Moving Cross Country - Advice???

[Stuck_At_Work]

I'm moving cross country. I basically have three options:

1. Rent a moving truck and drive myself.
2. Go the POD route.
3. Hire a full / semi-full service moving company.

Renting a truck (U-Haul) will run me about ~$1200. Not bad, but it'll suck driving a U-Haul for 1800 miles. I wouldn't mind if I knew I would be driving in a newer truck with A/C. Are there other companies that offer better trucks than U-Haul? I even have a friend who volunteered to take the drive with me.

Several companies offer large containers, which you fill, and they move. I was expecting better prices, but at ~1900, I might as well hire a full service company.

Full service companies have quoted me anywhere from $980 to $2500. The $2500 estimate came from an in-house estimate from reputable company. The $980 estimate sounds way too sketchy.

 

[GHoward]

Think about the stuff you are taking, and if the large items (beg, couch, fridge, drawers, etc) are worth more or less than what it would take to move. I've heard instances where it is cheaper to sell some things and re-buy them.
If you have your own SUV or Truck and can rent a cargo trailer, instead of the full Uhaul truck, you can save a ton, since you won't be paying mileage.

 

[TexasEd]

I have heard anecdotal horror stories about U-Haul cross country. Stories about the roadside assistance guys not wanting to go out when U-haul calls and that their fleet is not well maintained.

It was 1996 but I had a great experience with Hertz/Penske. I had two tires go flat (one on truck and one on trailer - same side) outside of Tyler, on my move from Virginia back to Texas. The service guy was there within an hour and I was on my way 20 minutes later.

 

[Texas Wahoo]

When I moved from Houston to Virginia, I used a Budget truck and it worked well - no problems. The only issue was they didn't have the smaller truck (like they said I had reserved) when we went to pick it up, so we had to use a larger truck. However, they knocked the price below what we would have had to pay to account for the added gas expenses.