When you decide to DIY your move, the truck that you rent can make all the difference in the world. It is absolutely important to find the truck that is affordable and suits your needs the best. It is extremely terrifying for you if the rented truck breaks down or if the truck rental company scams you into paying a lot of money for your move.
Now that’s exactly why we have listed down the five best moving truck rental companies which offer impeccable truck rental services and ensure that your move is smooth. We have evaluated the reasons for which you should consider hiring these companies so that you have enough insights needed to help you in choosing the right company for yourself.
Top 5 Trusted Truck Rental Moving Companies
| Truck Rental Company | U-Haul | Penske Truck Rental | Budget Truck Rental | Enterprise Truck Rental | Home Depot |
| Logo |  |  |  |  |  |
| DOT Number | N/A | 327574 | 1092543 | 2122684 | 334286 |
| Pros | Wide Availability Superior Truck Designs Cheapest Base Rates | Transparent Pricing Policy Guaranteed Reservations Green Initiative | Affordable Prices Plenty of Discounts Easy Online Reservations | ‘Van-like’ 3-Seater Cab, AC, Nationwide Availability No Reservation System Unlimited Miles | 14 Truck Sizes Available First 300 Miles are free Some Trucks use Diesel Engines |
| Cons | Multiple Additional Fees No Guaranteed Reservations | Limited Availability Does not offer Moving Trailers | No Guaranteed Reservation Only 3 Truck Sizes Available | Pricey Late Fees Only Available for Local Moves | No Long-Distance Moves Limited Locations |
| Phone | 800-468-4285 | 844-847-9517 | 800-462-8343 | 888-736-8287 | 671-648-0408 |
5 Top-Rated Truck Rental Companies in America
1. U-Haul Truck Rental
In 1945, a young couple realized the process of moving wasn’t that easy. The Second World War had just ended and several military men were in dire need of moving services which weren’t available at that time. The young couple grabbed this opportunity and started their own moving company called U-Haul. Their business grew rapidly and today, U-Haul is one of the mammoths of the American moving industry.
They offer numerous services, out of which their truck rental services have gained massive popularity. Customers can opt to rent a truck of the desired size for their local as well as long-distance moves at affordable rates. U-Haul tries to give you a smooth and memorable moving experience.
Reasons To Choose U-Haul:
Wide Availability: You might not find a McDonald’s or a Starbucks outlet in some places, but you will definitely find a U-Haul facility in every corner of the country. After all, we are talking about a company that owns more than 21,000 locations across all 50 states and has several locations in Canada as well. It is very frustrating if you plan your move and then you realize that the company you want to hire doesn’t have a facility near your house. This problem does not arise with U-Haul.
Moreover, because their locations are in such close proximity to each other, you can always visit another location if the services or the equipment you need isn’t available in a certain location. So basically, that’s how U-Haul locations make your move convenient – by always being accessible.
Superior Truck Designs: Their trucks are engineered specifically to make your DIY move easier for you. All trucks use a gentle-ride suspension with enhanced aerodynamic styling which ensures a smooth transit of your belongings. All trucks have a low deck and the bigger ones have a built-in ramp that is very wide. These features make loading and unloading effortless. If this wasn’t enough, they also offer 7 different sizes of trucks along with differently sized cargo trailers and utility trailers as well (Wow, right?).
Good to Know: In order to provide their customers with contact-less service during these COVID times, U-Haul has launched a new service known as U-Haul Truck Share 24/7. With this, you can go through the entire process of renting the truck without having to physically interact with anyone.
Must Read: U-Haul Truck Rental Review
2. Penske Truck Rental
Penske is one of the most popular truck rental services used by Americans when they need to move. It was founded in 1969 and has been in business for the last 51 years. Penske makes sure that its customers don’t have to worry about their moves being expensive. It offers its customers a pocket-friendly move with loads of additional services that you might need during your DIY move. At first, their moving charges might not seem cheap, but their customers do get massive discounts for their moves, which brings their moving prices at par with the industry average costs.
Reasons to Choose Penske Truck Rental:
Transparent Pricing: What sets Penske apart from its competitors is the transparent pricing policy followed by it. The initial quote (base rate and per-mile charge) given by Penske might seem higher as compared to its competitors. Then again, you can’t forget that there are no additional fees charged by them later on. This means that the amount quoted by them initially is what you pay for your move. In addition to this, Penske also offers numerous discount options which further reduces the price of your move. So clearly, you don’t need to worry about your final bill costing way higher than your budget towards the end of your move.
Guaranteed Reservations: Penske is one of the only companies that gives you guaranteed reservations. This means that you will get the size of the truck booked by you on the date that has been given to you for the pick-up of the truck. When you reserve a move with other companies, whether you will get your truck on time often depends on whether the previous customer has returned the truck on time. However, Penske ensures that you get your truck on time, regardless of the bookings of the previous customers.
Green Initiative: Penske Truck Rental is an environmentally conscious company that strives to lower the carbon footprint of its company. The materials used to make their trucks are all recycled materials. If that wasn’t enough, they also use diesel to make their trucks fuel-efficient in nature. Moreover, they also support and participate in the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership in order to take a step towards greener moving.
Did you Know? Penske changes its truck every two years to make sure that the customers get to rent high-quality and sturdy new trucks. If you are driving a Penske truck, you should know that it is not more than 24 months old.
See also: Penske Truck Rental Review
3. Budget Truck Rental
The company hasn’t named itself ‘Budget’ just for fun. Although Budget Truck Rental was born in 1998 and was relatively new to the moving industry, it has made its mark in the industry by offering its customers services at incredibly low rates. The company witnessed phenomenal success and today, it owns more than 2,800 locations and a fleet of 32,000 trucks. Hiring Budget guarantees you an economical move.
Reasons To Choose Budget Truck Rental:
Affordable Prices: As its name already suggests, Budget is the best option for you if you want to have a low-priced move. It gives companies like Penske and U-Haul tough competition in terms of its prices. Just to give you an idea, the average cost of their local move is about $80 which is still $30 lesser than the industry average cost. You will save a lot of your money if you decide to rent Budget’s trucks. Their add-ons can be a little expensive, but if you truly wish to DIY your move, you should definitely go with Budget.
Plenty Of Discounts: In addition to low rates, they also offer tons of discounts to their customers which makes your move cheaper than ever. Budget offers a flat 20% discount to all AARP members and US Military Personnel on all kinds of moves. Moreover, it offers 20% off on local moves and 15% off on one-way trips to people working in the EMT, fire and the police departments, bar association members, students, and motor club members.
Easy Online Reservation: Their websites are very user-friendly and you can reserve your move online effortlessly. Their quote generator allows you to select the preferred date and truck size and your choice of add-ons. Once you put in these details, the quote generator will give you an accurate quote for your move. The best part about the tool is that you do not need to put in any personal information to get a quote from the company.
Fun Fact: The minimum age requirement to rent a moving truck varies from company to company. Most of the companies let you rent trucks if your age is 18 years. However, some companies will not let you rent a truck and purchase insurance unless you are 21 or in some other cases, even 24 years old.
See also: Budget Truck Rental Review
4. Enterprise Truck Rental
Enterprise was initially a car rental service. However, after achieving tremendous success in the car rental business, they started a truck rental service. Their Truck rental service is one of its kind. They excel at providing their customers with high-quality services for a local move. Their customers get to choose between a wide range of truck sizes. To add to that, the company strives to provide their customers with whatever they need, whenever they need it.
Reasons to Choose Enterprise Truck Rental:
Large Variety of Trucks: Each move is very different and each customer needs a different kind of truck for his/her move. Enterprise has proven itself as one of the industry leaders by offering its customers 14 different sizes of trucks! There is a truck available for every type of move. Their trucks can be used to transport absolutely any kind of object owned by you. Moreover, some of the trucks use diesel engines which makes them fuel-efficient in nature. The company has surpassed its competitors when it comes to truck sizes.
Free Miles for your Move: The whole point of DIY-ing a move is to make sure you don’t drain out your savings over a move. Enterprise realizes this, which is why they have an exciting pricing policy where it doesn’t charge you for the first 300 miles of your move. You can rent a truck at a quoted price and you won’t have to pay extra for the miles, unlike the other companies which have a per-mile rate for local moves.
Enterprise offers only local moves, because of which you will seldom cross the free mile-limit. If you are moving to a nearby neighborhood, you can always rent a smaller truck and make several trips. This will help you save up a sizable amount of money. Even if you cross 300 miles, their per-mile rate is extremely affordable as well.
Good to Know: Most of the companies allow you to take the rental trucks for a test drive before you rent them out. You can then check whether the truck is functioning properly and see whether you are comfortable driving that particular truck.
What is the most affordable moving truck rental?
Must Read: Enterprise Truck Rental Review
5. Home Depot
You won’t find anyone who hasn’t heard the name ‘Home Depot’. Home Depot is one of the biggest home improvement chains in the USA. It started off as a hardware and home appliances store, but it has expanded its business and started renting out moving trucks as well. Home Depot provides its customers with excellent services for local moves. They offer different sizes of trucks to their customers, and they are one of our favorite truck rental services because of their ability to make your move extremely flexible.
Reasons To Choose Home Depot:
No Reservation System: Renting a truck from Home Depot is hassle-free and easy. They have several locations across the countries and they own a huge fleet of trucks. So fortunately, you don’t have to pre-book your moves. You can just show up at the facility on the day of your move and rent out the truck that you want. This system works best for people who don’t have a fixed schedule and don’t want to stress about not being ready to move on a particular scheduled date.
You should know that Home Depot offers only local moves, as a result of which, this policy applies to only local moves. If you wish to go for a long-distance move, you can still hire Home Depot as they partner up with Penske Truck Rental for one-way moves. You can reserve your long-distance move prior to the move. For a long-distance move, you will basically use Penske trucks, but you will be picking up and returning the trucks to Home Depot locations.
Unlimited Miles: The pricing policies followed by Home Depot are a little bit different from those followed by its competitors. Home Depot charges you by the hour and not by the day. This means that you don’t have to pay for an entire day if your move gets done in a few hours. You can also travel for how many ever miles you want, as it does not charge you a per-mile rate. This means that you can go to and fro several times during a local move, as you won’t be charged extra for additional miles.
Good to Know: There are no hidden costs when Home Depot is charging you an hourly fee. However, if you exceed the number of hours you have reserved the truck for, you will have to pay late fees which might be a tad bit costly.
See also: Home Depot Truck Rental Review
You often prefer DIY-ing a move as opposed to hiring a moving company for full—fledged services so that you don’t have to spend excessively on a move. Before you rent a truck, you must know that some companies quote a low price, but your final bills end up being way higher than the initially quoted price. On the other hand, some companies quote a high price and the final bill does not exceed the amount mentioned in the initial quote.
Out of the five companies that have been discussed in this article, Budget, Penske, and U-Haul are the most affordable truck rental companies. The average cost of moving with Budget and Penske truck rental is $30 lower than the industry-average cost. Penske’s initial cost might seem high, but you can rest assured because their final bill does not include any additional fees. Similarly, U-Haul also offers a low-priced move along with cheaper insurance rates which are at least $50 lesser than the rates offered by other companies.
How can you save money on your truck rental?
As long as you are vigilant and smart, you can easily save money on truck rentals in various ways. When a company offers you a quote, you must always try to negotiate with the company representative and try to bring the cost down. Always ask for ongoing discount offers; this will help you to make your move more affordable.
Instead of hiring helpers, try to get your friends and family members to help out with your move. Add-on services offered by truck rental companies can be quite expensive. Similarly, there is no harm in using second-hand packaging and moving supplies as long as they are in a good condition.
Estimate the size of the truck accurately, you don’t want to end up with a bigger truck and waste your money on unused space. Don’t purchase additional insurance if your auto insurance covers you. Lastly, don’t move during peak seasons or on weekends. These types of moves can be very costly.
Is Penske better than U-Haul?
Penskys are the Cadillac of moving companies. They offer high-quality, luxurious trucks with excellent customer service that other rental giants like U-Haul can’t match. If you’re looking for something more affordable but still want excellent services, then go ahead and rent from U-Haul.
Is Budget Truck rental cheaper than U-Haul?
Yes, on average. They are the absolute lowest in this industry! If you’re moving locally and have money on your mind, then go with budget truck rentals because their prices will always beat other companies by $10-$20 depending on where you need to move too.
Who is cheaper, U-Haul Penske or budget?
Budget Truck Rental by a long shot. They offer $19.95 for pick-up and $19.95 per day, with mileage at $0.49/mile, which is the cheapest we found.
What is the cheapest way to rent a moving truck?
One of the cheapest ways to rent a moving truck is to get quotes from multiple moving truck rental companies and compare their prices. You can also bargain with them once you have quotes from various companies.
Can you negotiate with U-Haul?
A little-known secret about U-Haul pricing is that you can negotiate a better rate!
What is the largest rental truck available?
A 26-foot truck is the largest moving truck in today’s truck rental market that a customer can rent for residential relocation.
Does UHaul have unlimited miles?
U-Haul doesn’t offer unlimited miles; instead, one-way moves include a set number of days and additional mileage costing $0.40 per mile.
Are U-Haul trucks reliable?
UHaul is not only one of the best but also an excellent choice for consumers. Many people have praised its great pricing system and wonderful customer service, as seen on their reviews online!
Do I need extra insurance when renting a moving truck?
Truck rentals and trailer rentals are rarely covered by automobile insurance or credit cards. As a result, if you’re arranging a DIY relocation utilizing a truck rental, you’ll need to explore buying supplementary coverage from your truck rental firm.
