Geesh, Budget Truck Rental
Oct 9, 2015, 5:08 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 1,171
Geesh, Budget Truck Rental
Using my AARP (sigh) 20% discount, I get a quote of $800, including taxes, to rent a 12' truck, one way from Santa Clara, CA, to Vegas. And Budget seems to be the "cheapest". Oh, and this is NOT on the weekend, nor end of month, when moving is at the highest frequency, this is mid-week.
Anyone have any tricks, suggestions...?
UPDATE... got it down to $650 after trolling the internet for magic codes...
Anyone have any tricks, suggestions...?
UPDATE... got it down to $650 after trolling the internet for magic codes...
Last edited by randix; Oct 11, 2015 at 10:32 pm
Oct 14, 2015, 7:25 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 1,171
Just in case you're about to get dinged...
As an additional follow up to my Budget truck rental from Santa Clara, CA, to LAS...
1. So I made a reservation for X price.
2. Subsequently I found a discount coupon (there are plenty, SEARCH), that reduced the price significantly. So I made a reservation for Y price, wanting to make sure it went thru, before I cancelled my earlier reservation.
3. The booking site does not offer a cancel option (for my first reservation). Says to call.
4. I call. The lady says there will be a $50 cancellation charge! I say, what? No where on the booking site does it say there's a cancellation charge. I raise holy heck. Line goes quiet and she comes back and says they'll do me a favor THIS TIME, and waive the cancellation fee (for those who read my other threads, this EXACT thing happened to me on a hotel booking reservation with Orbitz in the past couple of weeks).
5. My first reservation gets cancelled, I pay no cancellation fee.
6. When I go to pick up my truck, I ask the customer service rep about the cancellation fee. He says there's NO cancellation fee unless you FAIL to show up and rent the truck. He said since I called to cancel on a weekend, the staffing they have on the weekend are the "B team". He suggested I call back and complain, I tell him, I'll take a pass on this one...
So if you make a Budget truck reservation, you can cancel it with NO cancellation fee so long as you do it prior to your rental, according to the agent I saw face to face. Honestly, I didn't see anything about ANY cancellation fee on the website, so exercise caution.
fyi and fwiw
oh, the balance of the trip went without incident, return no issues. gawd those trucks suck up fuel
1. So I made a reservation for X price.
2. Subsequently I found a discount coupon (there are plenty, SEARCH), that reduced the price significantly. So I made a reservation for Y price, wanting to make sure it went thru, before I cancelled my earlier reservation.
3. The booking site does not offer a cancel option (for my first reservation). Says to call.
4. I call. The lady says there will be a $50 cancellation charge! I say, what? No where on the booking site does it say there's a cancellation charge. I raise holy heck. Line goes quiet and she comes back and says they'll do me a favor THIS TIME, and waive the cancellation fee (for those who read my other threads, this EXACT thing happened to me on a hotel booking reservation with Orbitz in the past couple of weeks).
5. My first reservation gets cancelled, I pay no cancellation fee.
6. When I go to pick up my truck, I ask the customer service rep about the cancellation fee. He says there's NO cancellation fee unless you FAIL to show up and rent the truck. He said since I called to cancel on a weekend, the staffing they have on the weekend are the "B team". He suggested I call back and complain, I tell him, I'll take a pass on this one...
So if you make a Budget truck reservation, you can cancel it with NO cancellation fee so long as you do it prior to your rental, according to the agent I saw face to face. Honestly, I didn't see anything about ANY cancellation fee on the website, so exercise caution.
fyi and fwiw
oh, the balance of the trip went without incident, return no issues. gawd those trucks suck up fuel
Oct 21, 2015, 11:16 am
#3
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: DTW
Programs: Alaska, Delta, Southwest
Posts: 1,663
Was that the base rate, or including the mileage? Years ago we rented a UHaul 10-footer to move from Mississippi to Michigan, and it totaled about $800, so 800 from CA to Vegas seems high.
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
Oct 21, 2015, 11:20 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 1,171
Yep...
Was that the base rate, or including the mileage? Years ago we rented a UHaul 10-footer to move from Mississippi to Michigan, and it totaled about $800, so 800 from CA to Vegas seems high.
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
Crazy (to me) pricing for the service, but not a lot of other cost effective options (for me)...
Storage rates in LAS are 1/3 of what they charge for storage rates around San Francisco.
Oct 21, 2015, 12:26 pm
#5
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: DTW
Programs: Alaska, Delta, Southwest
Posts: 1,663
Ah. For my trip UHaul's base rate was pretty low but didn't include any free miles. (I think the rate was around 60 cents a mile at the time.)
As an aside, I rented a 16' truck and car carrier from Budget a few years later to make the same drive. I don't remember anything about the price, just that it was a Ford E350 with the 4.6L engine (all my UHaul rentals had been GMC trucks), and it was completely gutless when loaded. Also I spent the night enroute, and it was stuck in the snow the next morning. Good times...
As an aside, I rented a 16' truck and car carrier from Budget a few years later to make the same drive. I don't remember anything about the price, just that it was a Ford E350 with the 4.6L engine (all my UHaul rentals had been GMC trucks), and it was completely gutless when loaded. Also I spent the night enroute, and it was stuck in the snow the next morning. Good times...
Oct 26, 2015, 1:54 pm
#6
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: PHL
Programs: AA Gold, Marriott Titanium Elite (Lifetime Platinum)
Posts: 95
Was that the base rate, or including the mileage? Years ago we rented a UHaul 10-footer to move from Mississippi to Michigan, and it totaled about $800, so 800 from CA to Vegas seems high.
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
And yeah, we got about 10 mpg, all highway. Why those trucks, especially the bigger ones, don't have diesel engines is beyond me...
Oct 26, 2015, 5:56 pm
#7
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: ORD, MDW or MKE
Programs: American and Southwest. Hilton and Marriott hotels primarily.
Posts: 6,458
You can put a gasoline filling hose into a diesel filling tube - not the other way around. There is no way, as a rental company, that I am going to take the chance of my customer filling my diesel engine with gasoline.
Oct 28, 2015, 11:34 am
#8
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: DTW
Programs: Alaska, Delta, Southwest
Posts: 1,663
That's true, I guess there's no incentive for them to pay the extra upfront. Still, diesel engines tend to last longer and command higher resale values. I wouldn't buy a gas truck with 200k miles, which is how long Budget and UHaul seem to keep theirs...
Oct 28, 2015, 12:35 pm
#9
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: DL PM, Marriott Gold, Hertz PC, National Exec
Posts: 6,736
You might not buy one, but there's certainly a market. I see lots of box trucks that have obviously had the Budget/UHaul/Penske/etc logos stripped off.
Oct 28, 2015, 5:49 pm
#10
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: DTW
Programs: Alaska, Delta, Southwest
Posts: 1,663
