Commercial Motor's Guide to Trailer Rental
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David Wilcox surveys one of the most competitive businesses in the industry. details costs. and gives a few tips on hiring
MANY readers may be surprised to learn that trailer rental in the United Kingdom is still in its infancy, having started in 1969 when American-owned Trailer International Pool moved into the British market.
Since then it has mushroomed and is now one of the most hotly competitive businesses in the road transport industry. In terms of number of trailers and depot spread, top of the tree are TIP and Rentco with a clear lead over the rest of the competition.
Next down comes a selection of companies with nationally known names and with rental fleets ranging from 500 to 1500 trailers and half a dozen or so depots. In this category can be included companies such as Gil-Flex. Trailerent, Central Trailers and BPS Trailer Rentals.
Finally, there are a host of smaller rental companies mostly concentrating on the local market with just one or two depots..
The range of trailers available for rental has also grown over the years. The larger companies are typically offering around 15 different types which includes all the basic, most common types in a variety of lengths or heights, plus some of the unusual trailers such as supercubes, tippers and low-loaders. Many of the smaller companies will naturally tend to offer a more restricted range.. concentrating on PSKs and boxvans for instance.
As already mentioned, competition amongst the various rental companies is stiff and the bigger companies largely dictate the rates. At present It is fair to say that the rental market is not at its busiest and several companies I spoke to were "reviewingtheir rates.
The rates mentioned are tarriff rates — those published on the handout cards most rental companies use_ They should be treated as a reference point only; few hauliers renting trailers will pay this much.
Sizeable discounts are available according to the length of the hire period and the size of the company that wants the trailer, and it is in these dis
counts that the real price competition exists. So the moral must always be to telephone the company for an individual quote rather than relying on preprinted tariff rates.
For this reason, some rental companies did not want to mention specific rates, while those who did stressed that they are intended as a guide only. Other companies carry this secrecy even further and won't reveal exactly how many trailers they have for rental, obviously keenly aware of the competition.
When phoning trailer rental companies there are a number of points that can be raised then which can save problems later.
Check the discount available for long-term hire — the weekly rate can really plummett for longer hire periods. Although it's standard practice for the customer to collect his own trailer, some rental companies can arrange delivery and this could work out cheaper or more convenient than paying a man specially to go over and collect it.
If the trailer is to be used on international haulage a surcharge may be payable, par ticularly so if it is bound for the Middle East. Some rental companies also add a surcharge for running the refrigeration unit on a reefer trailer (around 30p-40p oer running hour is typical) while others build this into the basic rate, so check this if you're hiring a reefer.
If you want a bulk tipping trailer make sure that the one you hire matches your fleet, that is, with or without a donkey engine (most rental trailers come equipped with donkey engines). Curtainsiders are an increasingly popular type of trailer these days because of their versatility and ease of loading and unloading. Renting one for a short period is a good way of experimenting with curtainsiders in your fleet without sinking a lot of capital into them. If you do hire one check whether or not is has rear doors.
Between them, trailer rental companies offer a wide range of dry freight boxvan trailers_ Most are tandem-axle 40-footers but many companies will be able to offer shorter lengths, lower heights or single-axle variants.
While hiring the trailer over the phone find out if it has Joloda tracks. Some rental trailers have these and while they are very useful if you're geared up to them, they can be hazardous when your warehousemen run their steptrucks right inside the van.
Where long-term rentals are involved — six months or longer for instance — some rental companies will maintain the trailer and take it for test, supplying a replacement free of charge. Other companies leave the trailer's maintenance to the hirer so make sure you clarify this if hiring a trailer for a long period. Also establish who's responsible for trailer tyre damage.
While on the subject of wheels, check the trailer is equipped with a spare when you collect it. If you don't notice it's missing you could end up with a bill for a new one when you return the trailer. The whole trailer should be checked over carefully since you — the hirer — are legally responsible for the condition of the trailer during )he hire period: if it collects a GV9 this will count against your 0-licence.
To be fair, most rental trailers will be of good quality and in good condition. To make the trailers as versatile as possible and able to withstand harderthan-average handling rental companies tend to use relatively high specification trailers.
A few trailer rental companies will also do leasing deals, which can be useful if you are considering going on to lease a trailer. Similarly, some com panies also rent out tractive units and rigids in addition to trailers and mean that all your hiring needs can be handled by one company which could help in terms of discount as well as minimising paperwork.
One final point to consider when hiring a trailer is 0-licence requirements. The 0-licence margin for additional trailers must be enough to cover the extra trailer(s) rented.
Also, if the trailer is hired for longer than one month its details must be sent to the Licen sing Authority at the local traffic area office.
Here then is the list of trailer rental companies. It is not exhaustive but does cover all the national and larger companies and many of the smaller ones.
As stressed earlier, where rates are mentioned they should be taken as a reference guide only and hirers should always phone rental companies for individual quotes.
BRS Trailer Rental, Northway House, High Road, Whetstone, London N20. Tel 01-446 1360 BRS Trailer Rental was launched last year, supplementing the company's truck rental service. It now operates from eight depots: Coventry, Derby, Doncaster, Hull, Brentford, Oldbury, Swansea and Wigan. There are a total of 450 trailers available for rental including flats, psks, boxvans; tilts, curtainsiders, step-frame tilts, reefers and single-axle boxvans. Most of-the trailers are by Crane Fruehauf and Taskers.
40ft flat: £12 per day + vat, £50 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft boxvan: £17 per day -4vat, £64 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft reefer: £45 per day + vat. £175 per week if hired for one month + vat BSG Trailer Hire, Middlesbrough Wharf, Depot Road, Middlesbrough, Cleveland. Tel Middlesbrough (0642) 249778 or 219271 A SMALL company with just ten trailers for rental. They are flats or tilts and are by a variety of manufacturers.
40ft flat: £12 per day + vat, £45 per week 4vat.
Central Trailers, Trafford Park Road, Trafford Park, Manchester 17. Tel Manchester (061) 848 8222 CENTRAL TRAILERS recently took over another trailer rental company, Articulated Trailer Hire. This now gives Central five depots in Manchester, Barking, Ipswich, Leeds and Liverpool. The rental fleet has risen to 1250 and covers 18 types of trailers including psks, flats, boxvans, curtainsiders, lowloaders, tilts, tippers, skeletals and reefers_ 40ft flat: £15 per day 4vat, £52 per week + vat.
40ft boxvan: £19 per day 4vat, £74 per week + vat.
40ft reefer; £170 per week -4vat. D. G. Copp, Albany House, Hurst Street, Birmingham 5, West Midlands. Tel Birmingham (021) 622 6081/2 THIS company mainly sells trailers but will rent them out as well if necessary. For this reason the rental fleet is small; just six trailers including flats, psks, TIR tilts and a coil carrier. They are based at a depot in Coventry. 40ft flat: £40 per week + vat. TIR tilt: £55 per-week + vat.
Dabbs Trailer Rentals, Burton Road, Heckington, Sleaford, Lincolnshire. Tel Sleaford (0529) 60651 DABBS have 309 trailers available for rental, all from their depot in Sleaford. The range includes flats, psks, boxvans, reefers, tilts, tippers and stepframe boxvans.
40ft flat: £20 per day + vat, £53 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft boxvan: £25 per day + vat, £75 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft reefer: £50 per day + vat, £190 per week if hired for one month + vat.
Eurofleet Rental, Thorn Street, Woodville, Burtonon-Trent, Staffordshire. Tel Burton-on-Trent (0283) 213424.
EUROFLEET is part of trailer manufacturer Craven Tasker and has three depots: Burtonon-Trent, West Thurrock in Essex and at the Craven Tasker factory in Garstang near Preston. Naturally, its 500-strong rental trailer fleet is exclusively Craven Tasker and includes psks, reefers, boy/ens, lowloaders, tippers, tilts and curtainsiders,
40ft psk: £10 per day 4vat, £43 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft boxvan: £13 per day + vat, £57-50 per week if hired for one month + vat. Gil-Flex Rentals, Eastern Avenue, Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Tel Dunstable (0582) 605605 GIL-FLEX concentrates on the "bread and butter" type of trailers for its rental fleet — the most commonly-needed types such as psks, boy/ens, skeletals, curtainsiders and tilts. It has 1200 trailers spread throughout six depots at Dunstable, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Purfleet near Grays in Essex, and Heathrow. All the trailers are by a variety of leading manufacturers.
W. G. Goddard and Son, Mewland Street, Rugby, Warwickshire. Tel Rugby (0788) 2462 A SMALL local rental company with 12 trailers for hire from its depot in Rugby. They include flats, psks, low-loaders and semi-low-loaders.
40ft flat: £8 per day + vat, £40 per week -4vat.
J. and M. Rentals, Chemical Lane, Longport, Stoke-onTrent, Staffordshire. Tel Stoke-on-Trent (0782) 811026 ALTHOUGH operating from just one depot in Stoke-on-Trent, J and M. Rentals have 220 trailers for hire. They are by a range of manufacturers and include psks. boxvans, tippers, reefers, tilts, curtainsiders and coil carriers.
Kent Trailer Rentals, Brooklyn Yard, Chatham Road, Sandling, Maidstone, Kent. Tel Maidstone (0622) 678071 THIS is a young company and is tending to specialise in the more unusual types of trailer such as extending low-loaders, coilcarriers, insulated boxvans, reefers, step-frames, cur tainsiders and tilts. They are mostly by Crane Fruehauf and all are based at the Maidstone depot.
40ft psk: £9 per day + vat, £41 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft boxvan: £13 per day + vat, £57 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft reefer: £36 per day + vat, El 65 per week if hired for one month 4vat.
Novarent, Manor Way, Rainham, Essex. Tel Rainham (040 27) 50329
AT its sole depot in Rainham, Novarent has 600 trailers for rental. They include psks, boxvans, reefers etc and are by a variety of manufacturers. The company says it is mainly engaged on long-term rental rather than spot-hire. In addition to the usual criteria, the rates that Novarent offers vary according to the hirer, but says that this is rraetfelescted in very competitive
Philhire (Haulage), Bridge Garage, Hartest, Nr Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Tel Hartest (028 483) 440 THIS COMPANY has a small rental fleet of around 70 trailers. They are based at two depots in Suffolk — Felixstowe and Hartest near Bury St Edmunds. Trailers available for rental include psks, skeletals, tilts, lowloaders and extendables by a variety of manufacturers.
40ft psk: £25 per week if hired for one month + vat.
Rentco Nationwide, Hayes Gate House, Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex. Tel (01) 561 6062 or (01) 561 0078 RENTCO Nationwide is a wholly-owned subsidiary of trailer manufacturer Crane Fruehauf and boasts a comprehensive depot network in the UK. Its 21 depots are at Barry Dock, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Felixstowe, Glas gow, Hull, Leeds, Leighton Buzzard, Liverpool, East London, West London, Manchester, Sheerness, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Southampton, Bally dare near near Belfast, and Dublin. Rento's 3500 trailers are, of course, all made by Crane Fruehauf and include psks, flats, boxvans, tilts, curtainsiders and stepframes. Many come in different length and height variations.
40ft flat: £12 per day + vat, £52 per week if hired for one month + vat.
401t boxvan: £18 per day + vat, £74 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft curtainsider: £20 per day + vat, £85 per week if hired for one month + vat
TIP Trailer Rental, Star House, 67-71 Clarendon. Road, Watford, Herts. Tel Watford (0923) 48311 NOT ONLY the first trailer rental company in the UK but also the biggest. TIP has 17 depots in this country: Glasgow, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Willenhall, Leighton Buzzard, Ipswich, Grays, Greenwich, Heathrow, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. As well as these, TIP has another 27 depots across Europe and Scandinavia in France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. TIP has 4000 trailers in the UK plus 6000 abroad. The UK fleet covers 16 different types and sizes and is by several different manufacturers.
40ft flat: £12.65 per day + vat, £54.15 per week if hired for one month -4vat.
40ft boxvan: £17.30 per day -Ivat, £76.15 per week if hired for a month + vat.
40ft reefer: £52.50 per day + vat, £253 per week if hired for one month + vat. Trailerent, Harlan House, London Road, Staines, Middlesex. Tel Staines (0784) 62841 LAUNCHED only in September 1978, Trailerent already has grown to 1300 trailers spread across six depots in Slough, Milton Keynes, Rainham, Birmingham, Haydock and Ipswich. Its range of trailers includes psks, reefers, tilts, curtainsiders, boxvans (some with tail lifts) and low-loaders. They are mostly Crane Fruehauf, Tasker and York trailers. Trailerent can also arrange leasing and finance.
40ft psk: £10 per day + vat, £45 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft boxvan: £14 per day + vat, £63 per week if hired for one month + vat.
40ft reefer: £40 per day + vat, £180 per week if hired for one month + vat.
Trailer Hire and Repair, The Stoneworks, Silwood Street, Bermondsey, London SE 16. Tel (01) 237 2858/9 THIS COMPANY has approximately 200 trailers available for rental from its Bermondsey depot. They include psks, boxvans, tilts and lowloaders by a variety of manufacturers.
40ft boxvan: £13 per day + vat, £60 per week + vat.
Trailers International Rental, Richmer Industrial Estate, Slade Green, Erith, Kent. Tel Erith 35749 or 33445 THIS rental company is a subsidiary of trailer manufacturer Merriworth Trailers and is at the factory site. At present there are 350 trailers available for rental but this figure will be 500 by the end of the year. The range includes flats, psks, skeletals, boxvans, curtainsiders, tilts and semi-low-loaders. The tilts and boxvans are available in straight or step-frame variations. All are by Merriworth, except for the boxvans which are Crane Fruehauf.
40ft flat: £36 per week if hired for one month + vat 411ft boxvan: £55 per week if hired for one month + vat.
Trailer Supermarket (Bawtry), Doncaster Road, Bawtry, Nr Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Tel Doncaster (0302) 710711 THERE ARE 450 trailers for rental based at the Bawtry depot of Trailer Supermarket. The range includes psks, boxvans, curtainsiders, step-frames, tippers and low-loaders, 40ft psk £12 per day + vat, £44 per week if hired for one month vat.
40ft boxvan: £17 per day + vat, £.64 per week if hired for one month + vat.
Trec Rentals, 155 River Road, Barking, Essex. Tel (01)591 5911
TREC has three depots at Barking. Bristol and Southampton. with 650 trailers for rental. These are mainly by Crane Fruehauf and Taskers and include psks, flats, boxvans, reefers, tilts, curtainsiders and extendable low-loaders.
Truckhire, Park Garage, Argyle Street, Accrington, Lancs. Tel Accrington (0254) 34821 TRUCKHIRE has two depots; one in Accrington and the other down in Weston-super-Mare. The rental trailer fleet totals 40, comprising mainly psks and boxvans of varying lengths.
Wild Truck and Trailer Rental, Kestrel Way, Sowton Industrial Estate, Exeter, Devon. Tel Exeter (0392) 35094 ANOTHER small company with just the one trailer rental depot in Exeter. There are 50 trailers based here, including reefers, coil carriers and tilts.
4011 reefer: £30 per day + vat, £150 per week + vat.
Willhire, The Maltings, Barton Mills, Suffolk. Tel Mildenhall (0638) 712080 THIS is an East Anglian-based company and most of its seven depots are in the region — Norwich, Peterborough, Mildenhall, Ipswich, Colchester, Hornchurch and Ilkeston. The trailer fleet is "substantial,'" but the company prefers not to state its exact size. It includes psks, flats, skeletals, TIR tilts (some step-frames and super-cubes), reefers, curtainsiders and tipping trailers with donkey engines. The fleet is by a variety of manufacturers, notably Crane Fruehauf, York and Trailor. Being based in an agricultural area, Willhire tends to specialise in renting tipping trailers and reefers to hauliers carrying fruit, vegetables, feedstuffs and so on.
Xtra (UK Leasing), Wilson's Corner, 1-5 Ingrave Road, Brentwood, Essex. Tel Brentwood (0277) 215997 XTRA has three depots in the United Kingdom — Grays Thurrock, Liverpool and Felixstowe. There are other depots in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. The UK trailer rental fleet is 450-strong and the range includes psks, flats, boxvans, skeletals and curtainsiders. Most of them are by Taskers.
York Rentals, St Marks Road, Corby, Northants. Tel Corby (053 66) 3561 THIS IS the rental arm of the manufacturer York Trailers. It has five specific rental depots at Corby, Barking, Avonmouth, Birmingham and Warrington. In addition to these, nine York Truck Equipment branches also offer rental facilities — Cannock, Cardiff, Darlington, Doncaster, Glasgow, Ipswich, Rainham, Southampton and Watford. York prefers not to reveal the size of the rental fleet but says it is growing. All the trailers are, of course, by York and include psks, skeletals, boxvans, curtainsiders, tilts, tippers and reefers. More specialised trailers such as coil carriers and stepframes can be made available for longer term contract hire.