New Holland clarifies position on dealer-rentals

New Holland has clarified its position on the development of dealer-led rental operations in Europe. The company said its dealers will be offering rental as part of a package of services in support of their primary sales activity and not as a pure rental service offering such as that provided by Cat Rental Stores.

Nicola Cirilli, European rental manager for New Holland, told IRN that the dealer rental operations will aim to provide customers with an integrated service, with rental forming one part of the service alongside sales, finance etc. “We want to solve problems for our customers”, said Mr Cirilli, “When a customer comes, we have to understand his problem and solve it. We have to give many solutions.”

Establishing rental fleets of New Holland equipment will give dealers access to demonstration machines as a sales tool, giving customers the option to try before they buy. The rental fleets would also be able to play a part in New Holland’s new break-down service now being rolled out in parts of Europe.

There will be no overall rental ‘brand’ for the dealers to follow, although New Holland is providing advice and market information to make it easier for its dealers to start renting. Some of these rental tools are now under trial with dealers in Germany and Italy.

New Holland’s strategy is designed to make it easier for its dealers to establish demonstration fleets and to provide a rent-to-sell service for its customers. The manufacturer said it will not be offering a pure rental service to compete with independent rental companies and said it aims to supply machines to these companies.