Michael Zendler
General Manager (2008–present)Author has 104 answers and 283.9K answer views3y

I’m talking from first hand knowledge from 15 years ago, they might have changed their policy by now.

Most likely no. I worked for U-Haul for almost 10 years and have reported many U-Hauls “stolen”. U-Haul calls it “Missing or Not Returned”, not stolen. At the U-haul center level when this happens you generate a report in the computer, “Local not returned” and then corporate would put it through nationwide and 9 times out of 10 it popped up on some U-Haul lot somewhere in the country. What people would do back then because all you needed was a drivers license and $80 cash deposit (which all the fees would be taken out of that and balance, if any returned) no credit/debit card required unless you were renting a van or pickup truck. The local rate for a 14 foot truck was $19.95 a day and .39 a mile. They would pay their $80 deposit and disappear. A few days later I would get a call from the U-Haul in Orlando, FL saying they had my truck. Si instead of paying $1300 one way rental they just moved to Fl for $80, not a bad deal. U-Haul got their truck back so no charges were ever pressed only letters saying they owe X amount of dollars. If some low life was willing to make that illegal move I don’t think they are going to worry about being in collections for U-Haul.

Most people just return the truck/trailer during the night and put the keys in the night drop box this way they won’t have to deal with anyone at U-Haul. If that person ever went to rent anything from U-Haul again it would pop up in the computer that there is a problem and to call corporate, they were obviously never allowed to rent anything from U-Haul again, not even a moving pad.

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.