I-Haul With Penske: A Comparison Between Penske and U-Haul
Written: Aug 06 '05
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Pros: Nice truck, great rates, positive experience.
Cons: None come to mind.
The Bottom Line: A very positive experience.
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| Bruguru's Full Review: Penske |
I hate moving. It’s really a pain packing up all your stuff (and as the years go by, we do accumulate so much stuff, don’t we?). This time, I wasn’t moving myself, I was moving a friend all the way from Rhode Island to Atlanta. He had visited a few times, decided he liked it, and set everything in motion to transfer his job and buy a house here.
So, this was a long-haul move. First things first, we obviously needed a truck, and he asked me to drive it for him. After my nightmare experience with U-Haul, I was reluctant to rent a truck from them. We looked at several possibilities, including Ryder, Penske, U-Haul and a few others. Penske came in with the best rates for our 1000-mile one way needs.
The Rates
U-Haul had the lowest rates of just about anybody at just over $1400. This was for a 16 foot truck and included five day usage and unlimited miles. It did not include collision damage waiver or taxes. The collision waiver is important, because most insurance companies will not cover a large truck as they do a rental car. Best to check with yours to be sure.
Penske easily beat those rates. Their starting rate for the same size truck was about $1300. However, booking online saved you 10%, and a AAA discount saved even more, so that the final rate including damage waiver ($90) and taxes was around $1250.
Booking Online
This was a snap. You simply select the city moving from and to, truck size, and dates you want to move. The system will even help you select the right truck size and give you an estimate on what to expect for mileage. You’ll get an instant rate quote including all applicable discounts.
We were picking our truck up on a Friday, and when we plugged that information into U-Haul, they tried to convince us to move on another day. Penske didn’t do that. Once we had completed the registration and reservation, an e-mail was sent with all the details.
Picking it Up
When move day came, our truck was ready right at noon, just as promised. Paperwork was kept too a minimum, and we were in and out. We simply paid for the truck, signed the agreement, and were on our way. No deposit was required. As a comparison, my experience with U-Haul was the exact opposite in every sense: deposit required, truck was not ready when promised, and we had a long wait to fill out all kinds of paperwork while they tried to sell us boxes and everything else under the sun.
The Truck
We got a fairly new GMC with about 16,000 miles on it. It was an automatic and rode like a dream. Even if you’ve never driven a truck, you can quickly master this size vehicle. The seats were extremely comfortable, the cabin spacious, the air ice cold. Even the radio sounded great.
We also got much better mileage than we were expecting. We loaded the truck pretty much all the way, and were warned mileage would likely be about 8 miles to the gallon. However, we got about 11, which was a pleasant surprise.
Dropping it Off
Penske has plenty of locations, so we easily found one nearby to return our truck to. But we almost didn’t want to give it back. We liked it that much. The five day time turned out to be just right, and allowed time to pack, drive, offload and clean. It is essential that you return the truck clean or you may be charged a fee. After a quick inspection at the return point, we were on our merry way again.
Overall
I hate moving. But I had to move, and Penske made the experience as pleasant as possible. I definitely prefer them over U-Haul, and they had better rates, too, at least for a long haul move.
Recommended:
Yes
Punctuality: Showed up on time
Amount Paid (US$): 1250
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