Road trip on UHaul/Penske

[alertjean]

I was planning to relocate from Austin to Boston on U-Haul 10ft truck while towing my car(A Mini Cooper on car carrier).

The truck wont be fully loaded. I was wondering whether it would be comfortable to tow a car with 10' truck.

What speed and mpg should I expect ? Penske only allows 16' truck to tow vehicle. I was wondering whether I should switch to the bigger truck 16' option(which I dont need) by Penske instead of Uhaul for a comfortable ride.

Please share your thoughts.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Penske is usually the better deal and here's why...

1) unlimited mileage with Penske
-- (Uhaul hedges this by including their extra-high mileage rate into their quote and then providing a "free mileage" allowance)

2) Penske trucks are often newer and better maintained the U-Haul.

3) Everyone knows that you're carrying household goods in the U-Haul -- but in a Penske truck it could be anything -- thus increasing the perception of security

4) U-haul uses speed govenors (really, really bad idea). Penske doesn't .

On the other hand, a lightly-loaded truck can be a bear to drive in windy conditions.

For my money, I'd still choose Penske over U-haul.

Mark

[alertjean]

Won't that be a problem if I don't load the bigger 16' Penske truck fully under windy conditions compared to 10' uhaul truck ? Will the risk of jackknifing increase ?

[glc]

The tongue weight of the car carrier will help anchor the truck. Use a full trailer-type carrier, not just a front wheel dolly.

[Midwest Michael]

I worked at a place that rented UHaul's in college, and since then I've used them several times for major, long distance moves.

First, the size and or load of your truck really has little to no impact on jackknifing or anything like that. That would be a function of making sure your trailer is properly loaded (not much of an issue when talking about a car, more having an unbalanced load on a cargo trailer) and how you drive.

As far as Penske vs. Uhaul, a few things have given Uhaul the edge for me.

1, they have far more locations. Austin to Boston probably won't be a huge deal, but there were times where I would have had to drive much farther to find a penske location for pickup/dropoff.

2, There trucks are better designed for moving, with cargo areas lower to the ground (penske's trucks are the perfect height if you're starting at a loading dock), and they have seating for 3 instead of two.

3, Price. UHaul has usually been less expensive, and even when its been close, they will price match. UHaul does have a mileage restriction, but it typically is far more miles than you'd need. For example, Austin to Boston they allow 2325 miles, which is almost 400 miles more than the direct route.

I've had UHaul trucks that were in perfectly good condition, and a lot of their reputation for having old trucks comes from the trucks that are reserved for in-town moves. Those trucks are typically ones that have 150,000+ miles and have been "retired" from one way service.

And I'm not sure about UHaul trucks having governors. I've driven them (foolishly) down the freeway at 85-90 mph. At that speed, the side mirrors started to blow in, but I never noticed a restriction on the engine.

I would agree with GLC, go with the full trailer for a much easier move.

[alertjean]

Another 2200 mile road trip completed flawlessly on Penske Truck with Car carrier from Austin to Boston. Spent $650 on fuel. We spotted atleast 5~6 similar combination(Penske Truck + Car carrier) on the way but saw only one similar Uhaul combination. Looks like I made the right choice!
Thanks for all the advice.
Happy Roadtripping!

[Midwest Michael]

I'm not sure I follow your logic that you made the right choice simply because you saw more Penske trucks than Uhaul, but nevertheless, we're very happy to hear that you had a good trip and that everything went well.