7 Ways Pairing Real-Time Telematics Data with Rental System Information Can Help You Solve Common Equipment Rental Challenges

Tony Tye

Running an equipment rental business means – literally – tracking thousands of moving parts. Customer X has machine Y – Oh wait, just kidding, that’s back in the yard! Why isn’t it back in our available inventory so we can rent it out to Customer Z?

Of course, the larger your fleet, the easier it is for details to fall through the cracks. Contractor X has had one of our wheel loaders for four months now – when is the next PM due? Sure, we just did a fluid replacement on our 930 waste handler, but that’s over with Customer Y…or actually, was that aggregate handler with Customer Z?

The examples go on and on – but thankfully, there’s one convenient solution for all of them. Merging real-time telematics data with your rental contract information lets you immediately spot exceptions and act on them. Here are seven examples of how an integrated telematics platform can help you run your equipment rental business more efficiently:

1. Spot machines that are overdue for pickup.

Get machines back to your yard – and back out to another paying customer – as quickly as possible. Real-time telematics data can help you identify equipment that’s sitting at a customer’s jobsite awaiting pickup so you can dispatch a driver to go retrieve it.

2. Track machines that are due for return but not yet scheduled for pickup.

It’s one thing to have a machine that’s pending pickup that you just haven’t gotten around to, but what about machines that aren’t even on a dispatchers’ radar? If they’re sitting at a customer’s jobsite and you don’t have immediate plans to retrieve them, you’re missing out on potential rental revenue. Get more visibility into your fleet and speed up turnaround times with real-time telematics data.

3. Spot equipment that leaves its assigned geofence.

Find out if a machine leaves its designated jobsite – before it’s too late to do anything about it. Real-time telematics gives you immediate notifications so you can contact your customer right away. If the machine was stolen, you can take prompt action to recover it; if the customer was moving it to another jobsite but forgot to keep you in the loop, you can update your records and future pickup site accordingly.

4. Track usage and reduce related disputes.

If your rental contracts include fees for usage over a certain number of hours, real-time telematics lets you identify the exact point at which a customer exceeds that threshold. This makes it easier to collect these excess usage fees, while taking the uncomfortable “he-said, she-said” element out of the conversation with the customer.

5. Identify machines that are coming due for preventive maintenance.

Every category and class of equipment has its own set of preventive maintenance requirements. Even within the same category, different brands may require different checks as part of their warranty programs. Real-time telematics data makes life easier for your Service Managers, offering an easy visual way to spot machines that are due (or coming due) for preventive maintenance within your primary rental software.

6. Identify machines that are coming due for routine inspections.

The same concept applies for routine inspections. When you’re managing hundreds of machines, all of varying ages, real-time telematics data is one of the only reasonable ways to manage all of their routine inspection schedules without letting anything fall through the cracks. You have full visibility into each asset’s location and upcoming maintenance requirements; this lets you send your service techs out to complete routine inspections when they’re already out in the field working on nearby assets.

7. Notify your field technicians when equipment throws a fault code.

Even with the best proactive maintenance and inspection efforts, equipment will break. It’s just a part of being in the rental business. But, instead of relying on the customer to call you and inform you that a particular machine is down – then sending a technician out to diagnose the problem without any further information – real-time telematics helps you streamline those service calls. Remotely diagnose fault codes before dispatching a service technician, then make sure he has the tools and parts he needs to improve your first-time fix rate. (And, as a bonus benefit: real-time telematics data will show your driver exactly where on a jobsite the machine is located, helping them waste less time searching for the equipment they need to be working on.)

Discover the Benefits of Real-Time Telematics Data for Your Rental Business

Collectively, these benefits can add up to hundreds – if not thousands – of man-hours saved every year. Of course, there’s also the direct financial impact of preventing theft, collecting excess usage fees, and reducing the costs of repairing or replacing broken equipment.

Ready to see what real-time telematics data can do for your rental business? We’d be happy to set you up with a free demo of InTempo MX so you can see how the data would work in your environment. To learn more, contact us today.