How to move cross-country without renting a massive truck
Traditional moving trucks cost over a thousand dollars and hit you with hidden fees for mileage, fuel, and extra days. This makes minor moves impossibly expensive, forcing people to look for smaller alternatives like pickup trucks that fit what they actually own.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to move cross-country without renting a massive truck
- 1Considering renting a pickup truck or van instead of a traditional box truckDid this help you?
- 2Selling or giving away belongings to minimize the volume of itemsDid this help you?
- 3Using a free comparison tool like Move-Price to check rental, fuel, and tolls for multiple companies at onceDid this help you?
- 4Opening three different company websites manually to compare pricesDid this help you?
- 5Using Home Depot or Lowe's rental vans, accepting the requirement to return the vehicle to the same rental location.Did this help you?
- 6Renting a truck locally for a round trip and paying per mile instead of a one-way rentalDid this help you?
- 7Renting by the hour/time from Home Depot for big itemsDid this help you?
- 8Packing everything completely beforehand to minimize rental timeDid this help you?
- 9Disassembling desks and measuring furniture before bookingDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I don't have a lot of stuff, I called Penske and U-Haul and these guys are charging a lot ($1100+). I'm wondering if I can do with an Enterprise pickup or something that has enough space.”source ↗
“Is there a pickup truck that I can rent here instead of a truck? I'm moving from Illinois to Texas.”source ↗
“Moving in one week. Security deposit and first month’s rent was TOUGH. What is the best size van for my items, what company do I use, and what works best on a budget?”source ↗
“U-Haul quotes $140 for 30 miles (I am moving 27 miles away). Interested in knowing if there is something I am missing or more affordable vans?”source ↗
“Need a van for just a few hours. Anyone have suggestions/luck using Home Depot van for this? Uhaul seems more $$ and not much available.”source ↗
“Does it cost more to do one way moving than to buy a van and return it to the same place? I thought that would be double the miles.”source ↗
“Renting a truck sounds simple until you actually book one and the final price doesn't match what the website showed you.”source ↗
“That's just the base daily rate. Mileage, fuel, and (for one-way moves) the rental days you're assigned on top of that usually double or triple the number you first see.”source ↗
Where this came up
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