The Numbers On The Sides Of U-Haul Trucks Are Secret Codes. Here’s What They Mean

For 79 years, U-Haul has been the go-to rental giant for countless Americans who need to move, buy a motorcycle, do some landscaping, or anything else that may require a trailer or truck bigger than the one you currently drive. U-Haul’s equipment is instantly recognizable from the unmistakable orange and white paint scheme to the iconic SuperGraphics. But there’s more than meets the eye. In addition to the little guy hidden in the SuperGraphics, you can learn some additional nerdy information by looking at the seemingly random set of numbers printed on each truck and trailer.

It’s amazing how much U-Haul has become just a part of everyday American life. Even if you aren’t renting something from the firm, you’ve probably burned at least a little bit of time on a long trip by staring at the graphics on the side of a truck or wondering if the guy dragging home a grain truck on the U-Haul auto transport told U-Haul he’s actually bringing home a sweet 1991 Honda Civic. The shenanigans caused by U-Haul renters have spawned countless memes, Facebook groups, and jokes. So, even if you’re a Penske guy, you know about U-Haul.

Then there are U-Haul nerds like me. Or maybe I’m really the only U-Haul nerd out there who has never actually worked for the company. I mean, who cares about U-Haul enough to learn how to translate its fleet codes? I guess me, and probably only me.

Wait, Why Do You Know So Much About U-Haul?

My U-Haul connection goes pretty deep. My family used to move around a lot. From 2000 to 2013, my family moved about 12 times. Sometimes, we’d move more than once in a year. Yep, that means I’ve lived in 12 different houses and been to nearly the same number of different schools around northern Illinois. I got to witness firsthand how a middle school in one town and a middle school in a town just a couple of miles away could offer vastly different qualities of education. Seriously, one school I went to in 2005 had a computer lab with a handful of desktops running, at best, Windows 95. Yet, I went to a different school in the same year and in the same county that had more brand-new Apple desktops and laptops than it knew what to do with.

Anyway, my family loved to move the cheap way, and that meant renting the biggest truck the local U-Haul outfit had, filling it up to the brim, sometimes twice, and going to a different town. My dad used to be an over-the-road trucker, so driving these beasts was a walk in the park for him. And I was always along for the ride in the cab. Moving so often meant I got to witness U-Haul equipment evolve, too. My favorite truck was an old 1980s International that the local “U-Haul Neighborhood Dealer” was still renting out in 2006. It had a manual transmission, a diesel engine, air brakes, and a deck to the ground thanks to the truck’s air suspension.

I’m getting ahead of myself, here. After riding in those trucks for so many years, I began to learn as much as I could about U-Haul equipment. It’s how I learned that U-Haul made its own fiberglass campers and used to rent things like U-Haul-branded personal watercraft, U-Haul-branded VHS players, and U-Haul-branded ATVs.

Now, I want to pass my knowledge on to you, dear reader. The next time you’re at a card game with your neighbors, I want you to be able to tell them that U-Haul used to slap eight-digit numbers on their trailers and that you used to be able to rent one of those minivan roof storage box things, but with wheels. Your neighbors may call the cops and don’t worry, because the cops should know this, too.

The U-Haul Story Is Pretty Amazing

According to the company, U-Haul’s roots were planted in the days following World War II. Leonard Samuel Shoen was born in 1916 in Minnesota. In his early years, Shoen worked on the fields of a farm after his family moved to Oregon. When he became an adult, he worked menial jobs like sweeping floors and washing dishes until he was able to open up his first business, a barbershop. This barbershop would help carry the young Shoen through medical school for his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor.

So, how does a man invested in medicine end up renting trailers? The book Family Wars by Grant Gordon explains that it started when Shoen took a risk. During roll call in one of his classes, he called present for a student who wasn’t actually there. The infraction was enough for expulsion. With his dream in tatters, Shoen enlisted into the Navy.

Shoen fell ill with Rheumatic Fever during his stint in the military, which landed him in a hospital some 35 miles from home. When Shoen was discharged from the hospital and the Navy, he and his wife Anna Mary Carty Shoen tried to rent a trailer to move from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon. Shoen found lots with utility trailers for rent for $2 per day, but the trailers had to be returned to the same location. That wasn’t going to work for a one-way trip. The necessary trailer never materialized, and the Shoens had to move with all of their possessions in their car.

This sparked an idea in the 29-year-old Shoen’s mind. What if there was a business that provided rental trailers for the do-it-yourselfers who want to move somewhere else? This business could have a national network of one-way trailers, saving people money and headaches.

U-Haul details what happened from there:

With a 1937 Ford and $5,000 in savings, Sam, Anna Mary and their young son moved from Los Angeles to Portland, Ore. During the drive, they came up with the name and formulated the outline of what was to become the U-Haul Trailer Rental System.

The Shoens launched U-Haul in the summer of 1945. The first trailers were bought from welding shops or second hand from private owners. Within two weeks of leaving Los Angeles, the first U-Haul trailer was parked on a service station lot and being offered for rent. By the end of 1945, 30 4′ x 7′ open trailers were on service station lots in Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, Washington.

An identity was established. First, the trailers were painted bright orange. Secondly, the name U-Haul Co. was established. Third, trailers were imaged on the sides and back with a sales message – “U-Haul Co.,” “Rental Trailers,” “$2.00 Per Day” – always advertising themselves whether on the road or on display. Lastly, trailer rentals were merchandised from service station outlets. A commission structure for dealers was established, and much of the early recruitment was done by a customer who was offered a discount on their trailer rental for establishing a U-Haul rental agent (now called U-Haul dealers) at their destination.

U-Haul still operates this structure today. The company has corporate locations and countless local U-Haul Neighborhood Dealers that provide rentals in towns and rural areas not covered by the corporate locations.

U-Haul grew fast and by 1949, you could rent a trailer one-way in most major American cities. By 1959, U-Haul had 42,600 trailers in its fleet. Part of the U-Haul magic is not just instantly recognizable branding, but its equipment. A lot of firms will rent you an off-the-shelf trailer or a regular box truck. U-Haul goes the extra distance by having trailers specially designed for its rental service. The company’s distinctive trucks also boast low-loading floors, the famous Mom’s Attic, and other unique features on top of the iconic SuperGraphics.

Early U-Haul trailers were little more than trailers with wooden sides. By 1949, these would evolve into metal trailers with tarp tops for roofs. Enclosed metal dual-axle trailers came in 1959 and by the 1990s, U-Haul’s trailers featured metal structures and fiberglass-reinforced plywood walls. Finally, in 2000, U-Haul started constructing open trailers out of galvanized steel for far greater corrosion resistance than in the past.

As I’ve written about before, U-Haul once expanded so far that it attempted to be the go-to rental company to rent basically anything. In the 1980s, you could walk into a U-Haul location and come out with a Winnebago, an ATV, a belt sander, a fiberglass camper, and a paint sprayer. Some Michigan U-Haul dealers even rented adult movies, so you could bust more than a move. Today, U-Haul will not rent you an adult movie, but the company will rent you a storage unit in one of the historic buildings it restored.

I’ve said it before, but U-Haul’s trailers are masterpieces. They’re built out of heavy-gauge galvanized steel. A U-Haul trailer is heavier than a typical consumer utility trailer, but the rental trailer is built to be abused for decades by people who don’t know how to tow trailers and who might even overload them. U-Haul engineers these trailers to take a beating but also to be super easy to tow, so long as you don’t completely goof up and load your rental with all of the weight in the rear.

In other words, a U-Haul trailer is the best trailer you cannot own. Indeed, when a U-Haul trailer reaches the end of its service life, it’s sent to the scrapper. There are exceptions for tow dollies and trucks.

The trucks have their own system within U-Haul. The company will rent newer and lower mileage equipment for one-way trips. Then, once the equipment gets plenty of miles and use under their wheels, U-Haul will pull them into local rental fleets. Finally, once the company determines that a truck is all used up, you’ll find them for sale. There is an exception to this, and it’s that the non-corporate U-Haul Neighborhood Dealers will often keep equipment far longer than corporate locations. That’s how my dad was able to rent a vintage 1980s International diesel U-Haul in 2006, when most other dealers and corporate locations rented gasoline-powered GMC TopKicks. It is a bit funny to think that U-Haul used to rent diesel-powered straight trucks with manual transmissions and air brakes and you were able to drive those on the same license that allows you to pilot a Yugo.

How To Identify U-Haul Equipment

Alright, so what can the numbers on a U-Haul trailer or truck tell you? I’m glad you asked! Wait, you didn’t ask? Well, I’m going to tell you, anyway. Years ago, I interviewed a U-Haul manager and they told me U-Haul calls the code a Fleet Number. That makes total sense. You’ll find a U-Haul trailer’s and truck’s Fleet Number in multiple places, including fenders, bumpers, and on the cargo boxes themselves.

Preceding the number on the equipment is typically two letters and after the number is one more letter. The prefix indicates U-Haul model, the digits are the rental’s serial number, and the letter at the end either indicates when it was built or what makes it different from other models of the same series. U-Haul gives one example. A TD…L is a tow dolly, but the “L” indicates a tow dolly with a different coupler and a surge brake.

For another example, U-Haul’s discontinued 24-foot single-family home moving trucks were the “GH” series, while the 26-foot models were the “JH” series. A theoretical JH can be “JH 1320 M.” In the case of later-year GM trucks, the GH series were GMC C5500s while the JH trucks were GMC C6500s.

Since General Motors discontinued the Kodiak and TopKick, U-Haul moved to the Ford F-Series. Today, you’ll usually find a Ford F-650 in front of the JH 26-foot box. Thankfully, these trucks use gasoline engines, automatic transmissions, and hydraulic brakes. You don’t need to have a history of long-haul trucking to drive them, but they’re still pretty comically large for someone who might not have ever driven something bigger than a Toyota Camry.

Before I continue, you may wonder how people are able to do that. In my state of Illinois, a standard driver’s license gets you to 16,000 pounds. However, a loaded 26-foot U-Haul weighs 25,999 pounds. What gives? Well, just like how many states allow you to drive a giant motorhome on your standard license, rental vehicles like U-Hauls are also often exempt from some weight rules.

Alright, so here’s how to identify a U-Haul truck by just its prefix. Sadly I don’t have pictures for every variation:

BP (8′ Truck – Ford F-150/Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra.)

BE (9′ Van – Ford E-Series/Ford Transit.)

TM (10′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab/GMC Savana Chassis Cab.)

DC (15′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)

EL (17′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)

TT (20′ Cube – Ford E-Series Chassis Cab.)

GH (24′ Cube – GMC C5500.)
JH (26′ Cube – GMC C6500/Ford F-650.)

U-Haul’s trucks are no longer as granular as this. In the modern era, U-Haul no longer rents the 17-foot truck or the 24-foot truck. In my family’s experience, the 17-footer and the 24-footer weren’t really substantially different enough from the 15-foot truck and the 26-foot truck to make renting them worth it. If we need more space than a 15-foot truck provided, the 17-foot truck was also unlikely to fit the bill. Likewise, if we were moving enough stuff to fit in a 24-foot truck, chances are the extra two feet was welcome.

U-Haul says its 26-foot truck was launched in 1988, the same year it started applying SuperGraphics to its rental vehicles. The trailers are where the fun really begins, and here’s how you can identify one of those by its prefix:

AO (5×8 open trailer.)

FS (4×7 open trailer.)

HO (6×12 open trailer with ramp.)

RO (6×12 open trailer.)

RT (5×9 open trailer with ramp.)

LV (4×6 enclosed trailer.)
UV (4×8 enclosed trailer.)

AV (5×8 enclosed trailer.)

MV (5×10 enclosed trailer.)
RV (6×12 enclosed trailer.)

MT (Motorcycle Trailer.)

TD (Tow Dolly.)

AT (Auto Transport.)

ST (Sport Trailer.)

UB (U-Box Trailer.)

CT (13ft fiberglass camper.)

VT (16ft fiberglass camper.)

A couple of these trailers are no longer rented by U-Haul corporate locations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you found one at a neighborhood dealer. Discontinued trailers include the LV 4×6 enclosed trailer, the MV 5×10 enclosed trailer, and the GT Sport Trailer. Now, to be clear here, “discontinued” simply means you won’t find it on U-Haul’s website or openly advertised. I’ve been told by U-Haul employees that if you happen to find a discontinued piece of equipment still at a U-Haul shop, you can often still rent it in person.

I’ve written about the CT13 and the VT16 fiberglass campers in the past. Those two trailers, along with the TD Tow Dolly, are some of the only trailers U-Haul sold to the public after rental service. What I haven’t talked about is the ST, the little Sport Trailer.

According to a clipping of the U-Haul World newsletter, this trailer made its debut in the mid-1990s as a tiny trailer able to be towed behind literally any car without impacting its performance. U-Haul’s target customer was someone with a sports car or compact car that wouldn’t be able to tow one of the firm’s other cargo trailer rentals. These people wouldn’t be moving furniture, but perhaps they were students moving into a dorm or someone getting a large purchase home from a store. U-Haul also saw the trailer as something you could rent for a day for recreation. The inner compartment, which was sealed from the outside, was even able to be used as a large ice chest. The fiberglass trailer weighed 535 pounds empty and had a carrying capacity of 965 pounds.

To prove how light, stable, and aerodynamic the Sport Trailer was, U-Haul hooked one up to a souped up 1927 Ford roadster driven by racer Ron Hope. The hot rod and trailer were then taken to Bonneville where it hit 141.096 mph with the trailer attached.

According to some U-Haul employees, this trailer was discontinued due to low demand. That said, some U-Haul locations are said to have this trailer in stock, even almost 30 years later. This includes a U-Haul location in Chicago and Aurora. I feel tempted to rent one just to try a piece of rental history.

Speaking of 30 years, it is possible to run into a U-Haul trailer that’s older than a few decades. They’re rare, but you’ll spot them as they carry Fleet Numbers consisting of four numbers, two letters, and four more numbers. An example is the vintage Sport Van trailer, a low-profile enclosed cargo trailer with a roof rack. These trailers were old enough to have a Fleet Number like “3868 SV 3760.” Another example is a vintage 4×6 open trailer with Fleet Number “2734 LS 1942.”

Older trucks were given fleet codes in this configuration as well, but it’s unlikely you’ll find any of those still in service. Sadly, I could not find a noted date when U-Haul switched its numbering system, but it would appear to have happened sometime in the early 1990s or prior.

So, there you have it. The next time you’re bored and traveling down America’s byways, you can pass some time by distracting yourself by identifying U-Hauls. Or, now you know some trivia that you probably won’t be able to use to win a game show. At the very least, I won’t be the only person with this information living rent-free in my head.

If you know any additional information about how U-Haul used to identify its trailers or maybe some additional vintage U-Haul trailer models I didn’t list, I would love to know! Send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com.

(Images: Author, U-Haul, unless otherwise noted.)