An exercise in futility

[BridgeRunner]

I have now spent all afternoon and part of the evening attempting to rent a vehicle that fits two criteria:  it can hold me, my husband, and my daughter, and it can hold a seven foot long package.

This is, I fear, impossible,

I can rent a truck or van from a moving place (uhaul, ryder, etc).   This would be rickety, unsafe, and would only have room for two people. 

I can rent a minivan or an SUV from a car rental place.  So far I have reserved two vehicles today.  First, a minivan.  Turns out they decided to rent me the only minivan on the planet that does not have fold-down or removable seats.  No cargo space.

Then I tried to rent an SUV.  This time I verified with the person running the counter at the local airport that I would get something with the hauling capacity of a Trailblazer.  Yeah...after I  drove across town and trudged across the parking lot and airport hauling a big toddler size carseat, my Trailblazer had morphed into a Nissan Murano.  Because really, six feet and eight feet and the same thing, right?

Now no one has anything left available this weekend.  I should've set this up in advance.  Oh wait, I did. 

So, am I missing something here?  Is it POSSIBLE to rent a vehicle that can transport both people and stuff?  Am I just insane because I think this is the most ludicrous waste of time and effort I've engage in in a long time?

[seeker_two]

Rent an RV....worked out great for Robin Williams....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RV_(movie)

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

I have now spent all afternoon and part of the evening attempting to rent a vehicle that fits two criteria:  it can hold me, my husband, and my daughter, and it can hold a seven foot long package.

Rent a hearse. I think that some funeral homes will allow you to do that. Not positive, though.

[Balog]

Roll down the window and stick it out, kinda angles sideways? Stick it on top of the non-folding seats? What kind of "7 foot long package" are we talking about here?

[lupinus]

No place near you rents full size vans?

[Boomhauer]

Lup's got it. Full size, full length van.

[Cromlech]

No mid-size trucks/vans with a bench seat for three in the front?

[Brad Johnson]

I can rent a truck or van from a moving place (uhaul, ryder, etc).   This would be rickety, unsafe, and would only have room for two people. 

My best friend's son just moved back from Kentucky using a U-Haul box body (the 14').  It had a bench seat plenty big for three and was almost new.

U-Haul also rents pickups, the plain models with the bench seats.

http://www.uhaul.com/guide/index.aspx?equipment=truck-pickup

Brad

[AZRedhawk44]

Home Depot rents trucks and vans.

So does Best Buy.

[go_bang]

Any pickup with a full width bench seat can fit three average sized people.  If that's too tight a fit than try to rent a 12 or 15 full-sized passenger van and let the rental agency keep whatever seats you need to remove so the package will fit.

[Antibubba]

How far do you need to carry it?

[BridgeRunner]

Home Depot rents trucks and vans.

We ended up going with Home Depot.  All the vans I looked at only had two front bucket seats.  None of the Uhaul and similar places nearby had pickups available, and I'm wary of Uhaul pickups.  Their vehicles in general seem, ime, to be in good repair, and if I'm gonna put kiddo in the middle of a bench seat in a pickup, I want to know that it's at least reasonably safe and reliable. 

Home Depot turned out to be pretty cheap--cheaper than Uhaul, anyway, or a regular car rental place--and the truck was awesome F-250 with a nine foot bed, clean and in good shape.  No problems driving it, even though I haven't driven anything bigger than a Jeep Cherokee in about ten years.  We were transporting a disassembled king-sized bed.  For the past three years, we've had a king-sized mattress on the floor, which was great for baby and toddler safety, but it's harder and harder to get up and down, and I want all of us to be further away from the allergen-ridden carpet.  Really wanted to get the moving done today so we can get it assembled and do rearranging and such tomorrow, as well as the usual weekend stuff. 

[Jamisjockey]

So you never told us about the 7' long package.....

[PTK]

So you never told us about the 7' long package.....

We were transporting a disassembled king-sized bed.

[Jamisjockey]

Ah....my reading skills failed.

[Perd Hapley]

Seven foot package.  Interesting choice of words.

[RaspberrySurprise]

Seven foot package.  Interesting choice of words.

I know, I wonder if it belongs to her husband?

[seeker_two]

I know, I wonder if it belongs to her husband?

It would explain why she's so happy....