 PM on July 28, 2007

marylynn: "Try Ryder."

Nope, they don't do one-way rentals.

ROU_Xenophobe: "Talk to the US agencies and see whether their trucks are allowed to cross the border. "

Nope, can't due to customs laws.

solid-one-love: "Discount allows trucks to be returned to a different city, depending on where you pick up the truck (like winston suggests, from the depot). "

Nope, they don't allow this to Quebec.

I am starting to feel that this is an impossible proposition.
posted by loiseau at 4:30 PM on July 28, 2007

Is there nobody like ABF U-Pack or Broadway Express in Canada?

These are services where you load a truck (or a cube, or cubes) and they drive, whereupon you unload. For values of "you" = "little men you paid."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:00 PM on July 28, 2007

We had the same issue here in BC, with a move from Richmond to Quesnel. I really didn't want to use U-Haul, but no other self-move companies I called would do a one-way. Other than that, the only choice was hiring a real moving company which was ungodly expensive.

I did find places that did the container drop-off and ship to your destination, but they were just about as expensive as having someone with a truck and professional box-carriers come in.

So, no solution to your problem, but hopefully still an answer.
posted by Kickstart70 at 7:57 PM on July 28, 2007

So, it really is only u-haul. It was hell getting it -- spent hours sitting on the floor of the depot waiting for someone to return one -- but I got it, I moved, and I'm just glad it's all over.
posted by loiseau at 12:56 PM on October 5, 2007