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scissor lifts are fun on liftgates. Company I worked for had several for lighting jobs. Had to parrelle park them on the lift, raise it up, and then back and forth it a bit to get it onto the truck.
I had it down to such a science, I could ride the lift while I did it, rather than pulling the controls down on it's cable. Many a stagehand thought I was completely mad for doing it
I have used uhaul with minimum problems.
They are the only ones that will rent me a car hauler that I can use my personal Chevrolet Trailblazer with.
i, too have used uhaul with no issues a few times. first was coming home from freshman year of college, we used an expedition and my f150 to haul my crap up there, and i had to get it all back with just the f150, so i rented an 8ft trailer and tossed my crap in. no issues with it other than the strange way they hook up their trailer wiring. more recently a buddy rented a dolly so that i could drag his wrecked car to storage so that we could pull parts off of it before it went to the JY. also fine, but the dolly would 'wag the dog' when unloaded. not a fun feeling.
just last year i rented a 18' van chassis truck to move my larger stuff to my current place. the guy i dealt with was friendly and helpful, and the truck was there and gassed up at the aggreed upon time. the previous day's renters had spilled some peanut oil on the floor of the truck, so they threw in some moving blankets for free so as not to muck up my stuff, which i thought was considerate. i picked it up and made my move in the planned 2 trips and had it back before 1pm. the lack of availability of a truck with a liftgate or even a pull out ramp made it less than fun though.
i think your uhaul experience depends a lot on the independent places that you deal with. this place was run by a straight-up kind of businessman, so i didnt have trouble, YMMV though.
Chalk up another "death to U-Haul" vote. They are, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "biblically terrible."
Penske, however, is smooth sailing. My girlfriend rented a small Chevy 1500-based box truck from them...no extra charge for one-way, no mileage charge (only pay for gas and rental fee), and the rental fee was cheaper than U-Haul's fee even before mileage costs were factored in.
And I, too, have driven the 26' International from Penske (work rents one occasionally when we have more than three pallets of stuff, because it won't fit in the Sprinter). The one we got had a floating bucket seat, and convex anti-blind-spot mirrors. But the steering wheel is ungainly, and the cabin can be charitably described as "somewhat loud." I have no doubt believing it will tow a double-car flatbed though. It may be slow, but holy torque. Anything that can carry 8 1600 lb. pallets of beer in the back and still move is good in my book.
I drove the largest truck that Penske offers without a CDL, and it was a breeze. Sure, when it had eight pallets of citrus loaded up in it, it was a bit sluggish, but it more than handled the load. I would definitely use them again; the truck was in really good shape and didn't give us any problems.
The Uhaul that sucks the worst in Gainesville is the corporate one. The fact that so many UHaul locations suck means there is something wrong with the entire corporate structure. Another bad thing-if you reserve a truck online they will call you confirm your "Local Rental" will be ready to pick up in a town 30 miles away.
I suppose they're a few bucks cheaper, and as long as that's the case, they'll stay in business. As long as people try to save money by moving their own stuff, they'll try to save as much money as possible and get a 1984 carbed E-150 to pull their houseful of stuff.
Wow I tell you this is great information from everyone. I didn't know so many folks had these experiences, and such knowledge.
Sad thing is they are about the only game in town for renting a trailer or dolly without renting one of their trucks to pull it.
MitchellC wrote:I suppose they're a few bucks cheaper, and as long as that's the case, they'll stay in business. As long as people try to save money by moving their own stuff, they'll try to save as much money as possible and get a 1984 carbed E-150 to pull their houseful of stuff.
saving money and people do think they are the only game in town. They certainly have the market wrapped up as far as the public is concerned
