Shift to Bobcat Equipment Boosts Rental Activity, Resale Income

Rental center owner John Wilk has sold Bobcat loaders for as much as 80 percent of his purchase price.

After buying American Rentall Center, Abington, Mass., John Wilk sold off his inventory of another brand of skid-steer loaders and replaced them with Bobcat® compact equipment from Bobcat of Boston.

Even though he had little experience with the Bobcat brand, Wilk decided to get rid of the six existing loaders and buy Bobcat equipment. He and his customers, who include mostly landscaping contractors, are pleased with the switch. In fact Wilk's business improved since he took on the Bobcat brand.

When Wilk sold the other loaders he decided to replace them with an assortment of Bobcat equipment rather than only rubber tire skid-steer loaders. He also offers a collection of attachments for his tool carriers including augers, hydraulic breakers, and landscape rakes. Wilke says carrying a diversity of landscaping attachments at his rental store without doubt helps him rent compact loaders.

"I have a Bobcat 553, an MT52, a 334 excavator, a T190, an S160 and a couple of S175s," Wilk says. "The 553 has been a very popular unit." That's because some of his customers want a smaller frame machine. He has a couple of contractors that particularly like that size of machine because of the tight areas where they routinely work.

The 553 is just 49.5 in. wide with a bucket attachment, which makes it popular for working in confined spaces like those found on landscaping projects in New England.

Resale increases

Wilk says one of the benefits he has noticed about Bobcat loaders is their higher resale value compared to his previous machines. He has sold them for as much as 80 percent of his purchase price and recalls selling one of his used Bobcat loaders in less than a day after putting a sign on the front door of his store.

Wilk says Bobcat loaders are so popular with rental customers that it only takes a year or two to pay for a machine. Once it is paid for, American Rentall Center keeps the unit for up to three years before selling it. This practice helps keep the rental inventory up-to-date.

Popularity of compact track loaders grows

Although Wilk says some people were at first hesitant to rent rubber track machines because they were unfamiliar with the undercarriage, he says they are steadily growing in popularity, especially when ground conditions are wet.

"It took awhile for customers to fully appreciate what can be accomplished with a compact track loader," says Wilk. "But now that they've caught on, they have become very popular. One customer has been renting a compact track loader for a month at a time. He used the track unit to finish a project even though he had rubber tired machines that could do the job.

"I have another customer who builds expensive homes," Wilk says. "He liked the rubber tire machines, but I told him I had a track machine and I took it to his jobsite. He ran it three times in a week and decided that's what he wanted." When the customer called Wilk again to rent the machine, it was unavailable, so rather than use a rubber tire machine, the customer waited until a compact track loader was available.

Wilk had a few customers who initially were hesitant to rent the track type because the rental fee is higher than for a rubber tire machine.

"I said try it and if you don't like it, I will charge you the S175 price," he explains. "No one ever said anything about it. Once I get customers to try them, I've had no problems with price. My customers don't even raise the question, and now when it is wet, the demand is very strong."