Paul Keith
Studied at Gordon College, MAUpvoted by
Alex Groggett
, Assistant General Manager at U-Haul (2021-present)Author has 152 answers and 626.7K answer views5y
If the U-Haul Center or independent Dealer follows the protocols, it wouldn’t be reported as a stolen vehicle. Failure to return a rental vehicle when due, if it was legitimately rented, is not considered vehicle theft but only a violation of the rental contract with whatever financial penalties – such as forfeiture of deposit and overtime charges – as noted in the Contract Terms. Why? Because the customer didn’t steal the truck, it was voluntarily leased to him or her by the dealer; s/he was given the keys at the beginning of the rental period.
To establish vehicle theft – assuming it wasn’t initially “hot wired” off a U-Haul lot w/o a contract in the first instance or stolen from a legitimate renter – it is necessary to show that the customer altered the vehicle in some way – such as repainting – to disguise it as something other than a U-Haul vehicle – and/or other evidence that the customer never intended to return the vehicle at all. (Hidden in a cave; stuff like that.)
btw, if a Car Dealer hands you the keys to a demo vehicle so you can test drive it, and you don’t return it to the Dealership when expected, same thing. This is one good reason why dealers usually – though not always – have a sales employee go with you you on such test drives.