Penske Truck Rental Reviews

I chose Penske because of good experiences with their equipment a few years ago. All that has changed:

Let me see where to begin. First of all when my husband ordered a truck to haul our household items to South Carolina, he was told we would have a lift gate. When we went to pick it up, there was no lift gate. After we turned it in, the employee at Penske told my husband lift gates are only available for local. Next the truck's front shook so hard while we made the 650 mile journey. While in the process of traveling with me following him and had to call him and tell him to pull over because the back sliding door was coming up. We had it locked with a master lock. The hook was not staying latched. This happened 3 times. Had to make a stop at a Walmart to buy bungee straps.

I had one of the worst rental experiences I’ve ever dealt with, and it still has not been properly resolved. This was a local Penske rental (Reservation #**, Truck ID #**). The truck broke down at approximately 4:30 PM and left me stranded on the side of the highway for roughly 4.5–7 hours waiting for assistance. What followed was complete chaos:

I leased a 16-foot Penske truck for my relocation from [ORIGIN] to Wichita, Kansas, incurring a cost exceeding $7,000.00 for the move. Regrettably, the vehicle experienced a mechanical failure within the initial hour of what was projected to be a 28-hour transit. While I acknowledge that unforeseen circumstances can arise, this development caused considerable distress. I was informed that a replacement vehicle and transfer personnel would be dispatched to facilitate the transfer of my possessions. During my discussion with the representative, I reiterated the critical requirement for professional movers on multiple occasions and received assurances that the company frequently engages this specific service provider. I was advised that the replacement truck and movers would arrive within a four-hour window. Eight hours later, it became evident that these individuals were not professional movers, and it was their inaugural engagement with Penske.

I gave two stars —one because we finally got the truck we needed and 2 because it got us home. That’s the best of what I can say about this experience. I called a full 3 weeks before the date I would need a 26ft truck with a liftgate that was going from Birmingham, Alabama to Tampa, Florida. The first words out of their mouths every time was we don’t rent liftgate trucks to go one way state to state, it’s only local rentals. I explained I’d had a death in the family and needed to move heavy equipment after it was no longer needed by family members. I explained we would be flying into Birmingham and driving the truck with our inherited stuff back to our home in Tampa.

I put the truck under my name and my Visa realized I was short of money so 3 days before pickup I tried to get my cousin to use her visa which was valid and I was on the phone with five supervisors over 3 hours in order to get it finally taken care of, Nobody knows what they're doing. Nobody knows how to make a three-way call. Absolute nightmare. Between all that I called U-Haul and tried to get a better price. I was so disgusted with Penske and the sheer stupidity of them. They're not the brightest bulbs on the tree to say the least.

Beware charges are dramatically more at check out than the phone representative quotes. I received a call from Penske when I had an existing Home Depot Truck rental and Penske said it would match or come in under the Home Depot price. They ultimately quoted $5.00 less. I canceled my Home Depot reservation and Penske billed me $250.00 more than Home Depot and refuse to refund the overbilled amount. They are literally actively stealing business from Home Depot under false pretenses. Do not support this company.

We purchased a used Ford Transit that was on the Penske website from TJ (Antonio **) that was advertised in great condition. After taking delivery of the van it looked like it was in a Demolition Derby, baseball, and football size dents, and a 2 foot roof corner dent that indicates a drive thru incident. They are using Bait and Switch tactics and we are seeking legal representation for this matter. Besides the physical appearance of the van, the transmission doesnt shift correctly, key fob defective, side door doesn't close, driver mirror does not funtion and missing body parts. Penske did correct most of the mechanical defects but is stating the body damage is normal wear and tear. Very disappointed.

I had an overall good experience with Penske, but I need to call out a serious issue with one employee at the Pocasset, MA location—Pam. Everyone else I interacted with was very pleasant and professional, which made this stand out even more. Unfortunately, Pam provided poor customer service and gave completely inaccurate information. She insisted that we could make a long-distance trip to Wisconsin on less than half a tank of DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), which was incorrect. Because of this, the truck began losing power during our trip, and we were forced to stop in Illinois to refill DEF—something that could have easily been avoided with proper guidance.

I rented a Penske truck about 5 years ago. Coming from Louisiana to Maine. Long story short,I stopped at a Sunoco gas station in Oneonta, NY. Station did not have diesel. So I went under the gas pump canopy to head back out and there was a black low lying. I beam that dug in the side of the box on my truck. Just poor lighting, smallest clearance sign ever with a dumb beam that you can't see going under it. They said other box trucks have done the same thing in the past. So it was a problem at that station for a while.