lives since 1945 . type subsidiary industry rentals founded 1945 ; 71 years ago 1945 headquarters phoenix arizona united states key people founder leonard shoen chairman ceo joe shoen president john j.t. taylor vice president mark shoen products truck rentals trailer rentals tow hitches self storage revenue us 4.02 billion 2006 number of employees 18 000 parent amerco subsidiaries uhaul car share website www.uhaul.com u haul is an american moving equipment and storage rental company based in phoenix arizona 1 that has been in operation since 1945 . the company was founded by leonard shoen l. s. sam shoen in ridgefield washington who began it in the garage owned by his wife s family and expanded it through franchising with gas stations . contents 1 overview 2 history 3 equipment 3.1 storage space rentals 3.2 ford explorer ban model years 2010 and older 4 safety issues 5 references 6 external links overview edit one of many u haul trucks u haul is owned by amerco a holding company which also operates amerco real estate republic western insurance and oxford life insurance . 2 the shoen family currently owns about 55 % of the publicly traded stock corporation . 3 the company rents trucks trailers and other pieces of equipment but many u haul centers and dealerships also provide self storage units lpg propane refueling hitch and trailer wiring installation and carpet cleaners among other services . because of the company s ubiquity there are over 16 000 active dealers across the country 3 the name is sometimes used as a genericized trademark to refer to the services of any rental company . the livery used on rented vehicles is widely recognized primarily consisting of white and a thick horizontal orange stripe in addition to a large state or province themed picture known as supergraphics . history edit u haul stamford ct in 1945 at the age of 29 leonard shoen co founded u haul with his wife anna mary carty in the town of ridgefield washington with an investment of 5 000 . 4 he began building rental trailers and splitting the fees for their use with gas station owners who he franchised as agents . he developed one way rentals and enlisted investors as partners in each trailer as methods of growth . by 1955 there were more than 10 000 u haul trailers on the road and the brand was nationally known . distracted to some extent by growing his business shoen took time for multiple marriages and eventually had a total of 12 children each of whom he made stockholders . shoen transferred all but 2 % of control to his children when two of them edward and mark launched a successful takeover of the business in 1986 . family squabbling over the u haul empire turned to physical confrontations between some of his children at company meetings even before the 1986 takeover . the takeover sparked a major family dispute that led to a 461 million judgment in favor of leonard shoen and others . in 1999 83 year old leonard shoen suffered fatal injuries when he crashed into a telephone pole near his las vegas nevada home . the shoen family currently led by chairman and president edward joe shoen owns about 40 % of the company through their amerco holding company . amerco filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in june 2003 and emerged in march 2004 . the filing did not include or affect u haul operations . in 2012 another moving and storage company pods sued u haul in u.s. district court for trademark infringement claiming that u haul improperly and unlawfully used the word pods to describe its u box product . on september 25 2014 a jury ruled that u haul had infringed on pods trademarks causing confusion and damaging business for pods . the jury found that u haul unjustly profited from mentioning the term on its marketing and advertising materials and began using the word only after pods became famous as a brand name in the industry . the jury awarded pods 62 million in damages . 5 in 2014 uhaul sued hireahelper for trademark infringement a suit that was settled out of court . 6 in december 2015 u haul was used by ups to help temporarily expand ups s fleet to handle a surge due to christmas and other holiday volume . 7 equipment edit u haul truck being refueled u haul s rental fleet is composed of trucks trailers auto transports and various other equipment . heavy duty pickup truck and van cabs manufactured by gmc and ford are mated with u haul manufactured truck boxes in fabrication plants located at various places in north america . the vehicles are all gas powered with previous models offering diesel 17 foot 5.2 m trucks that must be brought back to the same location where they were rented . six truck sizes are available ranging from 10 feet 3.0 m to 26 feet 7.9 m and multiple trailer sizes in addition to a two wheeled tow dolly and a four wheeled auto transport . u haul advertises that their trucks have lower decks which are built below the tops rather than above the rear tires like standard cargo box trucks . some trucks also have an over the cab storage area called mom s attic . the trucks are painted with supergraphics which are educational images of different states and provinces across the united states and canada . 8 pickup trucks and cargo vans are also available at most corporate owned centers and select neighborhood dealerships . u haul has two main classifications for equipment in its fleet . the first type of equipment is known as in town or one way . the one way equipment is mostly used for one way trips meaning pickup and drop off at different locations where as the in town equipment is meant to be picked up and dropped off at the same location and the equipment is meant to be used for a local move . u haul has been building new one way vehicles en masse and as these one way trucks are being built the older one way fleet models are being retired to in town local use only and previous in town local use trucks are being de imaged and sold . all trucks owned by the u haul corporation including those assigned and decaled for use in canada display apportioned arizona license plates that do not expire . newer trailers in the u haul fleet have apportioned plates registered in a variety of states . in the alaska and hawaii markets u haul registers equipment locally because those states do not have apportioned vehicle registration systems . storage space rentals edit some u haul facilities provide self storage lockers for weekly or monthly rental and rent portable storage lockers on a monthly basis . the storage facilities are located at most corporate locations 9 ford explorer ban model years 2010 and older edit u haul previously did not rent trailers intended to be attached to a ford explorer . 10 according to u haul u haul has chosen not to rent behind this tow vehicle based on our history of excessive costs in defending lawsuits involving ford explorer towing combinations . this policy does not involve safety issues . this is an unusual circumstance for u haul . this applies to all production years and models for example this ban includes the ford explorer sport trac of the explorer regardless of tire brand that is attached . this comes from many accidents involving bridgestone or firestone tires . u haul now rents trailers to ford explorers that are 2011 11 model year or newer . a u haul truck on the coquihalla highway in british columbia . safety issues edit in canada various news agencies have found serious safety problems on u haul equipment . in july 2005 the toronto star reported statistics suggesting that about half of u haul vehicles in ontario were not road safe . shortly afterward the ministry of transportation ontario reported that of 296 u haul vehicles inspected in the summer of 2005 43.5 % of all inspections performed 58 19.6 % were found to have out of service defects meaning that they are not road worthy . 12 ctv followed in october 2005 conducting their own inspections across the country and finding that all 13 rented u haul trucks failed to meet basic provincial safety standards . 13 replying to the toronto star the company s canadian officials cited its inspection policies and procedures that employees and dealers are expected to follow . in response to the ctv results canadian u haul vice president admitted to not heeding earlier warnings to improve their vehicles safety conditions and said older trucks would be replaced . in october 2006 ctv w five re investigated u haul by renting trucks from 9 locations across canada . the rentals were then taken to mechanics for an inspection . of the 9 trucks rented 7 failed basic safety standards and were not deemed roadworthy ; the other 2 while roadworthy had minor problems . 14 on june 24 2007 the los angeles times published a story on u haul s safety problems titled driving with rented risks . 15 there were also related articles published such as upkeep lags in u haul s aging fleet and key trial evidence goes missing . 16 references edit u haul co. of arizona private company information businessweek . investing.businessweek.com . retrieved august 15 2012 . amerco the parent company of u haul . amerco.com . a b cl king s 11th annual best ideas conference 2013 content lawyerlinks susan thurston september 25 2014 . pods wins 62 million award in trademark infringement lawsuit against u haul . tampa bay times . retrieved october 2 2014 . what happens when your startup gets sued by uhaul . entrepreneur magazine . december 9 2014 . peterson hayley . ups drivers are making deliveries in u haul trucks and people are panicking and calling the police . business insider . business insider . retrieved 30 december 2015 . about u haul supergraphics . retrieved february 2 2013 . uhaul s storage locker not waterproof u haul frequently asked questions truck rentals . uhaul.com . me i work at uhaul o brien danna . mto rental truck blitz takes 74 vehicles out of service . cnw . retrieved may 24 2014 . ctv news top stories breaking news top news headlines . ctv.ca . ctv news top stories breaking news top news headlines . ctv.ca . miller alan c. ; levin myron june 24 2007 . driving with rented risks . los angeles times . levin myron ; miller alan c. june 26 2007 . key trial evidence goes missing . los angeles times . external links edit wikibooks has a book on the topic of packing & moving household goods wikimedia commons has media related to u haul . official website fitzpatrick tom december 1 1994 . the u haul tragedy . phoenix new times . phoenix az . retrieved january 15 2011 . v t e vehicle rental brands car rental ace rent a car advantage rent a car alamo rent a car auto europe avis rent a car budget rent a car carzonrent citer dollar rent a car enterprise rent a car europcar firefly hertz kemwel localiza national car rental payless car rental redspot car rentals rent a wreck sixt thrifty car rental taxiforsure meru cabs carsharing autolib autoshare buffalo carshare cambio carsharing car next door car2go city car club city carshare cityhop communauto 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