Equipment lenders roll with growing rental industry

Equipment lenders are adapting to the growing equipment rental market and developing financing programs that fit customers’ needs. 

The rental industry’s growth rate sat at 10.8% for Association of Equipment Distributors (AED) dealers and at 19% for United Rentals, according to a 2024 AED survey, so the need for financing is only going to grow. 

Using tools like real-time data and telematics, lenders can develop customized financing solutions around how their customers actually use the equipment, Mike Hart, head of new business development and fleet solutions for the Americas at DLL, told Equipment Finance News. 

“We could maybe take stronger residuals, if it’s a lease, because we understand how they use it, that would dictate how we can take our residuals,” he said. “If it’s a dealer, we don’t have to necessarily go out and do field audits, as we can just dial in, and now it’s not inconveniencing the dealer every 90 days, because we have an auditor going out just to audit where this equipment is.” 

Some rental customers operate in an area where yearlong operations are possible, and others may need to skip payments in the winter; these are examples of reasons for flexible financing for the industry, Andrea Whelan, executive vice president of direct sales and service & supply and order fulfillment at manufacturing giant JCB, told EFN. 

Whelan said JCB asked customers what they need in terms of financing solutions. “We know that what customers are looking for varies greatly by where they’re located, how they depreciate that equipment and, quite frankly, what their model looks like in terms of how long they plan on keeping that piece in their fleet.” 

Segmenting equipment rentals 

There are often vast differences in how dealerships and equipment rental houses come up with financing solutions, Whelan said. 

“In the rental space, you have small, privately owned rental houses, and then you have some of the nationally, publicly traded companies that are in the same space, competing against one another,” she said. “Not all of those customers come to a manufacturer looking for finance solution, but we try to have a solution that would work, whether they’re looking to finance one machine or whether the package is much larger.” 

Independent rental companies and dealers rely on financing for their customers more heavily than the large, national companies, which often have bank facilities and better capital markets access, Jamie Gibson, global director of Terex Financial Services, told EFN. 

“We spend a lot of time focusing on what our North American independent customers need, and it’s varied in sizes of business, so their needs are different” he said. “Most independents … operate a little bit differently. They’re going to have different priorities.” 

The third annual Equipment Finance Connect at the JW Marriott Nashville on May 14-15, 2025, is the only event for both equipment dealers and finance providers. Learn more and register here.