Trailer contract hire booming
Page 17
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A record number of operators are now choosing to contract hire semi-trailers instead of buying them outright, according to John Donnelly, Rentco's new managing director.
The level of Rentco's contract hire enquiries has "more than doubled since 1984," while the number of contract hire agreements the company has finalised this year is 30% up on the same period last year.
Donnelly attributes the dramatic growth in contract hire mainly to two factors: the phasing out of first-year capital allowances, which was completed on April 1 this year, and "a mini-boom in the national economy."
Some 30% of Rentco's total fleet of 3,500 semi-trailers is currently on contract, as opposed to spot rental. Donnelly says, "I will be disappointed if our contract hire fleet does not grow by 300 or 400 next year."
He is keen to promote a more professional image for trailer rental/contract hire companies, and concedes that the argument for some kind of licensing system for them is "difficult to refute. We agree that it is anomalous that we are outside the operator licensing scheme."
Rentco plans to spend about £90,000 this year in upgrading the maintenance facilities at eight of its UK depots, building twin bay workshops at some of them, including Glasgow and Manchester.
Donnelly's objective is to have a covered workshop at each of Rentco's 25 depots in the UK and Ireland by the end of next year.