equipment for rent, lease or sale to the location. Dealers will also be able to provide service, parts and maintenance through the partner- ship in addition to a number of fi- nancing options. New Holland Construction will be offering its entire equipment range for rent including skid-steer loaders, com- pact track loaders, telehandlers, loader backhoes, tractor loaders, crawler doz- ers, wheel loaders, hydraulic excava- tors and motor graders. New Holland Construction also produces a variety of attachment options also available to the rental yard. “We found out we were missing a large piece of the pie,” said Chavez. “The rental market in North America is around $27 to 30 billion last year. The bulk of that comes from small ‘mom ’n pop’ shops. These shops are estimated to be around 5000 outlets in the U.S. We found we were not really hitting the bulk of that. We were too busy trying to go for the ‘big boys’
that give good volume purchases and we were neglecting this segment.” New Holland Construction said it will provide a series of flexible financ- ing options to accommodate the dif- ferent needs of a smaller rental house. Potential options include pro- grams for rental houses that want to own equipment and have a fixed pay- ment stream or leasing options that provide privately or state-owned com- panies the cash flow benefits without the responsibilities of ownership. In addition, service, parts and main- tenance contracts can be negotiated. “If they [New Holland Construction dealers] work in conjunction with them [rental outlets] and partnership with them, they can generate some business,” said Chavez. “It’s more sales. It’s more service. It’s another customer. These days you need to turn every stone. You cannot be sit- ting in your chair and waiting for someone to come to you. There are other people out there buying be-
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sides your regular contractor that needs equipment. You have to be more aggressive.” According to the Wilton, Conn.- based Yengst Associates, a marketing consultancy firm that specializes in in- dustry data and market research for construction equipment markets, rental market revenues closed 2008 6 to 7% below 2007 levels with prospects for 2009 also looking dim. Chavez said despite the numbers, the Rental Part- ner Program is planning for when the rental industry begins to rebound. “We see growth,” said Chavez. “When things start to turn around, contractors — whether they are large, medium or small — are going to utilize their current fleet. Then, they’re going to rent and then they are going to buy. Rental is going to be the first choice. We’re trying to capitalize on that opportunity.” dp
