Penske® Reviews
We rented a 26' Penske truck which we had arranged months earlier. We were scheduled to pick it up on Sunday at the local Home Depot at 6:30 PM because I had arranged to have the movers arrive at the house at 7:00 am Monday morning. We arrived at Home Depot and the truck was not there and the person at Home Depot said he had been on the phone all day with Penske and he said he had no idea when it would be there. That we would have to come back the next morning. The next morning we went back to Home Depot and they had a truck but there was two HUGE cracks in the windshield from the top to the bottom. We were left with no choice but to take the truck. The movers meanwhile were twiddling their thumbs at home waiting for us to come with the truck. There were no instructions given on how to operate the truck including how to "dump the air". All in all I would never rent another Penske truck and will not recommend anyone I care about rent one either.
Rented a 26 foot truck from local dealer in Boynton Beach, FL. The communication about rental was excellent. I found the truck storage area not swept clean. Driver seat had several small holes in the cushion. Fuel gauge was a little inaccurate. But, this is a truck designed for moving and overall the experience was fine. We drove the truck from Boynton Beach FL to NC, 905 miles on rental truck.
I chose Penske after U-Haul failed us completely a few weeks before. When I went to pick up my truck at Penske, I was quite happy with the experience. They did everything U-Haul did not: had my truck. had the correct size truck. had a person to help me check out the truck. had a person walk me to the truck, start it, show me the controls, double checked that the requested hand truck was on the damn truck (it was!), and gave me general tips on how to drive it. Wow. what good service. In short, never again U-Haul; hello Penske.
We had a delay with the size truck not being there when we arrived for pickup, which ended up being about 50 mins. extra waiting -- and they were very apologetic, and offered a discount for the inconvenience. We had moving help coming so that was my greatest concern, and as it turned out, everyone arrived (truck and moving help) at just about the same time. So, I DO suggest arriving a bit early for your rental, in case of any snags. I did call the day before to confirm, but ours is a smaller town, so the one we would be renting had to come in back to back from another rental a good distance away. I know they want to make revenue, but such tight scheduling can cause a bit of stress for the next person in line. Just a suggestion for other people, and definitely NOT a detriment to our renting again, if ever needed. Truck ran okay, served our needs, all equipment asked for was there as requested. No hidden charges or fees -- all explained up front and total cost was exactly as quoted!
The truck had some good features and was easy to drive once you got used to the size of the truck. But, man, was it a turd going uphill. The governor kicked in around 75 mph, but as soon as you hit an incline, you’d find yourself barely able to do 40 in some cases. Then, everyone you whizzed by on the highway would go whizzin’ back by.
We had a fairly new, comfortable, 26 ft truck. The only things I would improve are the quality of the "blankets" we rented (actually pieces of felt fabric in poor condition with holes) & we had to provide our own straps & a lock for the truck. Wasn't told this before hand. It would also have been nice to have some instructions/tips about getting diesel for this truck ahead of time. Many places that advertise prices for diesel don't actually have it (BP stations) or don't have enough room to turn a large truck around. Figuring out the procedure for using the truck stops to refuel was an adventure for a first timer. Otherwise, the truck rode very comfortably & had plenty of wooden beams to strap our furniture to. The ramp worked well too.
Penske service was professional and great. The staff explained everything about the 26-foot truck, which was brand new by the way with only 1500 miles on it, and helped me connect the car hauler and load my car onto it when I was ready to leave town. The truck's ride was smooth and even had a Bluetooth-enabled radio which made the ride much easier for hearing my GPS and phone calls on the road.
Even though my order was erroneously canceled by someone, they found a truck for me in my area at the last minute and honored the original rental price, which was deeply discounted. My truck was new, clean and in great working condition. Drop off was even easier than pick up. Very pleased with my experience despite the initial hiccup. Penske is my new favorite truck rental company!
