IPAF & ARA cooperate on access research

The ARA will include six survey questions on the powered access rental market in its annual ARA/Rental Management 2008 State of the Equipment Rental Industry Survey. The questions are the same that IPAF provided for the European Rental Association's equivalent rental market study currently being undertaken by consultant Global Insight.

Use of the same questions will allow direct comparison of survey results from the North American and European markets. Possible comparisons will include market penetration, fleet size and buying intentions.

"This is the first time that the ARA is partnering with another association in its established rental research project," said Tim Whiteman, IPAF managing director. "We are excited to be embarking with the ARA on this project that will provide the access industry with hard data that is currently not available."

Chris Wehrman, chief executive officer of the ARA, said; "Partnering with IPAF and including the section on powered access adds a new dimension to the ARA survey and enriches the findings".

The ARA will share preliminary results of the survey at The Rental Show in Atlanta, Georgia in March 2009. IPAF will publish them in the IPAF Access Market Report, with preliminary findings for Europe to be announced at the upcoming Europlatform conference in Maastricht on 16 September.

All collected information will be kept confidential, and survey results will be aggregated. All US-based access rental companies are encouraged to take the survey. A link to the survey is at: www.ipaf.org and www.awpt.org