Steerpike

That's very helpful, thanks! The quote I got from Enterprise was about $740. The Penske quote I just got online was only $580 for what looks like a similar deal. The key difference seems to be, Enterprise include 100 free miles / day while Penske have unlimited free miles.

Penske also had a note on the page suggesting they have too many vehicles at the Scottsdale location and there maybe additional discounts available.

Looks like I have options!

ottotheboar

We have a Yukon XL Denali there is a lot of room inside with the seats down but the rear door size limits what you can load. Depending what you are loading sometimes going through the second row doors can take a little more height.
Back haul looking for a load and excess vehicles in a location are the way to go.
I just paid $600 to ship 4 motorcycles from Venice FL to near Charlottesviile VA. Usually I pay $325 wholesale retail is around $500. Truck was heading to PA looking for something on the way.

Steerpike

18 months later, still haven't moved my stuff from storage in Scottsdale! Was planning to go get the stuff this month (finally!), but when I started calling the truck rental companies, they are all out of Cargo vans because Amazon snap them all up for the holiday delivery season!

I was able to secure a reservation for Jan with Budget, but I'm going to keep trying. Seems like storage units are in less demand these days so I may be able to get a better rate on a 10'x5' unit.

ddsrph

I have rented a box truck a couple of times. Always cheaper to return where rented but the extra round trip miles can eat up that savings versus one way miles.

Steerpike

Looks like Penske are coming through again! I have to wait till Dec 18, which means I won't be driving back to CA until 20th or so, but - the weather forecasts look pretty good so I don't think I'll be hitting any major storms. It's looking like I can get a 5 day one-way rental for circa $600.

So now, I have to book a one-way flight; a hotel; a car ... and decide whether I'm going to drive back non-stop (750 miles) or spend the night somewhere around LA. Normally, I spend the night in Pasadena (LA) but with a big cargo van, not sure what my parking options will be. Also, not sure I want to leave my worldly possessions in a van in some random parking lot! But I think I'll get over that and just stay at some suburban hotel.

Regarding car rentals - I'm seeing two new companies on the 'grids' - 'SixT' and 'Nu'. Nu are very very cheap - which is usually a warning sign ...

I'm favoring a cargo van over a 'box truck' because I have hardly ever driven a truck, so a cargo van is a bit more inviting - a bit more 'car like'. I imagine the cargo van will be more comfortable than a box truck also; I'm contemplating doing the 750 miles in one go, which is 'tolerable' in a car, probably torture in a truck, hopefully barely tolerable in a cargo van!

ddsrph

When it comes to long trips especially hauling something with security concerns I drive until late nite then park at a busy truck stop for a few hours until morning. I bought my airplane in St George Utah and hauled on open trailer to Tennessee. No way was I going to park at some motel. Just bring a pillow and some blankets.

Pulaski

I agree with Ddsrph's advice to sleep in the cab at a truckstop.

Also we rented from SixT for our summer road trip starting and ending in Denver. We got a great deal, renting an X5 for less than the main rental co's wanted for an Explorer or Tahoe. Going with the X5, we gave up a little interior room, for performance and a very comfortable ride.

And we got to try out a 2023 X5, albeit a 6-cyl, unlike my own 2018 V-8 - I still prefer the V8, but the 6-cyl wasn't much different, honestly. The most noticeable difference was that the proximity key system on the 2023 automatically locked the doors when I walked away by maybe 10-12ft.

Steerpike

Ugh. Even though Penske showed availability of a cargo van on Dec 18, it wouldn't let me complete the reservation and wanted me to call a number. Last night I went ahead and booked a flight, car rental (for the preceding days prior to picking up the truck), and hotel assuming I'd be able to complete the reservation. This morning, I called the central number for Penske and they said they have no cargo vans prior to January for the same reasons the others gave - all out with UPS, FedEx, Amazon for the holiday season. When I told him I'd booked a flight/hotel/etc, he put me through to the local office in Scottsdale where I'd be doing the pickup. The guy there confirmed lack of guaranteed availability, but did say they happened to have 2 cargo vans in the state 'today' that were just returned, but they would likely be out again tomorrow. He said he can create a reservation and I 'may' get the cargo van, but otherwise I'll end up with a 12' 'box truck'. He said the cab on both is pretty much the same, so not a lot different in the driving experience (I'm guessing the box truck is going to be more susceptible to wind).

I could just wait till January but ... I've been putting this off for so long and I've finally got a plan, I want to see it through! Also, Dec 18 is close enough that I've been able to at least peek at a long range forecast and don't see any major storms (AZ and CA aren't exactly bad weather locations, but we do get occasional nasty winter storms that can seriously affect the freeways).

Regarding sleeping in the van ... I've done this drive many times, often non-stop with naps, but - sleeping in my comfortable car - with a reclining seat - is a different story from sleeping in a van's 'bucket' seat, which I assume does not recline. But I guess as long as I can close my eyes for a while, I don't need much. I presume a 'box truck' is going to be more secure than a cargo van, at least - perhaps as secure as the quality of the padlock I put on it!

The issue I've read many times with SixT car rental is that they hit you with 'damage' reports after the fact. Anyway I found a half-decent rental with Alamo so will go with that.

Pulaski

For reasons I have never seen confirmed,* small box vans are commonly built on a panel van cab and chassis (as opposed to a truck cab and chassis i.e. in Ford's commercial vehicle ranges that would mean an E van base, rather than an F light truck base), so the cab in a rented box van may, indeed be truly identical to the panel van cab of the same brand. That said, I have seen a few rental box vans built on a Ford F450 cab and chassis.

* I suspect that the "cab + bonnet" length might be slightly shorter for a van cab, as vans are noticably snub-nosed compared to the equivalent truck. So using a van as a base would reduce the overall length of the vehicle.

I wouldn't worry too much about side winds in a small box van, you may be able to "feel" the wind, but then you can feel the wind in an SUV, never mind a panel van, but unless you're experiencing storm force winds they shouldn't cause you an actual problem or serious concerns. .... I have driven larger box vans (20ft and 25ft boxes, with the latter being what used to be a "Class 3" HGV in the UK, of the sort I used to load when I worked for United Biscuits), and those vans have a much higher center of gravity than the small box vans (a problem which I had further exacerbated by loading them to the roof), making even the every-day driving experience being very different from a car, and I wouldn't want to drive that sort of van in strong winds. .... So if you're only part filling a box van, so far as possible I would spread your boxes and tubs over the floor as far as possible, to keep the center of gravity low, and incidentally reduce the risk of anything falling and potentially damaging the contents.
I didn't suffer that, despite returning it with a small chip on the edge of the driver's door. ... Which I concealed with the closest metallic graphite touch-up pen I could find at short notice, which happened to be a Toyota colour.

Steerpike

Now that I'm reluctantly considering a box truck, more options are available ... UHaul have a 10' box truck available at a competitive rate. I'm thinking a 10 footer will be easier than the 12 footer (from Penske, smallest they have). So now it's a juggling act ... I reserved a 10' box truck from Uhaul along with my existing 12' box truck reservation from Penske (keeping the Penske because they MAY be able to give me a cargo van on the day, but no promises). Closer to the day I can call Penske and see what they have, and cancel a reservation as appropriate. They both seem to be pretty generous with cancellations. I just read a horror story that U-haul canceled someone's reservation the day before pickup, after they'd already flown in specifically ... let's hope that's not my experience!

I'll be making this journey alone, and even though I'm sure I'll get the hang of driving it, I'm concerned about backing up. I find backup cameras indispensable these days, and can't confirm that the 10' or 12' box trucks have cameras (seems like newer models do, but you can't predict what you'll get on the day). Backup cameras were legally required on all new model cars in the US since 2018, but I don't know the state of the 'truck' market. I just called a UHaul location, they said it's hit/miss; 2 of their 3 available 10 footers do have them but no guarantees on the day.

Regarding a 10' box truck - looks like it will be 19'6" long, 7' wide. My car is 15'6" long, 6' wide. So not a lot of difference, I guess, in terms of judging turns, etc. Not looking forward to maneuvering around the storage facility but we'll just have to give it a whirl!

Do moving trucks have to pull over / pass through the 'scales' you see all over the place on freeways - the ones that require 'all trucks' to stop?

Steerpike

I survived the move so I should share a few observations for others.

U-Haul put their newest trucks into the 'one-way move' pool (older trucks used for local moves), so you are typically more likely to get a truck with a backup camera on a one-way move. My truck had the backup camera. The display was postage-stamp sized, built into the (otherwise pointless) rearview mirror - but at least I could see what was behind me, and I was able to reverse right up against the loading dock at the storage facility by myself.

U-Haul trucks have less than ideal 'tie down' posts inside the truck; in my case, I had a lot of smaller boxes stacked high, and I needed to secure them against the back wall of the truck, and horizontal rails don't really help with that. I bought a bunch of ratchet straps and used some empty flattened boxes to spread the load, and that got me through. I knew I was going to be driving on some rough freeway patches, and over the grapevine north of LA, so needed to secure the load well. I also had some delicate artwork items, and some ceramics, so I couldn't afford to have anything working itself loose. I got all my stuff out of storage and loaded into the truck, and securely tied down, in about 3 hours - way faster than I expected. I did a few 'test drives' around town, including a few steep hills, to verify that my tie-downs were reasonably 'vibration proof'. I then had to return the rental car to the airport, and Uber back to my hotel.



ALL trucks (including moving trucks like this one) have to stop in California at weigh scales. There were 5 on my route. First one was closed, second one I drove through, third one I accidentally flew past, and the fourth and fifth were closed (benefit of driving late on a Sunday, I guess).

I drove the 760 mile journey 'non-stop', leaving at 10am, arriving home at midnight, with 1 hour 'extra' due to timezone changes. Using Google Timeline after the fact, I was able to determine that the entire journey was 15 hours; I was in motion for 12 hours, resting/eating/fueling/etc for 3 hours. I made 7 stops, longest 45 mins. The last 'leg' was the longest; for some reason, by about 7pm, I was feeling rested and made the last 283 miles from Tejon Outlets (at the base of the Grapevine) to the Bay Area without a single break, in just over 4 hours.

It started pouring down about an hour from home. The wipers were lousy and it was very scary. Luckily the wipers 'settled down' after a while and I could just about see ahead of me. The water from the windscreen streamed onto the side windows, totally obscuring my view through the side mirrors. It would have been a nightmare had the rain been more persistent.

The next day, I drove to my new storage facility and unloaded the truck in 3 hours. Assholes at the storage facility lied to me about the storage unit; they told me it was 5x10, but it was only 3'6" by 9'3" ... "that's why we gave you a deal" they said. Lesson learned - NEVER take a storage unit without seeing it!