When truck rental is necessary
Times in Ireland at the moment are tough and it is affecting people’s choices about things. Because I am in the van rental business, it is the choices of vehicle type that I see people make. I am seeing a definite shift from rental trucks into rental vans in Ireland. There are quite a number of reasons for this selection choice made by the public and companies alike.
The first real drivers of Irish peoples motivation at the moment is price, the issue of price sensitivity is so strong that regard for the vehicle age and conditions has taken a back step. A simple rule for the truck rental industry is that providing trucks for rent costs more than vans. Trucks tend to have a higher capital cost, increased maintenance costs and higher usage of tyres and ancillary parts. These increased costs are tempered somewhat by a longer working life and the ability to reuse the body and sometimes the tail lift. Currently in Ireland, much of the accumulated wisdom in relation to truck rental has gone out the window.
I would place this do to one single factor and nothing else, it’s all about price. Earlier this week I reviewed a rental van for a major manufacturer and my synopsis was that the van did nothing great, drove ok, but was good on fuel and was cheap. After reading over my own review and looking at the van specifications I came to the conclusion that it’s most important trait was that it was a cheap van that did nothing badly.
This general consensus has pretty much taken hold within the Irish commercial vehicle market and with it the rental market also. The thing with trucks is that they cost more to manufacture than vans, so there is no way a truck can be expected to compete head to head with a van on price. Some of the trucks advantages have also been eroded over the years. In the past a truck could be expected to provide a platform for many different body types and also large volume. Some modern rental vans provide this volume in a factory supplied unit. In Ireland it is now possible to buy rental vans with capacities up to 16 cubic metres off the showroom floor at a much lower price than the 16 cubic meter truck and body combination.
When we now look at this 16 cubic meter panel van, it offers a low cost platform for the rental company to supply to the customer. This change in rental vehicle specification seems to be Europe wide. I have seen the same shift in vehicle criteria over in the UK. In Ireland some truck rental companies are now looking at stopping the supply of heavy rental trucks because the customers are demanding cheaper alternatives, and the bottom line is that there is no way to supply cheap trucks at a price to match cheap vans.
The outcome of all this is basically that we are going to see a lot more vans on the road than trucks over the coming years, rental companies will need to adapt to this or they will see business decline to a trickle.
Make your drive with best truck rental services. Visit http://www.vanrentals.ie/ to enjoy van rental and van rental services
Processing your request, Please wait....
