Nope, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth. It’s been a bit crazy around here lately. We are absolutely thrilled with our new home, but moving is a bit of a drag. Hopfully we won’t be doing it again!
Everything was going smoothly until two days before our move date when I called UHaul to double check on our reservation and make sure that everything was looking good with our truck. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We had a 26 foot truck reserved from the morning of the 27th until the morning of the 30th. We were closing on our old house on the 26th, and then loading the truck on the 27th. Then we were going to park it at my brother’s house over the weekend, and stay with him while we waited to close on our new house on the 29th. Then we would unload our stuff at the new house, and drive to my parents’ house and load up the stuff we had stored there back when we started getting our house ready to sell. It was going to be a long day on the 29th, but we were up for it.
UHaul had other plans. Or rather, they had no plans. They didn’t have a truck for us. They said that the soonest they could get us a 26 foot truck would be the 29th. Not so good, considering that our contract stated that we would be charged $300/day if we were still in our old house past the 27th. I talked with lots of people at their regional and national offices, and nobody could do anything – there just weren’t any trucks, even for people who had reservations. I finally tracked down a 14 foot truck that they allowed us to pick up on the 26th after our closing. They gave us unlimited mileage, but said that we had to return it where we got it, by 7am the next day.
That sucked. My parents came to our house and took care of our son and helped us pack everything into the tiny truck (without their help, I don’t know how we would have made that day work with the truck and timeframe UHaul gave us). We had to make two trips, and since we hadn’t bought our new house yet, we had to stash everything in a storage unit in our new town (my brother and sister live nearby, and came to help us unload the truck at the storage unit. It took until 3 in the morning, but without their help we would likely have worked all night). It was completely disorganized and rushed, and some of our stuff is still in the storage unit, more than a week later. We bought a little trailer on Craigs List, and have been using it to haul stuff from the storage unit to our house. But compared with just unloading everything from a truck into the house, it’s been a huge pain in the butt.
Our original reservation with UHaul was going to be $350. We ended up paying $150, and they gave us a $50 credit because they didn’t have our truck (trust me UHaul, I’d much rather tha you keep your fifty bucks and just have the truck we reserved ready for us). So the truck was $100. But we had to pay $200 for the storage unit, and had to pay extra gas money to make two trips in the truck and then return it back to where we got it rather than dropping it off in our new town. So money-wise, it was a wash. Effort-wise, it was much worse the way it ended up working out, but at least we’re here.
Check back tomorrow for more details. We did get our truck returned where we picked it up, and went back to our old house to clean and tie up loose ends on the 27th. Then our weekend became a roller coaster ride. Stay tuned…
Kelly says
Congrats getting into the new house, however rough it was getting there! I can’t wait for more details. Hope everything goes smoothly from here on out!
Mrs. Money says
I am glad you posted! I am so sorry that you had a nightmare with Uhaul. We had the same thing happen when we moved from Colorado here. The office was HORRIBLE. We had reserved a truck too and they didn’t have one when we went to pick it up. Ugh.
Anianna says
Grats getting your stuff out in time despite Uhaul’s best efforts!
After our similar truck fiasco, we found a better way. You can get a storage box from a variety of companies (like POD, but others are usually less expensive), rent it for a month, and have them move it when you are ready. In our area, the brand was called “A Box” and we rented it and had it moved for less than $200. We didn’t have to rush because it was there in the driveway for a month and we could pay another month if we needed to.
I wish I had found you sooner, I could have made this recommendation and saved you the hassle. The box could have even been moved to one of your family member’s home for the days you couldn’t move in just yet and then moved again to your new home without the extra work of having to load and unload a storage unit. Best of all, if you still need to store things after you move, you can just keep paying for the box and keep your storage unit right there on your own property.
I know it’s too late for you for this move, but I figured I would post this in case it helps you in the future sometime or helps one of your readers. We found it far easier to move our family of six with a box rather than rushing to load a truck and then rushing to return the truck.
FrugalBabe says
Anianna – it sounds like the portable storage unit worked great. I had checked into PODS and Pack Rats before I made our truck reservation, but the lowest price I got from them was $775. That would have included transportation and a month of storage (which we weren’t expecting to need!). I had also checked with Budget and Penske, both of which were much more expensive than UHaul. We loved the idea of PODS or Pack Rats portable storage units, but didn’t want to spend twice as much as UHaul was going to cost. In hindsight, I wish we had gone that route instead – it would have been worth an extra few hundred dollars to not have to deal with the fiasco that UHaul created. At the time, we went with the lowest price… guess we got what we paid for!
Anianna says
Yikes! It sounds like the ones in your area are taking advantage of the outrageous prices set by the POD people. We ran into some pretty nutty prices out this way, too, until we found the A Box, which was far, far more reasonable. Some of the companies charged crazy fees for moving the box and others for renting the box, but A Box was reasonable all around. I’m sorry you weren’t able to find a company like that before you moved.
frugalchick says
Between you and Kacie, I’m not liking UHaul anymore. What’s the point of making a reservation then if the truck is not going to be there? But I’m glad to hear you’re in your new house! Congrats!
MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators says
I decided a long time ago that the cheaper prices the U-Haul offers are not worth it. Rider or Budget are the way to go. The trucks are nicer (ie well maintained), and the know how to operate a reservation system.
I arrived to pick up a truck for a move once on a Sunday morning and there were about 30 trucks on the lot parked in every haphazard way by the people who dropped them off after hours the night before. It took 2 hours for the employees to sort out the mess and find the truck we had reserved — which, not surprisingly was parked way on the inside, so all the other trucks had to be rented out first.
$200 is A LOT for a storage unit too… I often see 1st month free signs in my area, and $39 a month thereafter…
FrugalBabe says
MITBeta – I agree – I thought $200 was a lot for the storage unit too (actually it was $180 now that I checked the receipt to make sure). But we’ve moved to a small town, and there’s only one storage place in town. No competition, and no other options. We tried to get ahold of the sellers who were moving out of the house, to see if they’d let us park our stuff here for a couple days (we’d have paid them too), but couldn’t get ahold of them. So the storage unit was the only other safe option. We have three 10 x 10 units rented, and the total came to $180 for the month. We probably could have crammed everything into two units, but the lady was staying late as it was to get us checked in with our first load of stuff, and we didn’t want to take the chance that we wouldn’t be able to get our stuff into two units and then have no other option at two in the morning if the rest of our stuff didn’t fit. So we opted for three units, and everything fit very comfortably. Happily, they are now almost empty again.
Kacie says
That sucks big time! Uhaul let me down recently, too. Didn’t have my truck there. I called Budget and fortunately, they had a truck.
I also got $50 from Uhaul, but the truck from Budget was bigger and more expensive, so it didn’t totally equal out.
Glad you’re in your new place!
FrugalChick says
Congrats on being in your new home! Can’t wait to hear more about it.
I have also had troubles with UHaul in the past, and I don’t think I’ll ever use them again if I can get away with it. They may be less expensive than other truck companies, but I have been very disappointed in the way the company is run.
Kay says
Congratulations!!! So glad you like the new house and you are finally moved into the new house inspite of all the truck mishaps. Can’t wait to hear more about the new house. Would love some pictures, if you feel inclined to sharing some.
We had a tough time with uhaul too, but we were able to cancel it and get another truck from another company. The move still sucked because of the stupid miscalculations about our “stuff” on our part, but the truck was good.
T'Pol says
So sorry that you had to work so hard to transfer your stuff. Having moved several times in the past, I know it’s a pain in the neck even if everything goes as planned. Hopefully you will not need to move for a long time. I feel blessed to be living in my own apartment since 2004. The only thing good about moving is that you get rid of all the junk and clutter.
Congrats on the new house. I wish you get to spend several healthy and happy years there with all your loved ones.