U-Haul (AUK) Risk Analysis

Regulatory pressure in connection with the introduction and expansion of electric, autonomous, and connected rental vehicles could require infrastructure improvement that could inhibit our current business model and negatively impact our ability to acquire, or increase our cost of acquisition for rental trucks. For example, the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation ("ACF") adopted by the California Air Resources Board ("CARB") would have required us to phase out certain internal combustion engine vehicles from our fleet and replace them with so-called zero-emission vehicles ("ZEVs"). California must request and receive a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce the ACF, and for now it has withdrawn its request for such a waiver. If California seeks and obtains such a waiver in the future, then to accommodate ZEVs, our Company-operated locations and independent dealer network may require physical upgrades that are uneconomical and/or unachievable. In addition, because many of our trucks are used by our customers for one-way interstate moves, if the ACF or similar laws or regulations are adopted by federal, state, or provincial governments or regulators in the future, it could materially and negatively affect our operations across North America because our one-way rental trucks travel throughout the U.S. and Canada. Under any such laws, our one-way rental business would depend, in whole or in part, on an in-transit recharging network throughout the United States and Canada to support electric vehicles or ZEVs. Such a recharging network does not exist today, and even if one is built, the increased rental cost, and time and cost required to charge electric vehicles or ZEVs may be so great as to substantially limit our ability to serve customers needing to move long distances. We cooperate with original equipment manufacturers ("OEM's"), maintain and train our own technical experts, and operate an equipment Technical Center that has positioned us as an industry leader in innovation for over fifty years. However, any legal or regulatory changes that would require electric, autonomous, or connected vehicles in our fleet would raise challenges of enormous scale. Our repair and maintenance infrastructures, including both physical plants as well as personnel, may be inappropriate for these new types of vehicles. Without such repair and maintenance capabilities it could compromise our ability to operate a fleet of electric vehicles or ZEVs. We may also need to depend upon third party providers for some of those services, and they may not be able to provide workable solutions. There is a risk that we may not be able to adequately prepare for these possibilities. In addition, even if we successfully adapt to any such changes, there can be no guarantee that our fleet or services as adapted would meet the needs of our "do-it-yourself" moving and storage customers, or that we would be able to offer our products and services at prices our customers would be willing or able to pay. We are encouraged by the Trump Administration's actions to reverse and limit federal and state emission and other requirements that would effectively limit the availability of internal combustion vehicles for fleets such as ours. However, there is no assurance that courts or a future Congress or administration will not reverse such actions by the Trump Administration or that California will not apply for and receive a waiver for the ACF. In addition, an existing agreement between OEM's and California may require OEM's to meet California's emissions requirements and sales mandates for electric vehicles or ZEVs even if CARB's regulations cannot be enforced. If that occurs, we may not be able to successfully adapt to the requirements of a changed regulatory or commercial environment that favors or requires all-electric or specific alternative fuel vehicles. Any insistence by governments that the future of the economy will be based on all-electric vehicles instead of hybrid or other alternative fuel vehicles may result in government regulators knowingly or unknowingly choosing the winners and losers in an evolving transportation environment. It is possible that they may not choose U-Haul customers and U-Haul to be among the winners. In addition, any such insistence may create an infrastructure in which personal interstate travel would be uneconomical or severely regulated, which could materially and adversely affect our moving business, results of operations, and financial position. In addition, there is growing evidence that consumers may refuse to support an all-electric solution for their moving needs, squeezing U-Haul between government demands and consumer preferences.