BoatBanter.com - I own a 24' U-Haul !! hehe

Some of it may be actual overbooking but I also know they have a problem
with people not returning the trucks when they are supposed to!

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It's hard to return a truck that's broken down...

A common source of overbooking is the
conflict between the factory outlets and the independents. When an indepedent
rents a truck, the reservations is called into a central phone number. It can
take a day for that reservation to get on line. In the meantime, John Q. Public
has called the 1-800 reservation number, sometbody has checked the computer to
see that a truck shows available at a specific location, and
books the reservation unaware that a conflicting reservation is working its way
through the system.

There is no (or as of several years ago there was not) a central computer
system linking the various independent locations to the U-Haul central
dispatch.

The mini-wage phone help at U-Haul is supposed to contact the location and let
them know a reservation has been made, but that doesn't always happen, either.

As long as U-Haul wants to have a gazillion locations without the capital
expenditure and overhead required to lease or purchase the ground and staff
the rental business, this problem will continue. It may be as bad with other
rental companies, too. My experience has been with U-Haul.