Lots of Folks Move During the Year. Here's One Way to Do It Cost-Effectively.
When my wife and I moved from California to Minnesota, we talked a lot about how to make the move. We could hire movers, but the cost for such a move is very high. We could rent a moving truck from Uhaul or another company to make the move, but we didn't have a house in Minnesota yet, so everything would have to go into storage until we found one to buy and closed on it, and then we'd have to load it all back up again to move in. Finally, we came up with a solution that worked pretty well. It's probably not for everyone, but it's a solution that might work for many DUers making a long move.
After much discussion, we actually bought a 24' used 1986 GMC moving truck from Uhaul for $6000. The rear box on the truck was 20' long, 8' wide, and 80" high, and there was an 4' long extension over the cab of the truck. It had a Gross Vehicle Weight limit of 18,000 lb. When I weighed it after loading almost everything my wife and I owned, it was full from front to back and from the floor to the top, and weighed in at 17,600 lb, complete with a full 50 gallon tank of gas. It also had 150,000 miles on it. After having it thoroughly checked out and some minor stuff done to it before we loaded it for the trip, the guy at the truck repair shop told me to keep it at 55 MPH or under on the trip and it would do fine. I went him one better, and bought an aftermarket tachometer and installed it. I set an engine speed limit of 3500 RPM, which worked out to be about 55 mph in the highest gear.
Loaded to its limit, it didn't see 55 MPH often on that trip. It seemed as though the entire trip was uphill, and I spent a lot of time in 3rd (35 mph) and 4th (45 mph) gear (out of 5) on the drive. I stuck to the 3500 RPM limit I had set, and all went well, if slowly. We had planned to make the trip in 5 days, driving 500 miles per day. The trip took 6 and a half days, due to the reduced speed I seemed to have to run at much of the time. We averaged 6 miles per gallon on the total 2500 mile trip. You didn't dare miss a gas station on some stretches of highway. We put over 400 gallons of gas through that truck on the move! Yikes!
My wife drove our minivan on the trip, and ran interference for me for freeway entrances and lane changes. I'd signal and she'd make the lane change behind me and match the truck's speed so I could change lanes or merge into traffic safely in front of her. Visibility was very bad to the rear on that truck. We stopped each night at a pre-selected Motel 6, because we also had two cats with us, and Motel 6 is OK with that. Most Motel 6 places also have truck parking spaces.
It was an interesting trip, to say the least. The truck's AC conked out on the first day, and temps in the cab were often over 120 degrees. I drank a couple of cases of bottled water during the trip, and could only manage 8 hours a day in the cab. But, we made it to Minnesota, where I parked the truck in a storage lot, still full of our furniture and stuff, until we could find a house to buy and closed on it. We spend a month living in her parents' basement, and then picked up the truck and moved into our new home. I had packed the essentials and our computers at the very rear of the truck, so we could keep working in the meantime.
It was a good choice, buying that truck. After we moved into our new house, I put the truck on Craig's list and sold it to someone who was moving from Minnesota to Florida. I lost a couple of thousand bucks on the deal, overall, when I had it sold, but didn't have to pay for a mover or store our belongings until we found a house, so the total cost of the move was only around $2500. What an adventure! Once in a while, we still talk about that move, almost 10 years later.
Anyhow, it's one solution for a long move. If you consider doing this, Uhaul has several centers where it sells its used trucks. Drive several of them before making a choice, since they're all priced about the same. Make sure everything works, and that it doesn't make any weird noises in the engine, brakes, or other parts. Get it thoroughly checked out and any necessary repairs made by a local truck service garage before loading it. Plan on spending another $500 or so, but don't try to make it like a new truck. Just fix what might cause you problems on the road. You'll only be driving it a few days, after all. Once you've moved, you should be able to sell it quickly at your destination for about what you paid for it, more or less. Craigs List works, or you can list it on eBay to get a wider audience. When you move, drive gently and don't stress the truck out too much, and you shouldn't have any serious trouble. Slow and easy will get you there. If someone can follow you and run interference for you, that's a good thing.
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