If you are planning a move and think you can do everything yourself, you are likely looking at renting a truck and thinking of how many hours it might take you to move everything. But if you're on the short side with regard to height, you may also be wondering whether you can even drive a rental truck. After all, rental companies tend to use later models of pickups—in other words, the big ones with which you can't see the corners of the truck easily—and box trucks, which look rather intimidating if you haven't driven one before. As with most vehicles, though, there are tricks you can use to ensure you can see what you need to see around the truck.

Dealing with Mirrors and Corners

Newer vehicle designs have been rather unfriendly toward those who aren't on the tall side, especially those who have short torsos and long legs. You can easily feel like you're out of place, unable to see the corners of the truck, and unable to tell whether you're about to sideswipe something.

No matter which type of vehicle you rent, have a friend or an employee from the rental agency help you with this.

1. You get behind the wheel while the other person stands near one of the corners of the vehicle.
2. Bring the vehicle close to a landmark, like a sidewalk with visible seams between the sections of concrete, a sign post, or something else that has a specific location.
3. Slowly move the vehicle so that the target corner of the vehicle appears, from your perspective, to be right by the corner. In other words, if another vehicle were parked there, that spot is where you think you'd end up just barely missing the vehicle with the corner in question.
4. Have the other person tell you how much room you actually have. Chances are you'll have more than you realized.
5. Have the person guide you as you move your vehicle again to the point where the corner of your vehicle is really at that landmark you're using.
6. Find a spot on the vehicle that, from your perspective, is right against the landmark. For example, you might find that the outer and upper corner of the vehicle's driver's side mirror appears to be right on that landmark. When you drive the vehicle in the future, you can use that spot to judge when you're too close to safely pass or park behind another vehicle or obstacle.
7. Repeat this for the other three corners of the vehicle. Be conservative! Assume that the spot you're finding is one at which you'd hit something if you didn't pay attention.

You can also see whether the rental company has anything that can make operating the vehicle easier for you. The controls inside the vehicles will be typical—those won't be a problem—but you have to be sure you can safely drive the vehicle. The rental company may have models that have extra large mirrors, for example. Talk to companies such as Allard Rentals to find out more.