Six U-Haul companies on the northern Gulf Coast are offering 30 days of self-storage and U-Box container use at no cost to people in the path of Hurricane Isaias. The offer covers 93 stores in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, according to U-Haul’s Oct. 7 announcement. It applies only to new rentals, and it depends on availability at the store.

Where the 93 stores are

The stores belong to six regional U-Haul companies, and each has its own phone number for questions. The company lists these totals, which add up to 93:

• U-Haul Co. of Central Alabama, 16 stores, (205) 979-3013, including Birmingham, Montgomery and Dothan
• U-Haul Co. of Northern Alabama, 17 stores, (256) 217-9696, including Huntsville, Decatur and Tuscaloosa
• U-Haul Co. of Southern Alabama, 17 stores, (800) 633-6819, including Mobile and the Florida cities of Pensacola and Panama City
• U-Haul Co. of Tallahassee, 15 stores, (866) 723-3056, including Tallahassee and Jacksonville
• U-Haul Co. of Southern Louisiana, 16 stores, (504) 245-1282, including New Orleans, Metairie and Slidell
• U-Haul Co. of Mississippi, 12 stores, (601) 352-2602, including Gulfport, Biloxi and Jackson

Some of the cities are well inland, which fits the forecast U-Haul cited: heavy rain across Alabama and Mississippi as well as storm surge on the coast. People who live near one of those stores do not have to be on the beach to use the offer.

Anyone in or near the storm zone with furniture, boxes or keepsakes they cannot move to higher ground has a short question to answer: which of these stores is close, and does it have a unit open? Because the free month covers only new rentals and depends on availability, a phone call to the regional number beats driving over. U-Haul says customers can also walk into any participating U-Haul-owned and operated facility.

U-Haul’s Oct. 7 announcement lists 93 stores and no end date for the free month, so any change to that list is the next update to watch.

Get the next update the morning it lands →

What the free month includes

The company’s wording is that it is ready to help anyone who needs a dry, secure storage solution "at no cost for one month." Two products are in the offer. Self-storage is a room or unit at a U-Haul facility. A U-Box is a portable container that is kept on site at the participating facility, and the free use applies to that on-site storage.

Delivery is where the cost can return. U-Haul says a U-Box delivered to a home carries a modest fee, and its announcement does not give the amount. The value of the free month is therefore the rent itself: 30 days of a storage room or container that would normally be billed by the month. The announcement lists no rent figures, so the savings depend on the unit size and the local rate.

Where the storm stands

The offer was announced before landfall. Isaias came ashore near Destin, Florida, on Friday, Oct. 9, as a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds, NBC Miami reported, citing the National Hurricane Center. The storm was expected to weaken quickly, with storm surge of 5 to 7 feet, up to 15 inches of rain and tornadoes from Alabama to the Florida Panhandle overnight into Saturday. The National Weather Service warned of possible long-duration power outages.

U-Haul’s page, which carries no update since the announcement, states no end date for the 30 days and does not say whether the offer has closed. A store asked directly can say whether it still has units open.

Past the free month

The 30 days end, and so does the free rate. For storage beyond that period, U-Haul points to its 1-Year Price Lock, offered at 2,100 company-owned facilities in the United States and Canada. The company says the lock guarantees at least 12 months with no rent increase and that it charges no administrative fees or deposits. Those terms are U-Haul’s, and a customer should read them at the counter before signing anything for a longer rental.

The company also describes itself as an official American Red Cross Disaster Responder. The company’s media contact for the announcement is Dillon Rosenblatt, who is listed on the announcement with a company email address and phone number.

Signing up for the free month

There is no free official portal for this offer, since it comes from U-Haul. The source for the terms is U-Haul’s announcement, and a Business Wire copy of it lists the same stores and phone numbers. The practical route is a phone call to the regional office on the list, or a visit to a participating U-Haul-owned store.

Before committing, it helps to ask four things: whether the store has a unit of the right size open, whether the 30 days start on the day of the rental, what happens on day 31, and, for a U-Box, what delivery would cost. Getting the answers in writing, or on the rental agreement, matters more than a verbal promise.

For belongings that go into storage, a quick photo of each box or piece of furniture, taken before the move, helps with any later insurance question. The announcement is U-Haul’s, and the stores are the ones that decide, rental by rental, what they still have open.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.