I'm trying to rent an AWD cargo van to move a few pieces of larger furniture and I'm finding that all of the rental places that have them, put them behind a "call for details" so you can't reserve them online. As soon as I call they ask why I need an AWD or 4WD since it's winter time. I say that I'm moving off grid and I'm up a dirt "driveway"(call it a road and they immediately hang up on you) and they all freak out. "Take it off of the paved road and you're violating our terms of service!" 
From what I'm hearing they basically only rent them out in the winter. It's bizarre to me that they own cars that they won't rent out unless you promise never to go off of a paved road, but, here we are.
@BE maybe rent a pickup and make a couple of runs? The ford ranger has a 1.6 m load bed.
I'm trying to figure something like this out. It's a 10 hour drive and I only have 12 pieces of furniture that we're bringing that don't fit in our car.
I'm asking for quotes from a couple movers and we'll see if the sticker shock kills me.
@BE what country are you in? I don't suppose my local knowledge would help you much.
Yeah, we're in the US. Moving up the east coast out of Governor DeSantis' "freedom state" 😉
Moving up into the hills and nature. I'll have to get some photography tips from you in the future to up my game.
@BE lateral idea, have you seen those small old Suzuki , honda, Bedford, and Hyundai carry vans from the 80's and 90's? The carry space is quite good, they don't weigh anything, they're weirdly good off road, some are 4X4 and you could just buy an ancient one , use it and sell it again if you have the cash.
We moved house in one of those years ago, it was so nippy it took no time at all. We sold it a week later, and I'll be honest it was so fun to drive I regret selling it.
@BE or rent something intended for towing, then it won't come as a shock to them when you ask for 4wd.
@BE Yeah... never tell the rental people about any "off-road" activity. Just hose the vehicle down before take it back. :D
I thought about hosing it down so there was no dust, but in the end neither Enterprise or Penske(who were the two convenient locations) were willing rent it since it wasn't winter time.
It was really like "You want a 4WD? I'm now going to interrogate you about why!" 😂
@BE I just don't get that. Maybe UHaul would be less picky? Or Hertz? Not that I recommend Hertz. My experience with them up here was not great.
I might try calling U-Haul. I did their online thing and no matter what local zip codes I put in and what dates it told me cargo vans were unavailable.
@BE that's weird. I wonder if that's because it's Florida. We have rented 4WD vehicles out west to actually use them off road in really terrible conditions. That's always what rental companies expect people to use them for. Of course that was in the before times too. I wonder if you could just tell them something like you want better control with a heavy load. Good luck figuring it out! BTW congratulations getting out of that state!
The Enterprise person told me they quit renting them out "without a valid reason in the last few years." I guess people were tearing them up off-road. From what I gathered unless it was likely to be icy somewhere that I was driving it they weren't willing to rent it out.
Pretty sure at this point we'll just bite the bullet and let a mover handle the dozen or so things we can't fit. So far they've been pretty unphased by the idea of driving up our half mile dirt "driveway."
@BE No one's told them you shouldn't use 4WD on pavement? I-... Ok