Fairbanks Uhaul Beware

[MightyWhitey]

I reserved a 9ft cargo van from Fairbanks uhaul in February for 2 weeks starting August 24th. I walked 4 miles from my Airbb to the uhaul shop and he told me they had sold both their 9’ cargo vans after I made my reservation and sorry nobody told you about that. To shorten a long story we ended up in a 15’ box truck and we’re in business. But that was the only thing they had. Any of you guys that think you have a vehicle waiting for you when you get there you better damn sure make sure. I called 12 times 4 days before and never got a hold of anybody in Fairbanks. It sent me to the national number where I asked if I could pick it up a day early and he said no it was unavailable for early pickup. He failed to mention it was totally unavailable because they’d sold it. Good luck guys. Just a heads up.

 

[Grumman]

Not Alaska but I had this happen on a trailer rental this summer. It wrecked my plans and getting in touch with the Uhaul call center was a +40 minute wait….both times I had to call.


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[FLATHEAD]

Had the same thing happen to me in Midland/Odessa.
Had rented a 4wd Pickup for a NM Aoudad hunt.
Got to the counter and they said it was no longer available.
Ended up with a Nissan Morano. I thrashed that sucker in the desert. Rolled a tire off a rim and ended up having to cut the
plastic skid plate out from underneath. It got hung up on something and didnt survive.

 

[M-Wig]

I used to work for a company that shared our front office with a car rental agency. I'm not sure if uhaul is the same, but those places run the razor's edge when it comes to fleet. If any one issue popped up it could ruin their whole day.

No way I could take the ass chewings those guys got on a daily basis.

 

[Nick Muche]

I swear I saw you boys up there in the Box Van.. I thought to myself...these boys got it figured out! Like a camper in the back!

Edit...
Disregard, it wasn't you, as I see you are just starting now...

But I saw some guys in a Box Van a few weeks ago up there, they looked like they were having a good time! First time ever seeing the Box Van approach!

 

[mooster]

I called my rental firm a couple weeks ago to double check and was told our rental was unavailable. Could we use a small SUV or alternate truck? I then tried to book uhaul and made a reservation, successfully I thought. A day later uhaul did call to say they had no equipment. Crazy times.

 

[Nick Muche]

Try the Turo App…

 

[Nick Muche]

Or take a Box Van!

 

[mooster]

Uhaul had 15’ box trucks avail. No vans. Not sure I want to drive that up to Deadhorse.

 

[Scooter90254]

Crazy times. This seems to be the norm lately.

 

[Peaks&Creeks]

I had the same thing happen. I moved my family up to Montana at the beginning of the year and reserved a 20’ uhaul with car carrier months in advance. When I get there the morning of my pickup, they told me they had neither, but I could drive myself one way for 3 hours to pickup the setup I had reserved. Sweet, a 6 hour round trip just to get started. I gave them a serious chewing, and the local pickup place ended up getting me a 15’ and we made it work. I still have to fly back to CO for Labor Day to pick up my wife’s car and some other belongings we couldn’t fit in the 15 footer the first round. Uhaul is total crap and they don’t care at all, they have a complete lock on the market especially with so many people moving during this pandemic. I’ll never use Uhaul again if I absolutely don’t need to.


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[WonkyWapiti]

I just got back from Fairbanks myself and I couldn't believe how much the rental cars were if you could even find one. We kept the local Lyft drivers well employed while we were in town on this trip. It was also nearly impossible to get hotel rooms before and after our drop camp as many of the hotels were short on rooms since they were having trouble getting people to work.

 

[RS_Non-Res]

Last time I moved myself as I was comparing prices, one rental agent said "Ever seen a rental moving truck on the side of the road? What color was it?" I opted for the more expensive yellow one. But I'll never rent a tow dolly again, only a full trailer.

 

[Ono]

Glad we dodged that one. Uhaul had the van I reserved.

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[tbowers]

Ha reminds me of that classic Seinfeld episode--'So they know how to *take* the reservation, they just don't know how to *hold* the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation: the holding. Anybody can just take them.

 

[mtnbiker208]

15 ft box van in anchorage for a day. got er done though!

 

[Broomd]

Sometimes one needs to get creative.
When we moved from Fairbanks to Idaho in 2006 the cost for a Uhaul from Fairbanks to Coeu'dAlene, Idaho was $6000.
That same Uhaul from Delta Junction to Colville WA, was $2200.
No brainer. We drove the super-mover Uhaul around for about a week in Idaho learning the area and returned it to Colville.
Sorry for the sidetrack....


Put an ad in Faribanks CL or other forums and ask around for a beater van or truck for the week. That's where I'd start.

 

[hobbes]

I looked at renting a Uhaul utility trailer in Missoula a couple weeks ago so I could pick something up in Missoula, haul to Helena, then drop the trailer at a Uhaul in Helena. Their website said they had what I wanted. Luckily I called before reserving online. They did not have what the website said they had. I made other arrangements.

I would have been pissed with a 2 hour one way trip to find no trailer. I'd be smoking if I got to Fairbanks and they didn't have what I'd reserved.

 

[Lrs183]

Biggest thing I've gathered about U-Haul in Alaska as a whole is their one day policy. They had this going on for a while. I said so if I rent one for 10 days and have it scheduled but you reinstate this rule in 2022, what happens? They said they will only honor one day.

I couldn't imagine how that was even possible. Plus I did the math.. based on their per mile cost, you don't come out a lot ahead with them depending on what you're doing. I'll stick to standard rentals.

 

[SierraOneSix]

I reserved a 9ft cargo van from Fairbanks uhaul in February for 2 weeks starting August 24th. I walked 4 miles from my Airbb to the uhaul shop and he told me they had sold both their 9’ cargo vans after I made my reservation and sorry nobody told you about that. To shorten a long story we ended up in a 15’ box truck and we’re in business. But that was the only thing they had. Any of you guys that think you have a vehicle waiting for you when you get there you better damn sure make sure. I called 12 times 4 days before and never got a hold of anybody in Fairbanks. It sent me to the national number where I asked if I could pick it up a day early and he said no it was unavailable for early pickup. He failed to mention it was totally unavailable because they’d sold it. Good luck guys. Just a heads up.

Geez. We had a similar thing happen.