I am starting a new thread i stead of posting to the Denver one in case others have suggestions for some of the things I'm naive about.

I'm moving from Texas to Lakewood, Colorado within the next month. I've never driven in snow. I currently own a Nissan Altima. I used to commute long distances in Houston so the car made sense. I'd love an SUV again. Is there a better SUV made to handle snow terrain or is that just all about the tires?

Where can I go to have someone show me how to put chains on my tires and not be laughed at?

I also read it might be cheaper to buy an SUV in Texas than in Colorado due to high demand and state taxes there. Is this true?

I have to move my stuff from Pearland, TX to Lakewood. I dont have a lot of furniture but I have a lot of boxes of decor, clothing, and dishes. I am not comfortable driving a Uhaul myself cross country. Has anyone recently moved cross country? What was the price tag on that?

I had a wild idea to solicit someone comfortable with driving a Uhaul that distance and paying them instead of a moving company. Is that stupid? Does anyone wanna do it???

What's something you wish you had done before, during, after a big move that you'd like to share with me to help this process go smoothly?

I've lived in Colorado for 7 years and have only used chains on my tires once: when going over Monarch Pass in a blizzard.

Get here before you make a car decision. You'll be fine with a FWD vehicle. If you're worried, you can get winter tires in December.

What Schall said.

You don't need chains.
You don't need an suv.

Drive slow. Be cautious. Welcome to Colorado!

Just saw your concerns about the uhaul and cross country. For the most part you are going to do this in the summer and you should have no weather concerns.

However with a I haul I would go 45 north into Kansas and then west on 70. Don't Bess with New Mexico and raton pass in something like that.

It shouldn't be that expensive to move you if you paid it out.

Look into ABF Upack for moving. We moved from Dallas to Denver about 3 years ago, moved a 2 bedroom townhome in 2 pods. Including movers to help load/unload the pods, we paid about $3000. We explored Uhaul, national movers and if I recall correctly, ABF wasn't much more than Uhaul plus we didn't have to mess with moving stuff. The national movers were about double and they had a 7-21 day delivery window that was a deal-breaker for us.

Thank you all for the replies so far!

If you do decide to buy an suv while in TX, do not buy a rear wheel drive. I don't even think they sell those in CO. As others have mentioned a fwd car should be fine, but if you plan on driving in the mountains during the winter, you will need to change your tires out to satisfy traction laws druing snow events. I bought chains when I first moved here over ten years ago and then never used them (if you see signs saying chain laws are in effect, that is for commercial vehicles).

FYI: moving is expensive AF