U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL.B) executives spent the company’s fiscal third-quarter 2026 investor call focusing on how elevated vehicle acquisition costs and shifting resale markets have pressured results, while the company continues to invest in fleet, storage expansion, and digital tools.
Quarterly results weighed down by depreciation and fleet disposals
Management said third-quarter results swung to a loss primarily due to higher depreciation and losses on the sale of retired rental equipment. Chief Financial Officer Jason Berg reported a quarterly loss of $37 million, compared with $67 million in earnings in the same quarter last year. That translated to a loss of $0.18 per non-voting share versus earnings of $0.35 a year ago.
A key headwind was the cost of retiring and selling rental units. The company reported a $26 million loss on the disposal of retired rental equipment in the quarter, compared with a $4 million gain in last year’s quarter. Berg said cargo vans purchased in the prior two model years entered the fleet at higher costs, but current resale values have not kept pace, producing losses. Management also increased depreciation on remaining units to reflect updated expectations for resale values.
On top of the cargo van issue, U-Haul has expanded its box truck fleet by nearly 11,000 units compared with December of the prior year, which added depreciation expense. Berg said fleet depreciation and disposal results combined to create a $75 million year-over-year cost increase for the quarter, equivalent to roughly $0.24 per non-voting share, with more than three-quarters tied to cargo vans.
Fleet strategy: balancing excess capacity and future purchases
Chairman Joe Shoen said earnings have been “pulled down” by what he described as excessive acquisition costs for vans and pickups in model years 2023 and 2024. Those higher costs are now showing up in higher depreciation and in declining gains on sale that have turned into losses as vehicles exit the fleet. Shoen added that post-COVID price increases in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles have also elevated depreciation for box trucks, though to a lesser extent.
Shoen said the company accumulated ICE fleet based on expectations that ICE availability could decline, but U-Haul is now “too heavy in fleet,” and rental transaction growth has not responded enough to absorb that capacity. To address this, he said the company is working on a plan to open more U-Haul dealership locations to better utilize the fleet. He also said the company expects it will still be over-fleeted and will need to increase sales of older, higher-mileage trucks over the next 12 months.
On fleet spending, Berg said capital expenditures for new rental equipment in the first nine months of fiscal 2026 were $1.748 billion, up $162 million from the same period last year. Over the calendar year 2025, gross fleet spend was approximately $2.025 billion and net spend (after equipment sales) was $1.331 billion, with Berg estimating about $670 million of that as growth-related. Initial estimates for next fiscal year indicate a decrease in new truck purchases “somewhere north of $500 million.”
In Q&A, Shoen emphasized that fleet decisions are affected by the mix and age of vehicles, supply chain disruptions since COVID, and what he called manufacturers’ allocation practices. He described efforts to smooth out age “lumps” within the fleet—particularly referencing an older mix in certain truck sizes—while also considering how many trucks can be absorbed by the resale market in a given year.
Berg offered additional details on the cargo van rotation, saying the company has about 6,000 model year 2024 cargo vans left to work through and roughly 19,000 model year 2025 vans that were about $3,000 cheaper than the 2024 model year. He said increased depreciation on certain model years has been intended to minimize losses when units are sold, but management still expects losses on sale for those units this year.
Looking ahead, Berg said model year 2026 cargo van purchases coming onto the books are expected to be priced about 12% lower than last year’s model year and about 20% lower than two years ago.
Moving demand trends and dealer growth
For the quarter, equipment rental revenue increased $8 million, just under 1% year over year, with most of the improvement coming from the in-town business, Berg said. He also noted that January results were trending positively before significant weather activity across much of the country slowed momentum over the prior week and a half.
U-Haul expanded distribution by adding locations, which management said should help better utilize the larger fleet and increase transactions. Berg said that from the end of December 2025 compared with the same time in 2024, the company added 65 new company-operated locations and had a net increase of 365 independent dealers.
When asked about industry dynamics, Shoen said the company’s indicators suggest key peers are reducing fleet and outlets, while U-Haul is expanding access and convenience through a larger outlet base.
Self-storage growth, occupancy pressure, and pricing approach
Shoen said the company is “holding our own and then some” in the self-storage industry but acknowledged a mismatch between unit additions and rent-up. He said that for nearly 24 months, U-Haul has been adding self-storage units faster than they are being rented, leading to a surplus of unrented units. Management said it is launching initiatives aimed at improving year-over-year rented unit counts, with results expected to become clearer into the summer season.
Berg reported storage revenues increased $18 million, or 8%, for the quarter. Average revenue per foot improved by just under 7%, while same-store revenue per occupied foot rose 5%, reflecting rate increases. Berg said the company continues to use “straightforward pricing” and avoids large introductory discounts.
Same-store occupancy decreased 490 basis points to just over 87%. Berg said much of the reported occupancy decline was related to a system-wide effort beginning in July to increase available units by addressing delinquent units. Because storage revenue is not recorded until collected, he said the action did not affect revenue but did reduce reported occupancy; of the nearly 5% decline, close to 4% was tied to the removal of delinquent rooms. Berg added that net tenant move-ins year over year have picked up compared with last year, adjusted for delinquent units.
On development, Berg said U-Haul invested $770 million in real estate acquisitions and new self-storage and U-Box warehouse development in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, a $444 million decrease from the prior-year period. During the third quarter, the company added 16 new storage locations, totaling about 1.5 million new net rentable square feet. The active development pipeline stands at 106 projects expected to add roughly 5.7 million net rentable square feet.
U-Box expansion, metro focus, and expense pressures
Shoen said the company now has a “significant” U-Box warehouse and depot presence at over 700 locations in North America, with over 200,000 containers in service and over 100,000 in customers’ hands. The company has slowed the pace of adding new U-Box warehouses after establishing a workable presence in most markets, but Shoen said U-Haul remains underserved in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, and the Bay Area, and remains light in capacity in Canada’s Vancouver Island and Edmonton. He said projects are in planning or construction in those markets and he intends to follow through on the capital expenditures.
Executives also addressed how U-Box demand ties to moving patterns. Shoen said that when consumers become anxious, they tend to shorten the distance of their moves, turning some one-way transactions into local ones. Sam Shoen added that U-Box is heavily weighted toward long-distance moves, meaning it can track one-way demand trends in an amplified way.
On costs, Berg said moving and storage operating expenses increased $66 million in the quarter. Personnel costs rose $16 million and fleet maintenance and repair increased $13 million, but the most unusual driver was self-insurance liability costs, up $38 million largely due to reserve strengthening. Berg said the company has increased its liability by nearly $79 million since March 2025.
Berg also noted that in December, U-Haul’s property and casualty insurance companies paid the company’s parent a $100 million dividend as part of capital reallocation among subsidiaries, making that amount available for general corporate use. As of December 2025, cash and availability from existing loan facilities at the moving and storage segment totaled $1.475 billion.
About U-Haul (NYSE:UHAL.B)
U-Haul International, Inc (NYSE: UHAL.B) is a leading provider of do-it-yourself moving equipment and storage solutions in North America. As a subsidiary of AMERCO, U-Haul offers a comprehensive array of rental products, including cargo vans, pickup trucks, trailers and towing equipment, along with portable moving containers and self-storage units. The company’s services extend to packing and shipping supplies, hitch installation, and moving assistance programs tailored to both household and small-business customers.
Founded in 1945 by Leonard Shoen in Ridgefield, Washington, U-Haul grew from a single two-truck operation into an expansive network of over 21,000 locations across the United States and Canada.
