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If you don't need a lot of space for your furniture, you might also consider putting your car inside the moving van. My SIL did just that a few years ago when moving from Oregon to Wyoming. What I told him to do (and he didn't) was to buy the insurance. Someone dropped a rock off an overpass he was driving under and broke the windshield, so I got to pay for that, in addition to the rental.
Point is, it's easier to drive a little larger truck than to drive a smaller one and tow a trailer/car behind it, and in his case, it was also cheaper than renting the extra trailer.
What method did SIL use to secure the vehicle inside of the truck?
when we moved back to WI last year from SC, made a trip with a 20' Uhaul pulling their auto transport trailer to haul one of our cars up (with a full load of stuff in the truck). Wasn't bad at all. Now I've had experience pulling trailers and driving mid sized trucks, but in general followed a couple guidelines to make the run easier.
Stick with fueling up at the larger truck stops you'll see along the interstate (Luvs, Pilot, etc). Even though the Uhaul trucks run gas you'll find it easier to pull in and out of most larger stations than the standard small spot when a trailer is behind you. Most of these truck stops have some form of fast food built in to grab a quick bite as well.
For our overnight stop, we'd pull up one of the travel sites such as trip advisor to find a hotel that had bus/truck parking. Again saves having to park on a street or not at all.
No the truck was not as comfortable as our suv on longer runs, but it wasnt that bad. Did hit the waysides to stretch for a minute though.
And as others have stated, remember the trailer is back there when you change lanes or turn a corner.
I've towed a lot, my last move was arizona to north carolina in a 26'-0" penske towing a VW on a car trailer. I've towed campers, cars and utility trailers with my pickup for years as well. I used to be a firefighter, so driving big things in tight spaces is second nature to me.
Have spacial awareness. Know how high the truck is, how low the branches, bridges, canopies and basketball hoops are. With the little truck you'll probably fit almost anywhere, but still LOOK UP!
Realize that the body of the truck is wider than the cab. Realize how long the truck and trailer is, don't let the trailer block an intersection or train tracks.
Always be looking and reacting to the cars ahead of the car in front of you. Leave lots of room to slow down. Slow down to reopen the gap when someone pulls into your front safety space.
In the moving trucks you can't see the trailer behind you unless you are turning. Don't let that make you nervous. if you are going straight you probably don't need to see it. If you really want to see exactly what the car is doing you could find wireless back up camera kits online.
The larger trucks are usually diesel with bigger fuel tanks. You could use the tractor trailer section of truck stops to fuel up, they usually have wide open spaces and faster pumps for a couple cents more a gallon. Well worth the trade off to me.
Really check out the gas stations before you pull in. Make sure you could get out. I pulled into one I thought was connected to the adjacent lot, but it wasn't. It took a long time to wiggle out with inches between the truck/trailer and gas pumps, other cars, curbs, etc. I had to wait for people to leave the store so I could swing through parking spaces in front to get out.
If the above does happen and there is no way out; unload the car, unhook the trailer and then move the truck to where it needs to go. The car trailers and especially dollies can be easily moved around by hand on flat, level ground. It'll take 15 to 20 minutes but saves any chance of minor collision.
Hook the trailer to the truck, then load the car on the trailer. When you get where you are going take the car off the trailer then unhook the trailer from the truck. Moving company car haulers are not meant to be unhooked while loaded. They are also not intended to be loaded or unloaded while disconnected.
If you unhook from the truck with a car on the trailer you risk the whole thing rolling away. The jack on the front of the trailer I had looked really light duty. I wouldn't trust it to hold the loaded trailer up even with the trailer wheels chocked.
Check the hitch, chains, light connections, strap tension and trailer tires at every stop. Rental equipment is generally abused, so sometimes things don't stay tight. the towed car's tire pressure may change with elevation and temperature changes. If the hold down straps go over the tires they could get a little loose with pressure changes.
Surrender when driving. people will always want to run ahead of trucks, even if they want to go slower. They will speed up to pass you, then slow down. It's frustrating, but aggressive driving won't help. just slow down, a couple mph isn't going to make a difference.
In a city with 3 lanes I'll run in the middle lane. People could use the left to pass and the right to enter/exit the highway without having to navigate around the truck and trailer. Driving styles are regional, i'm sure someone will argue about this.
Check your auto insurance policy. Most do not cover moving trucks. You may need to buy the rental company's insurance.
The rest is common sense. Locate your lights, wiper, signal switches before setting off. Put the phone down, you could check it at the many, many fuel stops. Don't drive distracted; If you are tired, need the restroom, hungry, need to make a call, stop and take care of it. Buy a good lock for the truck, hotels usually have a dark & lonely corner of the lot for trucks.
oh, and weigh stations. I stop at them, although some people say rental trucks don't need to. I would rather be waved through or given the "bypass scale" light over getting pulled over, potentially ticketed and forced to turn around to go over the scale.
When i didn't get the bypass light the weighmaster asked "what are you hauling?" I say "the contents of my home", he tells me to have a safe trip and waves me forward.
Hi,
I'm planning to move from NJ to Dallas, TX. After shopping around I found that the cheapest way to do it and guaranteed to have my stuff with me when I arrive in my new home in Dallas is to drive.
I drove uHaul trucks several times before when I moved locally within NJ which was fine but never cross country with a full uHaul truck and I never towed a car so I'm nervous about it.
I need an advice from anyone made a similar trip before
Thanks,
I did pretty much the same thing from Houston to central Washington State. It's not much of a problem but it beats on you physically a little bit, at least for me but then I did it in three days. Probably better to not push it quite so hard. Also a very good idea to learn how to back up the whole mess before you actually need to do so.
OP, I work for UHaul, and I'd advise you to price our uboxes for your move. For certain moves, I would never use them because they'd be much pricier, but you are moving from a high-demand state to a low-demand state, so you should get a quote and see if us moving the stuff for you is cheaper than the UHaul, towing device, and gas.
1. Get the insurance. The maximum insurance they offer. You most likely wont need it but if you do; you don't want to be responsible for the truck, trailer, or liability for anything!
2. Take your time. Your chance of a mishap will go up exponentially as you drive above 60-65.
One of the best suggestions so far on here is to have a friend or family member follow you, and both of you should have walkie talkies. My husband and I moved our entire household of furniture etc. from FL to CO. My husband drove the Uhaul with a car trailer which carried our mini van. Both vehicles fully loaded. I drove our Pick up truck (fully loaded) and followed behind him.
With the radios, he was able to tell me when he needed to change lanes. Sometimes I had to pass him to get the lane he wanted, but then I would slow down enough and tell him when it was safe to cut back in front of me. He never had to pay much attention to the safety of changing lanes because he trusted me when I said " cut in now"
We only stopped at rest areas and motels that had ample parking so there was little or no backing required.
All of our "stuff", our pets, and we arrived exhausted but safe with no damage done.
I never want to do it again. But if we have to...
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