moving across the country

November 1, 2007 4:19 PM

movingfilter: moving halfway across the country. i'm about to make a rental truck reservation, what's the best choice? the thing is the 12' truck is $617 while the 16' truck $459. what gives? the move is roughly 2000 miles. will the 4' extra end up costing me more in the long run due to increased gas mileage?

i'm pretty sure the 12' will be cheaper overall, i just don't know the first thing about engines, gas mileage, etc. as far as load is concerned, i could get away with a cargo van, but none of the companies i can find will do a one way van rental. the load won't change if it's a bigger or smaller truck.

posted by andywolf to Travel & Transportation (25 answers total)

FWIW, i moved across the country in 2003. i was all set to rent a truck....then i realized shipping my essential belongings via a cheap freight carrier and buying new furniture was much cheaper.

have you considered shipping your stuff and flying? i'd really only recommend moving furniture across the country if it is especially expensive/sentimental/irreplaceable.
posted by gnutron at 4:30 PM on November 1, 2007

Best answer: Assuming the truck itself (i.e., the part that's not the bed-- the"box" where you haul stuff) is the about the same model with either choice...

The weight you're pulling will determine how hard the engine works (and, by extension, how much fuel is burned) far more than the length of the bed in your case. Those box beds themselves are relatively light-- a few more feet won't make much of a difference.

But I second gnutron-- if you can avoid a truck at all, do that!
posted by Rykey at 4:53 PM on November 1, 2007

If you do choose to rent a truck, see if you can rent from ANYONE other than UHaul. They keep their trucks in poor repair and a one-way rental is their big chance to get rid of the worst one they have.
posted by aubilenon at 5:02 PM on November 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I agree with aubilenon. I don't think it's only a question of maintenance. It's that in general U-Haul is the only game in town, so their trucks get an insane amount of mileage, often by people not familiar with driving trucks. No amount of scrupulousness could keep these trucks from falling apart.

You might want to think about using a trailer instead if you have a car that is strong enough. They're way, way cheaper and probably use less gas as well. Just keep in mind that it will put some load on your car, making it age slightly faster I imagine.
posted by Deathalicious at 5:08 PM on November 1, 2007

Back in 1997 at least Penske was comparably priced compared to Uhaul for one way moves, and they seem to have decent covereage of cities.

I would also advise staying away from uhaul; friends have had lots of problems from coming in to find out that having a truck "reserved" doesn't mean anything to break downs that the people doing the driving did not feel were adequetly handled. As well as questionable maintenance. However, the few times I've personally dealt with uhaul and cargo vans instead of cube vans/shipping trucks I've lucked out with near-new vehicles. None the less, I only consider uhual to be an option if it's last minute and no one else has vehicles.

Regarding having it shipped via cheap freight vs. driving it oneself; for some things, there's the piece of mind of having all of your stuff in your control. But then that might be my aspie side speaking ;)
posted by nobeagle at 5:52 PM on November 1, 2007

Penske is awesome. I will never ever ever ever ever use Uhaul again. Dealing with Penske was absolutely delightful. It is well worth the extra money. Nice trucks, reservations are honored, polite professional staff.
posted by ian1977 at 6:05 PM on November 1, 2007

I've recently had very good luck with Penske, as well. They have all kinds of web discounts, as well as AAA discounts, if I recall correctly. The customer service guy I spoke with seemed downright eager to have me spend as little money as possible.
posted by Dr. Wu at 6:22 PM on November 1, 2007

When I moved cross-country a few years ago (Seattle to Orlando), I used ABF U-Pack Moving (upack.com) and was very happy with them. The price was much cheaper than renting a truck, I didn't have to drive a giant truck cross-country, and everything went smoothly. I would highly recommend them to anyone making a long distance move.
posted by Lokheed at 6:29 PM on November 1, 2007

do make sure to also check the truck heights and try to get an idea of where you're driving through -- 12' truck is probably 9-10' tall max whereas the 16' could possibly be 12' tall.

penske is awesome but pricey. I recently did a 4-hour move using a truck from budget, you can generally find 15-25% off coupons that work in their online reservation system (altho it often requires mid-week rental)
posted by dorian at 6:50 PM on November 1, 2007

oh and enterprise should do one-way van rental. just that it may cost more than a truck (at least when I was checking for my move, it did...)
posted by dorian at 6:52 PM on November 1, 2007

I've used Uhaul plenty of times and never had more than minor problems, but can't recommend using a Uhaul for more than a few hundred mile drive. If you are crossing the continent though, I would definitely pay to rent space in an "over-the-road" (OTR) moving company truck (sounds like 4 linear ft. will do it for you) and have them drop off and deliver while you fly to your new home. Even if it costs you a little more, which it probably will, you will thank yourself in terms of a hassle free move. You will be much better prepared stamina and energy-wise to begin work and settle into your new home.
posted by mrmojoflying at 6:55 PM on November 1, 2007

Seriously consider selling everything you own before you move and starting fresh. For the cost of moving a couch and a mattress, you could buy a new one when you get to where ever you are going. I did a cross country move a few years ago and at that time Public Storage offered those plywood box "pod" things. They dropped it off, I packed it and put my own lock on it and they shipped it off to their warehouse in my new destination and stored it until I got there. I was quite happy with that service except for the fact they "lost" my boxes for a couple of weeks, but it didn't matter to me because I wasn't at my location yet anyway. When I opened my boxes, I realized that I was sick of half of the stuff I had packed. I wished I had just gotten rid of it instead of having to deal with it in my new location. There is something exhilerating about starting fresh and I would recommend you embrace your move with as few incumbrances as possible.
posted by 45moore45 at 6:55 PM on November 1, 2007

There are also several you-load-they-drive options. ABF and Broadway Express most prominently.

I've used ABF a couple of times -- once with trailers, once with cubes (like PODS but different), and both worked out well. Both ABF and Broadway Express usually work to be no more expensive than renting a truck, paying for gas, and losing an extra day because you can't do 70. And, you drive your comfy car instead of a ginormous truck.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:28 PM on November 1, 2007

I nth the warning about U-Haul. If you read the fine print on their reservation, they make it clear that a reservation does not actually guarantee that they will have a truck (of any size) available for you. I.e., they are happy to take your reservation, but reserve the right not to keep your reservation.

We discovered this the hard way. I'll spare you the details, but, yeah, these are fond memories. Uh huh.
posted by Capri at 7:42 PM on November 1, 2007

Assuming this is U-Haul, note that they reserve the right to "upgrade" you to a bigger truck on the day of your reservation, so you may not have much choice anyways. You might as well take the cheaper option.
posted by ssg at 8:45 PM on November 1, 2007

The only way I've ever been able to get a truck from UHaul was to either get a pickup truck (and half the time ended up with a van, because that's all they had) or by renting the only stickshift truck they had, because nobody else wanted it. It was old and ugly, but it worked beautifully, and it was always there even if I did a walk-in.

in retrospect, I should have just bought it.
posted by davejay at 9:45 PM on November 1, 2007

With the same power train you probably couldn't quantify the difference in gas mileage unless the frontal area is different. Unlike boats airstream wetted area on vehicles has very little effect on drag. The truck will weigh a bit more but it'll only be a few hundred pounds. However if the larger truck is taller or wider you'll notice a difference.

I'll second the idea of renting a trailer if your vehicle will tow it. Because they have way fewer moving parts they are more reliable (though I'm 4 for 5 on getting flat tires with trailer rentals from U-Haul including a double that had me waiting in the kicking horse pass for several hours) and generally cheaper. Also note U-Haul's insurance specifically doesn't cover damage caused by a blown tire on either trailers or trucks, even if the tire is 25 years old. So make sure to pull over at the slightest hint of tire trouble.

FYI: you might be able to offset some of your one way costs by pairing up with another person, worth posting to craigslist if it's active in your area.
posted by Mitheral at 2:04 AM on November 2, 2007

I remember when I was researching renting a truck, Ryder had a better reputation than UHaul. (Had to go with UHaul, since no one else did one-ways to Canada.) I also got my truck "upsized" on me.

Don't go with UHaul.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:16 AM on November 2, 2007

Make sure you time it so you can physically check the truck back in with a person--not a drop box. Budget screwed me out of $30 and there was no obvious (or even apparent) way to get to a human being on the phone who was capable of fixing the problem. Consumerist.com complaints against UHaul notwithstanding, I've always been able to work with them.

That said, moving sucks. If you can afford to have someone else do the hauling and heavy lifting, it's money well spent.
posted by phrits at 4:17 AM on November 2, 2007

Response by poster: thanks folks, a few people mentioned penske being pricey. but it's over 400$ cheaper for the same type of truck then budget and uhaul. those two start at 1000$, penske i quote above. haven't read them all, but it's much appreciated.
posted by andywolf at 5:54 AM on November 2, 2007

My number one piece of advice for dealing with any rental truck company is to get there early--if at all possible, be the first customer in line when they open. I've seen others have to deal with the whole "you reserved a rate, not a truck" shit, so I load up a coffee mug and get to the rental place a good half-hour before opening.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:56 AM on November 2, 2007

Uhaul is a nightmare. I would not rent from them again under any circumstances. They pulled the whole "it's not a reservation" thing with me and then when they finally got us a truck it was in bad shape.

I have had much better experiences with Ryder.
posted by jcwagner at 8:19 AM on November 2, 2007

Another vote for ABF U-Pack, which was extremely reasonable for our cross-country move and absolutely fantastic. Everything was on-time, they were extremely professional, and it was as stress-free as possible.

It was certainly better than UHaul, which is nearly universally a horrid nightmare.
posted by JMOZ at 8:25 AM on November 2, 2007

I've used Penske twice in long-distance moves and had very good luck with them.
posted by wheat at 10:54 AM on November 2, 2007

If you consider shipping, friends have had good luck (and good prices) shipping via Amtrak. The trick is, you have to take it to the departure station, and pick it up on the other end.
posted by soviet sleepover at 3:21 PM on November 2, 2007