Choosing the right-sized rental truck for moving is crucial. If by chance you select one that’s too big for your belongings, you’ll not only be paying for storage space you don’t really need but you’ll also risk having some of your items damaged while in transit as they’ll be tossed around inside the back of the truck. On the other hand, if you’ve found out later that you’ve rented one that’s too small for your needs, you either unload the entire truck and rent a bigger one, or you get a second rental truck, or you leave behind some of your belongings.
Every truck comes with a specific storage capacity, usually measured in cubic feet, from floor to roof. To determine what size moving truck to rent, professional movers advise that you simply count how many fully furnished rooms you have and multiply that by 150. This gives you the number of cubic feet you’ll require and the size of truck you need to get. For example, if you’ve got five fully furnished rooms in your house, you’ll need a moving truck with approximately 750 cubic feet of storage space. If you ask for a truck that’ll provide 750 cubic feet but the nearest rental option is either 700 cubic feet or 850 cubic feet, better opt for the truck with the 850 cubic feet storage capacity.
Alternatively, most moving truck rental agencies also use certain rule-of-thumb guides for figuring out the size of truck needed based on the number of rooms alone of a house. For instance, a house with six, seven or eight rooms would need a 24 to 26 foot truck, one with four or five rooms would need a 20 foot truck, one with three rooms or less would need a 15 foot truck, and one that a studio-type apartment would need a 10 foot truck or a cargo van.
Still alternatively, some moving companies use real-life numbers to calculate the right size of truck they will send out to their customers. At Penske for instance, they have a patented wizard for figuring what truck size is best, given an inventory of the belongings to be moved. Customers would be handed a checklist of common household items that are found in most homes’ living room, kitchen, dining room, den or office, bedrooms, porch or outdoor area along with their appliances, boxes, and miscellaneous items to be put in the truck. The customers will indicate the quantity for each item on the checklist, enter the data on the online wizard, and click on the “Calculate My Truck Size” icon. Almost immediately, based on the entered information, the wizard will tell you what size of moving truck is right for you to rent.
