Box truck camping tips..

[ygmir]

yeah, but also consider, how dirty a lot of them come back.
and how, a lot of folks flat ass abuse these trucks, because they are "rentals".
I've seen them so overloaded, I know they have to have bent the rear housing or springs on the first big bump, like the cattle guards on 447.
U joints. brakes, running hot.
I bet many are thrashed when they return.

I'd say, at least some of this, is the typical "one bad apple" thing, where a few folks screw trucks up so bad, the companies can't trust the condition upon return.

some of this pain, as a group, is self inflicted.

[International Incident]

Dammit!
Oh well, I await to hear the official word from JS before i go into full blown pissed off.

If it turns out that the box trucks are more expensive then some of us will just have to club together to make it work..

We are burners after all!

[junglesmacks]

Ok.. this is the deal:

It gives me great sadness to relay this news to the Burning Man community regarding Budget truck rentals in the entire NV/NorCal region. This affects all rentals in the SFO/SJO/SAC/LAS/RNO area and is directly from our friend and point man within the ranks of Budget HQ that has been fighting for this community for years now.

Long story as short as possible: Budget Truck Rentals had a complete audit done over the the 2012-2013 winter months and found that they were actually losing money on a grand scale because of (what they conclude as being) Burning Man and the lost revenue in utilization, maintenance costs, importing trucks from location to location, etc. Many people including high level district managers were fired over this and entire franchises have been pulled directly because of this.

The word has come down directly from the top of Budget that the following changes will be made for 2013:

- No more importation of trucks from location to location. Absolutely no transferring of inventory without it going out as a one way rental. This means that the RNO location will have around 30 trucks total and that's it. Whatever is standard for being on the lot in all locations, will be.

- An exorbitant flat daily rate + mileage rate will be charged regardless of your reservation location/amount/time/date/coupon code. At this time, it is said to be 10' & 16' trucks $74.99/day and $0.99/mile, 24' truck $99.99/day and $0.99/mile, 24' LiftGate $129.99/day and $0.99/mile.

- ANY AND ALL reservations that are made with ANY other rates WILL BE CANCELLED and the new rate applied or the reservation forfeited. This with 100% surety affects all RNO area reservations as well as the surrounding areas. The latest news is that they are working their way outwards from RNO all the way back to SFO and making adjustments as needed according to franchise utilization. They know very well what the pattern of Burning Man renting looks like and according to how many get reserved, they will cancel as they see fit in order to leave trucks available for "other" customers.

The direct word is that they are price testing the market to see how high they can charge and still rent trucks. This is in no way the decision of the local franchise owners, but direct from national managers.

We have had people fighting for this community for years in order to keep this resource alive, but sadly.. numbers talk.. and the days of this being "business as usual" have officially come to a close.

Please help to get the word out on this development as it has deep ramifications within the logistical planning of our community.

Steve/Reno-Gentry Way has asked that anyone with questions please email in lieu of calling the location as they're already swamped. renotruckrental (@) yahoo (punto) com

[lucky420]

This truly does suck but at least they will still rent to burners. UHAUL will not rent to burners at all...

[junglesmacks]

Agreed. At least we can still rent from them for now.. and for a price. Get on it while you can.

[International Incident]

Thank you Junglesmacks.
At least we have the information and can try to work out alternatives...
For us, it makes bringing an art project really hard. Damn it.

[Asquared]

Thank you Junglesmacks.
At least we have the information and can try to work out alternatives...
For us, it makes bringing an art project really hard. Damn it.

II- my campmate is coming from melb, and we got one of the trucks from reno. message me if you want to try to work together to get your art to BM.

[Krokodyle]

Thanks, Junglesmacks. Passing this along to a few people now.

Looks like any truck/space share program will get a definite boost this year.

[lucky420]

this could be the next big race (after the race for tickets)

[International Incident]

Thank you Junglesmacks.
At least we have the information and can try to work out alternatives...
For us, it makes bringing an art project really hard. Damn it.

II- my campmate is coming from melb, and we got one of the trucks from reno. message me if you want to try to work together to get your art to BM.

Thanks mate!

We have secured a fix from a Reno mate. But thank you, thank you, thank you!

[kjcrouch]

It's too early to book online right now by a few days if I'm not mistaken. In previous posts calling the 800-Budget phone number was stated as a no-no, but they do take reservations past the 6-month mark at that number. Anybody have any info/opinions about renting through the main reservation line rather than calling Reno directly since it seems like it's going to be a first come/first serve sort of deal?

[MacGlenver]

Damn it, the first year I decide I'm going to rent from Budget and I set a reminder to rent the day it opens online (couple days), is the year they change their policies. Blarg!

Thanks much, JS, for the detailed update.

[junglesmacks]

FWIW, I put in a rental now for the earliest day possible until the Wed after BM. You can always slide the dates around later or make a duplicate reservation for the correct dates once possible and then cancel your old reservation.

Also.. the farther away from RNO that you're renting, the slightly better chance you have that they won't cancel and change your rates. It's not guaranteed and is very likely that they will, but you do have a better chance than RNO renters that are 100% sure to be jacked.

[MyDearFriend]

Oh ah SHIT okay, hmmm... we need transport for our art and were hoping to dovetail with Bobbin & Water on a truck.

If we need to revise our plans, well, we're far enough out to do that.

NOW is when a school bus would be really handy...

[kjcrouch]

Oh ah SHIT okay, hmmm... we need transport for our art and were hoping to dovetail with Bobbin & Water on a truck.

If we need to revise our plans, well, we're far enough out to do that.

NOW is when a school bus would be really handy...

If you're just looking for transport from Reno, I'm sure we'll have room in our truck for just about whatever you have in mind...

[Bounce530]

Might be worth the added expense of flying into a small airport in a small town such as Chico or Redding CA, and getting a truck there, rather then rolling the dice and trying to find a truck in Reno.

[junglesmacks]

Might be worth the added expense of flying into a small airport in a small town such as Chico or Redding CA, and getting a truck there, rather then rolling the dice and trying to find a truck in Reno.

You're still subject to the same rates though if you're going through Budget.

However, I know at least in Sacramento there's another locally owned burner friendly box truck rental place that I can't remember the name off hand. Doc knows.

[Dr. Pyro]

To be accurate, it's not a box rental place in Sacramento, but rather the Budget/Avis dealership, so it's not a good place for box trucks or large cargo vans.

[junglesmacks]

PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTT...

Today marks the day that you can start reserving trucks for the Saturday the 24th before the burn. If you even think that you may be needing one, now is the time to reserve.

[kjcrouch]

Wow. Online reservations coming up to $127 per day plus mileage (.89 per mile). Yikes!

[junglesmacks]

Read back through this thread for tips on how to get that cost down and try again. Whether or not it gets cancelled in favor of the new, aforementioned rate is yet to be seen.

[kjcrouch]

Got it! Thanks.

[Asquared]

jungles...

can you give feedback on how your shade thing turned out? (if you don't mind). i can't decide if i want to mess with it (virgin here) or just suck it up and sweat.

[Earthwalker]

Hey Asquared, not sure what JungleMan did, but I found this pic on someone's blog. Camp is Hot Love Brigade. They took three RVs and made three sides of a square (an open-ended square? Hmmm...lexicon), and covered the area in the middle with some sort of a shade structure, plus an eazy up. Seems to have worked out well for them. I believe you said you'll be camping with at least one other box truck person, so you could try something like this. good luck!

[ridingnitro]

You don't need shade over your box truck if you use a swamp cooler...at least I didn't.

[Asquared]

EW - that looks money!

nitro - i saw your setup, hot damn that was some pimp shit! i believe it's this thread where there's all sort of info re: swamp coolers, ventilation, exhaust and all that jazz. while i am a self sufficient camper, all that scientific shit is not my forte. i will do some research and see if i can do one fairly easily.

thanks!

[junglesmacks]

My shade experiment worked fine. I ended up throwing some cardboard boxes left over from all the water jugs on the roof to create an airflow gap. Toss tarp over, secure to ground, done. Although.. I don't know how much it really helped in the end. For your first year, I wouldn't worry about it.

[junglesmacks]

....annnnnnnd that's all for any Reno area trucks! Sold out for 2013. Stay tuned for further updates.

[missprism]

well, as a test, i made a reservation online at the oakland budget. $45/day .20/mile business rental. we'll see if it gets cancelled or jacked up.

[Bounce530]

I just had a business meeting with my rep from Penske out of West Sacramento, after the meeting we got to talking about Burningman and I told him what was going on with Budget this year. He stated that they (Penske) will absolutly not rent to burners, or any one looking to rent a truck and go to Reno for a week or so during that time of year. A couple of reasons he stated was in prior years trucks came back damaged (burnt floors, broken fiberglass roof, etc.) and that it is way too expensive for Penske to have to 'road call' a truck if it breaks down in BRC.
He did however state that they would rent to a 'business' that was doing work out there. Reason being that a business would have a much higher insurance policy against the truck.
Basically, what it boils down to is, scratch West Sacramento Penske off the possible rental list also.