Penske® Reviews
Rented a 16' truck from Penske. We have used them in the past. Reliable trucks at a decent price. Price was around $500 after taxes/fees. We did not get any extras, but when I picked up the truck, we decided to add the insurance for another 70 something bucks so we could be worry free about damage to the vehicle. The fee covered a three day usage, and when we dropped it off, there was a key drop box so we could return it after hours, though we were a day early returning it. If you want blankets and hand trucks, you'll have to pay extra for those. Gas is also something you need to fill before return, or you get charged $8 per gallon to have them do it for you. I can do it myself for that price.
My truck was not even on site when I went to pick it up even after confirming my reservation the day before. The truck arrived an hour and a half late causing me additional fees of $60 an hour for packers to sit and wait. The ramp would not extend resulting in another wait of an hour while the repair guy came. Also the gas tank doesn't register full even when the pump kicks off...it took me three attempts to finally get it full.
BAD NEWS: Seat = worse I ever sat in, wife & I back pain went through the roof after 500 miles! The 2 year old 26ft we used in 2016 much much much better. Suggest eliminating the hydraulic bouncy seat! Another BAD! We didn't get our 1st of two 26ft trucks until 4 hours later. (12:30pm versus 0830!) We also didn't get the blankets or hand truck we ordered. Had to drive to another Penske location to get these myself. Finally, the truck came with <1/4 tank of DEF. for the 1000-mile trip, meant I had to get off the road & find/buy DEF from AutoZone. Saving grace? GOOD!: The manager at DC store ("Matt") went well out of his way to try to make sure things worked. He also credited us funds back for all the waiting around, lack of reserved equipment, and having top go to retrieve equipment that should been on truck #1 (which at reserved 0830 tie, was full of garbage & pallets!) He (Matt, manager New York Ave DC store) called 3-4x to have hand truck and blankets in the later truck (arrived 1230PM versus reserved 0930). 1st truck I took off with had the carrier, was suppose to be truck #2. CHAOS!: With movers waiting on us, had to drive the wrong one home first, disconnect the carrier, and try to get the loading started. Meant that I had to connect car carrier to other truck the "12:30PM" truck -- also meant that contracts & truck IDs were flipped. Certainly not the "easy" Penske experience I had in 2016 with 26 ft trucks + carrier.
The rental was through Home Depot and they were very quick and efficient in renting and returning. The only disappointing thing was that we returned the rental the same day because we got done early, and the Home Depot personnel said I had to contact Penske directly to discuss any discount/repayment for the extra time.
The truck was good and the clerk was extremely friendly. However, the truck was not ready at 9. I had ordered blankets and had to go back to them. The blankets were small and thin. Thought the cost of the blankets should have been removed because I had to get blankets from U-Haul. The clerk admitted that these are not the blankets they normally use but still charged me the full price.
After comparing truck rental online, I decided to go with Penske. I'm glad I did! The truck was clean, well-maintained, only two years old, and surprisingly comfortable to drive. I was pleasantly surprised to find a USB port for my cell phone! Decent gas mileage for a loaded 16' truck. Mirror placement eliminated blind spots - no fear changing lanes on the interstate. Next time I need a truck, I'll go directly to Penske.
The pick up location manager was kind enough to let me inside before their actual opening hours, I was a little early! Truck was in really good mechanical condition, ran extremely well and didn't use as much gas as I expected. Clean and reliable. I dropped off the truck the next day at a different location but the service there was the same. Really nice, professional staff. In and out of the office in 10 minutes. Great experience.
It's something for me to be able to say excellent, when in fact we experienced a truck exhaust issue. But please allow me to finish, because, we were so tired after packing and loading this huge 26' rig. The rig was clean and gassed up ready for me. It took us 20 hours to pack and load, we slept at a motel for a while, prior to heading down the road, toward our new home. We got off to a late start, because we slept in, due to the extremely long load day. In the pitch black darkness of night, about 400 miles down the road, we experienced a malfunction which required us to pull the rig off of the road, to the right shoulder. Though it was in the middle of the night, the highway was packed with 18 wheeler traffic. The rigs flew past our parked truck making it sway back and forth like a ship in the rolling sea. I phoned the 1800 # on my contract...granted, I was a little "miffed" at the situation, however, the really assuring voice on the other line, immediately began to reassure me that they would take care of us, then began a remote, computerized analysis of the situation...which took about 20 minutes from the beginning of the call to their completion of a diagnosis. They ordered a repair man to come to our location, about 50 miles between cities. They made sure that the highway patrole was asked to drive by for a welfare check, and to make sure that we had pulled far enough from the traffic to be In a safe place. The highway patrole arrived and assisted me in moving the truck further off to the right. ( I had been hesitant, because the truck was so heavy, that I was afraid of finding a soft shoulder, and concerned about having the tires stuck in soft dirt). After helping me move the rig, the officer stayed in the center island of the highway with his lights on, to make us feel more secure. Though it took about 1.5 hours for the repair man to arrive, Pensky had taken the time to call me twice during my wait time to assure me and to check on me. When the young may arrived, he was so understanding of our situation, and as well as he began to diagnose the issue, he offered us a bottle of cold water, and cared about our welfare. After he found the problem, he said that he would be able to fix it, but it would take about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. He told us to take that time to rest if we could, or at least relax for a while. It did take just over one hour to repair the issue, but he not only assured us, with caring reassuring words, Pensky also offered to have our truck towed to a quieter area further up the highway while waiting for the repair man to arrive, bye-the-way. They also told me that if our truck could not be safely returned to service, they (Pensky) would have our goods removed from the "broken rig " and loaded into a different rig to complete our move, if necessary. Though it was not the most comfortable situation to go through, Pensky, not only compensated me financially for the inconvenience, they made sure we had the ability to get a motel for the rest of the night, instead, of continuing on our journey, after being delayed, making our tiredness an unsafe condition in which to travel. I will most assuredly use Pensky again when I need equipment to move anything again. They not only took care of me at every stage, they truly showed me how much they cared about me personally, and my family as well. A young man named Andrew in the Corporate office spoke with me twice to make sure we had been cared for properly. Thank you Pensky, L.L. REYNOLDS, Valdosta, Georgia.
