Our newest rental survey indicates there’s been a shift in how our contractor respondents rent aerial lifts. In 2001, when we asked contractors what type of rental rate they used, 41 percent told us they rented on a daily basis. That answer increased by five percentage points when we asked the same question in this year’s survey. In the meantime, respondents saying they rented aerial lifts by the week or by the month dropped 6 and 5 percentage points, respectively.
In addition, only 12 percent of this year’s respondents say they’ve converted an aerial lift rental into a buy using a rental purchase option, while 20 percent said they did so in 2001.
Satisfaction level remains constant
The general satisfaction level of respondents who rented aerial lifts has remained basically the same, however. Eighty-six percent of respondents say their rented aerial lifts “performed as expected.”
There were some shifts in where aerial lifts were rented, with the number of respondents saying they rented from local independent rental dealers and equipment manufacturers’ dealers each decreasing 9 percentage points from 2001. Most of this decrease was taken up by the 18 percent of respondents who said they rented aerial lifts from Cat Rents or Volvo Rents, an option not given in the 2001 survey.
Company presidents and/or owners are by far the largest group of decision makers in respondent companies when determining the need for a rental lift (82 percent). They are followed by job superintendents (28 percent), project managers (20 percent) and equipment managers (11 percent).
