The $1200 moving truck rental that sat in my driveway for 3 days unused

I booked a U-Haul for a cross-town move in Knoxville, backed out of the move after a family emergency, and the cancellation fee plus lost deposit cost me $1200, so has anyone else gotten burned by non-refundable moving reservations when life threw a curveball?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylorshah1mo ago

That $1200 figure is wild to me, but my real question is what exactly was in that cancellation contract you signed. Did they break down the deposit vs. the fee on paper, or was it just one big charge that showed up on your card later? I've rented U-Hauls a bunch and always skimmed that fine print, but now I'm wondering if they have a clause where a family emergency or something out of your control just doesn't matter at all. Because three days sitting in your driveway, unused, should mean they could have rented it to someone else and made money off it twice... unless their whole business model banks on people like us eating the cost. Seems like there has to be some consumer protection law in Tennessee that covers this kind of thing, but I'm guessing you already looked into that and hit a wall.

vera_johnson91mo ago

Whoa, that whole thing sounds like a nightmare. @taylorshah I remember reading some consumer reports article about U-Haul's cancellation fees being a total gray area, they don't have to break it down on paper if it's buried in the online agreement. And yeah, I think Tennessee's law only covers stuff like if you never picked up the truck, not if you canceled early. Their whole thing is just hoping you don't push back hard enough on the charge.