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.

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.

Distracted to some extent by growing his business, Shoen took time for multiple marriages (after the death of Anna Mary at an early age due to a congenital heart defect) and eventually had a total of 12 (some sources say 13) children, each of whom he made stockholders.

In 1999, 83-year-old Leonard Shoen suffered fatal injuries when he crashed into a telephone pole near his Las Vegas, Nevada, home; it was later ruled a suicide.

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.

[9] Each December, U-Haul is used by UPS, USPS, and FedEx, to help temporarily expand fleets to handle a surge due to Christmas and other holiday volume.

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.

A company representative cited litigation costs as the reason behind the policy, "Every time we go to hire an attorney to defend a lawsuit, as soon as we say ‘Ford Explorer,’ they charge us more money.

In July 2005, the Toronto Star reported statistics suggesting that about half of U-Haul vehicles in Ontario were not road safe.

[14] 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.

[15] 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.

[16] On June 24, 2007, the Los Angeles Times published a story on U-Haul's safety problems titled "Driving With Rented Risks".