Odnal.com

I recently moved from Maryland to Georgia and compared several scenarios for moving all of our stuff from one place to the other.   Professional movers is out since they are so expensive.  I considered using UPack, like I have done before, but the estimated cost was around $1300 and I knew I could do better by renting a moving truck and doing all of the loading and unloading ourselves.

After comparing Uhaul, Ryder, Budget and several others, I found that Budget was by far the least expensive option.  Retailmenot.com has coupons for 15-20% off depending on the day of the week you get the truck on.   Friday and Saturday have a higher-demand, so you can save about 5% (in my estimation)  by picking the truck up Sunday through Thursday.

Picking the truck up on Thursday worked out perfect for us, so I was able to get the truck for four days (Thursday through Monday) with 800+ miles included for a total quoted price of $592.  Taxes in Maryland added about $50.00.  Gas is a significant expense when driving one of these trucks, so I needed to calculate that in as well.   The move was 636 miles according to google maps, and the trucks are supposed to get around 10 miles per gallon.   At $3.80 per gallon that brings the fuel cost to about $250.   So a total cost of about $800 by moving ourselves versus $1300 for a Upack.  Granted, driving a big moving truck for 600+ miles is not for everybody, but I was confident that I could do it.

A few other things that might warrant consideration for anybody else that might find themselves in a similar situation:

- You may have to stay overnight in a hotel, which can add $50-$100 or more

- Consider the cost of moving cars.  You can tow your car behind the moving truck which adds a rental fee plus makes it more difficult to drive the truck, and lowers fuel economy.

Results

- Budget honored the coupon codes  from retailmenot with no questions asked.  The final price of the truck rental ended up exactly what I expected at $639.36.

- Fuel costs during our move got pretty expensive.   I bought gas in Maryland for $3.349 a few days prior, but due to Hurricane Ike and limited fuel supply, gas prices spiked really high.   During the trip I saw places selling it for over $4.50/gallon.  Fortunately, I was able to keep an eye out along the road and didn’t have to pay more than $3.99 for gas anywhere (and that was once I had reached the destination and didn’t have much of an option to shop around).   The truck ended up getting 10.7 MPG.  I ended up with an average fuel cost of $3.81 per gallon and $238.34 for the 660 mile trip bringing the cost per mile to $0.36.