One-Way Cargo Van Rental

I'm moving from the Northeast to the Southeast in a couple months and I'm looking to rent a cargo van one way.

Checked all the usual suspects, but no one seems to do vans one-way.

Do y'all know anyone that does?

I've sold off and/or not taking a bunch of stuff so I'm moving pretty light, I have more stuff than'll fit in a stow'n'go Caravan but not enough to justify a less fuel efficient box truck.

you could get a very small box van from uhaul. Single Rear wheel, not much different from driving a real van, but with a big rear door and square packing areas

Penske won't rent you a van, but if you can live with a box truck they're by far the cheapest for a long one-way haul. How far over the capacity of your Caravan are you? Uhaul trailers are pretty cheap to rent, their trucks/vans not so much.

That's what I'll probably end up doing.

When I moved up here 5 years ago, I got screwed with the "we reserve the right to upgrade you at no charge." Even though I reserved the 10' box, the smallest, I was "upgraded" to the 26' that ended up costing me $Hundreds more in fuel and tolls. It was also nearly impossible to street park in front of my Boston apartment. Trying to avoid that again.

Try an actual car rental place (rather than a moving van place) and get a full size van.

In reply to RossD:

In order for the regular rentals to work one-way, you'll need to either luck into a company that actually WANTS a full size van moved to wherever you're going, or be prepared to pay a pretty sizeable one-way surcharge. Point being you should check with all of them.

In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:

I don't have a Caravan, but I could rent one one way.

Alternatively, look into shipping your stuff if it's that little? If you can figure out how to crate it all together, you can probably get it there via Uship pretty inexpensively.

I checked with Ryder, Penske, Uhaul, Budget, Enterprise, Alamo, Avis, Hertz, National, Thrifty. No full size one-way cargo or otherwise.

Might be cheaper to buy then sell. Or even buy then junk.

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6172313031.html

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6195304496.html

What about Enterprise Rent A Truck?

How about a POD. Or if you get a bigger truck fill it full of coolers of lobster and sell them as you go. Big sign on the side. Hit the rest stops.

POD's are super expensive. Like double what I paid in gas, tolls, and for a 26' box truck to move.

A small box or one of those itty bitty tow behind trailers would probably work. Personally I'd probably just grab that Econoline that mtn linked. You could probably sell it for half or break even down south and still come out ahead.

Get the 100 mile AAA tow and your phone to call one of us on the east coast if something goes sideways.

mtn wrote: Might be cheaper to buy then sell. Or even buy then junk. https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6172313031.html https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6195304496.html

Problem is that he's going in the wrong direction. Unless undercarriage patina is big in the southeast.

nutherjrfan wrote:

mtn wrote: Might be cheaper to buy then sell. Or even buy then junk. https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6172313031.html https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/cto/6195304496.html

Problem is that he's going in the wrong direction. Unless undercarriage patina is big in the southeast.

Yeah, but the price of the truck (before insurance/tax/etc.) is still less than the cost of the rental.

Thanks for the suggestions, friends. It looks like the rental, one way, will cost about $650 before fuel and tolls.

The purchase of a van is interesting, may consider that further.

https://austin.craigslist.org/cto/6163885536.html

Buy something like that for $2kish I'm sure you can sell it quick for about that on the other side.

Harbor Freight trailer with some wood to build a crude single use box? Keep or sell upon arrival.

Where are you located? There is an Econoline van up the street from me for sale for $800. It looks like a late 90s early 2k. It's not pretty on one side but looks other wise like a solid runner.

In reply to 92dxman:

I'm in Cambridge, MA

it's a shame you are not going the other way. Lots of vehicles from uhaul, Penske, and the like get stuck in florida and they give discounted rates to bring them north again

In reply to mad_machine: That sounds like a nice little side income idea for an older snowbird enabling the next 'generation' of snowbird. Not Seinfeld material but...