U-Haul Trucks for sale.

About two miles from me, one of the U-Haul places around here has some Ford U-Haul trucks for sale.Are those trucks any good? Have you ever bought one before?

formatting link
cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin
Loading thread data ...

expect lots of suspension work to be done & a high mileage abused motor.

Reply to
m6onz5a

FOAF bought one of those to move cross-country because for whatever reason buying the truck was actually cheaper than renting it. (I think we're talking something in the neighborhood of $1000-ish.) It was one of the really old ones that they rented out for "in town only" rentals, the ones with the 352? I think? and a stickshift. They figured it only had to make that one last trip and they could sell it for what they could when they got there, if that didn't work out they'd scrap it. Ended up stuck in some midwestern heckhole with a blown motor, and were having a heck of a time finding parts to fix it :(

Don't know how that story ended, but it doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of fun...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

In April of last year, I received a certified snail mail letter from the city, telling me to get rid of a lot of junk I had in my back yard, including car parts.I had two old bare naked car frames with the front and read axels and springs and wheels.I rented one of those next to the largest trucks that the U-Haul place had.

I had noticed both sides of the front bumper was bent backwards and I pointed that out to the U-Haul guy and the gas tank fuel gauge was sitting on empty.As soon as I drove out of the parking lot, WHAM! BAM! over and over again, it felt like I was hitting potholes two feet deep.I believe that truck had been wrecked before.I turned that truck around and I told them I want another truck.

I think I will forget all about buying any U-Haul truck or any truck/vehicle from any truck rental companies. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Good idea. They typically run the piss out of the trucks then when they get old and unreliable they make them "in-town" trucks only. Once they get so bad that they don't even make cost effective in town trucks they sell them off to the public. U-Haul has been in poor financial shape for years so I imagine the trucks only get the bare minimum maintenance to keep them rolling.

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

Never rent a UHaul truck. They don't maintain them, many wont pass a truck inspection. The people who run the UHaul stores are stupid and rude.

The last time I used a UHaul truck I reserved one and had to pay for it in advance. Reserved it 4 weeks in advance. When I went to pick up the truck they said they didn't have one. I reminded them of cash reservation. They said if they don't have a truck a reservation means nothing.

If you must rent a truck use Ryder.

Reply to
Sarahh B

On May 14, 5:46 am, snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net (Sarahh B) wrote:

I agree with everything you say about U-haul, but Ryder is no better. The truck I rented from Ryder, the one time I had to, was a 20' or

24' (I forget) box truck, I'd rented a car trailer to go with it, the stupid thing had a 366ci Chevy gasoline engine. Couldn't pull the skin off a custard. Was also speed limited to 70 MPH so I was mixing it up with the big rigs in the right lane going through the mountains. I don't think my foot left the floor for hours at a time.

to add insult to injury, I let the Ryder guy hook up the trailer for me, because I figured he did it all the time and I did it maybe once a year at most. Well the trailer fell off the hitch as I was turning out of the parking lot onto a busy 4-lane road; I got to teach my girlfriend how to back up a moving truck while sitting in a left turn lane during rush hour traffic. Good times.

But, in short, I have never rented a truck from anyone that was anything better than "adequate" or "acceptable." Certainly I can't describe any rental truck experience as "positive" or "pleasant."

Common peeve with U-haul (based on many experiences) is, as you say, their inability to honor reservations and colossal indifference of their staff (this seems to be a universal constant.) Generally, just be a dick to the idiot behind the counter, and they'll give you whatever truck they have that runs and is bigger than the one you reserved. (this happens to me literally 75% of the time that I rent from U-haul; I always end up with a bigger truck than I need because the one I reserved isn't there.) Then there was the time where I rented a U-haul online and I went to pick the truck up, here my "local" rental office was combined with a shady looking used car lot. Well I was returning the truck to the same place I rented it from but the guy wouldn't let me park my car at the rental agency! He told me to my face that if I left my car there he'd tow it. I was moving by myself (in-town) so there was nobody with me, what was I supposed to do? I left my car parked by a gas station across the road and prayed it would still be there when I got back (thankfully, it was.) The a- hole claimed that he told me on the phone when I'd reserved the truck that there was no parking, but he was full of shit. Sometimes I get the impression that these guys just like to dick with people. But even the professional-appearing offices still won't have your truck when you show up, that's a constant.

Peeve with Ryder (based on only one experience) is the awful truck. Seemed newer and tighter than the U-haul but the underpowered gasoline engine combined with the speed limiter made for a very white-knuckle drive.

nate

Reply to
N8N

I moved from the Los Angeles area to Denver and used Penske. They honored there reservation, no issues at all. I got a 26' truck and had a tandem axle car trailer behind that. The trailer was old but had good rubber and the truck was brand new with only 150 miles on it. It was governed to 70mph and coming through the rocky mountains only held 15-20mph on some of the grades. I kept it floor boarded for hours and no issues. Had really back luck with u-haul and Ryder also but Penske really proved to be a good experience considering what I was doing. On a side note, I think they need to make any driver that rents these trucks/trailers pass some sort of driver competency test if the combination is over a certain length. Luckily I had driven large trucks in the military and was fairly competent but still had a few "moments" during the trip. I feel sorry for someone trying to use this equipment and has never driven with a trailer or never driven any vehicle larger than a standard passenger vehicle.

Derek

Reply to
genius

You couldn't supply me with the money, then pay for the time involved to buy an ex-U-haul.

They don't get sold until they're either wrecked, or so bad off that they're barely capable of moving under their own power.

Bet on the engine being shot, the tranny being on its last legs, the suspension being totally gone, and instead of a steering system, you'll likely find you've actually got an "aiming" system. (And lets not even talk about how bad the brakes are likely to be...)

Only a hopelessly naive fool would buy one of those rolling wrecks.

Reply to
Don Bruder

Heh, there was a big old delapidated shed in my back yard last year, I tore it down.Along with the car parts I had on that U-Haul truck was two stacks of old roofing tin and some old long odds and ends of rusty pipe and angle iron that I hauled to the scrap iron yard.I had a broom in the truck too, I was going to sweep it out before I turned it in.I was so bone weary tired, I forgot to sweep out the truck.The U-Haul guy said, You been hauling dirt in that truck!

I swept it out at the U-Haul place.He said, If I hose out that truck it will cost you $100.00.I reckon he took pity on me, he let me hose it out with their hot water hose.

It was a good running truck though, but the electronic fuel gauge needle was swinging wildly from empty to full when I was driving that U-Haul truck.All together, I put about five miles on that truck.The fuel gauge indicator/needle was showing the same amount of fuel when I turned the truck in as it was when I first drove that truck.I didn't have to put any gas in the tank. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

They have to answer to Roger...

Reply to
Hachiroku $B%O%A%m%/(B

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.