Rental companies and dealers should work together, says Deprez

European Rental Association (ERA) president Gerard Deprez said rental company and equipment dealers should cooperate more closely, and in particular could do more to work together on remarketing of used equipment.

Mr Deprez, speaking to equipment dealers at the ECED (European Confederation of Equipment Distributors) conference on the first day of Intermat, said the dealers often considered rental companies to be competitors, "The big rental companies do buy directly from manufacturers, but that is not the case with small and medium sized rental companies. Even big rental companies can buy through dealers - Loxam does it for our subsidiary companies."

He said rental companies had a choice of carrying out equipment servicing internally or through dealers; "Dealers can increase their turnover by selling parts [and by offering equipment servicing]." Mr Deprez added that rental companies often go to auction houses before they approach dealers about selling used equipment; "It is an opportunity for dealers", he said.

Mr Deprez, who is also managing director of Loxam, told the dealers that Europe's rental companies were facing an extremely difficult year, with revenues likely to decline by between 10 and 30%. He said renters had no choice but to reduce their headcount, close depots, sell fleet and reduce their expenditure on new equipment.