Uhaul Story

U Haul, Lost Keys, and Randy’s Warts U Haul

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We”ve read quite a few terrible tales of U-Haul frustration and woe here on Epinions, but our experience with U-Haul was not bad at all. In fact, it was rather pleasant, but not without a couple glitches.

When we decided to move to the Natural State, we did not have too many moving options. U-Haul was the only game in the town where we lived. If we had opted for Ryder or Penske, we”d have had to drive thirty miles to get the truck. The U-Haul place happened to be located right across the road from our favorite Dunkin” Donuts, so we had already seen the types of trucks and rates they offered.

We rented a standard 17-foot U-Haul truck at a rate of about $30 a day plus mileage, which came to a grand total of about $890. Unfortunately, we had to pay for the truck for five days, even though we only wanted it for four. U-Haul”s website tells us that this is because they want us to be “safe” and not rush our move. (We think that”s just a cop-out to take customers for more cash.)

The U-Haul guy did save us a few bucks, though. He looked in a book and told us the cheapest place to drop off the truck. Apparently, if you drive a U-Haul truck to a college town, you get a better rate than if you drive it to a non-college town just a few miles away.

Our U-Haul truck was decorated with a lovely picture of a cowboy roping a calf, which we thought was a nice touch. It was a Ford F-350, a year old at the time, with about 52,000 miles on the odometer. The cab was roomy and comfortable, and it drove pretty well. It had a lot more power than we expected it to, and was able to scream down the highway at 80 m.p.h. Gas mileage was not impressive, but acceptable—about 10 m.p.g. The truck was equipped with an automatic transmission. The gearshift indicator was problematic, however - it was one letter off, so when the truck was in “Drive” the pointer actually pointed to “Reverse.”

Loading the truck went well enough, but we seem to recall quite a bit of cursing, swearing and gnashing of teeth in the process. With just the two of us it took about six grueling hours to load ‘er up. If, unlike us, you have friends who will help you move, by all means con them into helping you load your U-Haul.

U-Haul claims to have the lowest truck with the longest ramp, thereby maximizing the mechanical advantage of the inclined plane. We don”t know if that”s true, but it sure sounds swell. Anyhow it was good enough for us.

The cargo area was equipped with a large, bright light to help you see where you”re going in the dark. This was a very helpful feature; however, it was set to turn itself off after about twenty minutes, so we kept having to turn it back on. The light got to be a real problem as the truck filled up with all the junk we call our possessions, because it became obscured and hard to reach.

U-Haul does not provide padlocks for the cargo door, so we had to scrounge around a find a large, heavy lock. That was really an act of self-aggrandizement on our part, because no thief worth his salt could possibly want anything we own.

U-Haul also does not provide an extra set of keys for the truck, which we found out the hard way. We called customer service when we lost ours, and were put on hold for about ten minutes. The woman we spoke to was sympathetic to our plight, and told us how to get a new key made. We were able to call a locksmith who fixed us up in no time, and we went about our U-Hauling business with smiles on our faces and songs in our hearts. (We were smiling and singing because we knew the secret to U-Haul keys, so if we ever need one again we can simply steal it.)

We attempted to return the truck to a U-Haul outlet/gas station/service station in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The fellow there was extremely busy at the moment, and didn”t feel like dealing with us. He had his hands full with a couple of disgruntled U-Haul customers, as well as with people coming and going for gasoline. He wasn”t rude, but he asked us to return the truck at another outlet a few blocks down the street.

At our final U-Haul destination, we became acquainted with Randy, another happy U-Haul employee. Randy gave us some coffee and told us the story of his warts. He said he”d had terrible warts all over his hands at one time. Randy happened to be driving in the middle of nowhere one day, and he picked up an elderly woman who was walking down the road. The woman, upon seeing his warts, told him she could make them disappear. She closed her eyes and did some hocus-pocusing. Randy dropped her off at her destination and went on home. The next morning, Randy was astonished to wake up wart-free. He said the old lady witched his warts away. We can”t vouch for the validity of Randy”s story, but it was definitely part of our U-Haul experience.

All in all, we had a good experience with U-Haul. Most of the customer service people we spoke to were helpful and friendly, our truck was generally clean and well-maintained, and everything went fairly smoothly. Our biggest complaint would be having to pay for the truck an extra day that we didn”t use. The next time we move, we would not hesitate to get another U-Haul.

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Tags: transmission