If you rent equipment from a company that is a member of the American Rental Association, recovering items stolen on the jobsite will be easier now.
ARA recently announced a partnership with the National Equipment Register, which will provide ARA members with free access to NER’s national database. Through the partnership, ARA member rental companies can register up to 400 units of mobile, off-road equipment for free on the database.
“We are pleased to be able to offer this valuable service to our members at no charge,” ARA executive vice president Christine Wehrman said. “The way in which NER uses information sharing to combat equipment theft is effective and timely.”
The NER database, which is managed 24 hours a day by personnel knowledgeable about equipment, helps law enforcement recover stolen equipment by identifying the make, model and serial number on machines. If a piece of equipment is found, police can use the database to identify its owner. In some cases, according to the NER, the equipment is returned to the owner before the theft has been discovered.
According to David Shillingford, spokesman for the National Equipment Register, the partnership between ARA and NER could mean less downtime for contractors who rent equipment. It is less likely that equipment registered and identified by NER will be stolen.
To help thwart thefts, rental companies that take part in the ARA program will have decals on their equipment that warn thieves the machines are registered on the national database. ARA will also host law enforcement at meetings to help educate them on how to identify different types of equipment.
ARA, which is a non-profit trade association, has more than 7,500 member equipment rental companies around the nation. To find out more about the ARA member companies near you, or to find out how to register your own equipment with NER, click on the links to the right.
