Relocating: Rent or Buy Cargo Van? Rent Space in Trailer? Sell everything?

My current car situation sucks. Currently using my wife's car (much to her chagrin) for my daily 70 mile commute. My ZX2 is being as troublesome as a 190,000 mile car can be, so it might get the boot.

I was thinking of getting a better daily driver, something newer, less mileage, etc, but now an opportunity of a lifetime has fallen in my lap, and if I choose to take it, would require me moving across the country.

From start to finish we'll have 60 days to end our lease and move out of our current house. I'll need to be at the new job within 4 weeks, so my wife will have a month after which to pack and join me.

What's the cheapest way to move what is essentially a 1-bedroom apartment? We've got a house full of things we either acquired for free or dirt cheap, and aside from our queen sized mattress and two recently purchased couches costing $1250, we don't have many large items we couldn't leave behind.

New town would be Flagstaff, AZ, a college town, which would probably be relatively easy to find replacement furniture.

What's the average cost for a one-way cargo van or box truck rental and 2,000 miles? What's the average cost to use a van line (trailer)? Are we better off just selling everything and anything we can, giving the rest to family, and assuming we'll back someday to retrieve it?

U-Haul box truck with a trailer, was the cheapest we found shopping around. NW AR, to Columbus OH, about 750 miles, was about $1,800 all in for fuel, 24' truck, car trailer (not dolly), blankets, and appliance dolly in '10. When we did the reverse trip 3 years later, it was about $2,300. U-Haul had the cheapest price, but only after calling around, getting competitor quotes and they matched/beat the others.

One of the diesel trucks, I think Penske has diesels, might be better on fuel, the one and only time I calculated the U-haul's mileage it was single digit, I didn't want to know anymore, that 60 gallons of gas goes quick. The U-Haul had the lower deck height, over cab storage, and built in ramp, which was easier to load.

We sold, donated, and gave away a lot of stuff before both moves. I had the luxury of being able to store large stuff, equipment, car parts, etc. in my folk's barn instead of taking it to OH.

I've swore to never do it again, I'll hire movers. We actually got a quote from All My Sons for the move back to AR, since SWMBO's new gig we were moving for would reimburse up to $5K in moving expenses, but they were over $6K on their quote, and had forgot to include anything in the garage on the quote. None of the other moving companies could work with our schedule, apparently 5 weeks is short notice.

We learned that if you're using a moving company, give them at least 2-3 months advanced notice, and don't plan on them being available at the beginning or end of a school year in a college town, unless booked 6+ months in advance.

I have practiced this thought exercise a bit my self. Aside from our furniture, a 5 pc queen bedroom set and a 2 pc sectional, we could almost pack everything in our 2 cars. We would be looking at a smaller u haul and a car trailer or dad would pull a trailer with his Dakota.

Replace the escort with a cargo van, make the initial move with the better sleeping couch and as much as you can. Drive back and complete the move at the end of the 60 days.

I used Penske last time I moved. Which is the last time I move. Period. I'm done, scatter my ashes over by the shop. Anyway, I got a better deal by calling the Penske dealer directly than I got on the 800 phone line. A lot better, like half off. So, don't discount trying that. That was in Y2K.

You can also try the pod people. They drop a pod off, you fill it, they pick it up and drop it off where you want. UMove or something like that. If you only have an apartment to move, that might be a good way to go. Dump the klunker and drive the good car.

Flagstaff is nice. We go through there once or twice a year. Stayed there a few times when visiting Sedona. Oh, don't get me started on Sedona. The place is crawling with post-menopausal women carrying around bags of rocks.

Congratulations on the new gig. Flagstaff is a neat town. There is an SCCA Chapter active in Solo II. I was looking at a position with WL Gore a few years ago out there. Housing is expensive.

Just poking around with quotes and looking at what others paid, I think its safe to assume that if we're paying someone else to haul the stuff, we're looking at $3,000+.

For that price it may be worth looking into 2003+ 125,000 GMC Savana that I drive out there, use for a bit, and resell.

What Dr. Hess said.

If I were to do it again, I'd look long and hard at the pod idea. You could even get 2, store one for 3 months while you get settled, and have one delivered immediately.

Also, this stuff is worth its weight in gold:

I don't remember the exact prices, but I recall looking into Pods when we moved back to AR, we were going to need 2, and they were priced above our cap after delivery, storage, and transport was all figured.

I helped a friend move, he got the front ~15' of an ABF trailer, for what I remember thinking was a reasonable price. Downside was that he was on their schedule, everything loaded behind his space had to come off first, and it had several stops to make between where he loaded in OH, and where his new place was in IA, seems like it was ~2 weeks from the time he loaded to the time he unloaded.

That might be ok for us if the price is right.

I have nothing to contribute other than I shudder at the thought of moving my garage.

Luckily I don't have a garage, although that doesn't mean I don't have a lot of stuff to scrap, give away, tools to pack, etc.

Sell everything, is always the answer. My family has moved several times, we have had a couple moving companies do it and have done our self. Regardless if you hire movers and pay $$$ or do it yourself things come up missing, items break ,and damage can happen at the place you are leaving or moving into. A move from FL to OH, Bekins was horrible, the movers were dealing drugs (while moving)During transport we were unable to contact them and they were a week late.

Uhaul it or dump everything and buy plane tickets/start completely over. Boom, done.

In reply to PHeller:

My concern would be that you're taking the a van from the rust belt to one of the rust free states. That's going to do wonders to its resale value, however you have to keep in mind that cars seem to get more expensive as you go West.

If you haven't got a lot of stuff in the first place and look at upgrading the cheap/free items sooner or later anyway, then I would dump them. At some point in your life stuff gets too nice or has too many memories attached to it, the other things can go IMHO.

Penske trucks come with unlimited mileage, which you can certainly work in your favor. One leg of one move was a rental truck from MN to SD, via SC.

Don't worry about gas vs diesel. Gas is st00pid cheap now, I sincerely doubt a diesel (with how much extra the rental cost would be) will save you money overall.

Penske trucks have unlimited mileage? Good to know.

Yea I wasn't going to aim for a diesel.

Our ABF has a pod system too. I would look long and hard at Penske. U-haul sux

My friend did the ABF pods. worked perfect.

Right now it looks like the Penske Truck rental with unlimited mileage would be $1400, and another $350-$400 for gas. Figure on $20 a day for 3.5 days in food, and 3 nights in hotels, campgrounds or Walmart parking lots and we're at about $2000.

That would leave the Fit to be either towed, driven, or shipped to Arizona. What's the going rate to ship a car 2,500 miles? $800? $1000?

ABF pods are looking like $2500, is that right?

My father just shipped his Jeep to Hawaii for $1000, give or take as he's bad at remembering numbers.

I moved every 3 month in college and got pretty good at fitting my 1bedroom apartment in a 2500 Chevy van, but I was single. Rented from Enterprise, don't remember the cost but it wasn't much. Once the furniture was there, I was able to make the trip in a Miata as all I was transporting between campus and my Co-ops were clothes and personal items.

How recently did you purchase that couch and mattress? Are they the greatest things ever or replaceable? If they're more than a couple years old I'd sell and start fresh. Memorial Day is coming, meaning furniture sales everywhere. You can probably refurnish the new place for less than the price of moving it all, let alone what you recoup for selling it. Craigslist and facebook is your friend, I sold everything except what fit in a duffel bag before I moved to Alaska in about 2 weeks.

Pile whatever you need that fits in to the Fit, get rid of the rest (including the ZX2), and drive away. Buy you a new(er) car in Flagstaff.

Friend of mine moved from Frederick, MD to Tulsa, OK a few years ago. He rented a large Penske truck and a car dolly. Put the furniture he wanted to keep and his 67 Corvette in the truck. Put the small stuff in boxes in the bed of his S10 pickup with a tarp over it and put the S10 on the dolly. Made the trip in 2 days and spent the night in the truck in a WalMart parking lot.

Everything must go. Buy stuff on craigslist or a consignment shop once you move.