Owners of construction companies and other cyclical businesses know the struggles of downtime. There are few projects going on and little money coming in, yet all your bills must be paid and trucks should be maintained. If you’ve discovered the secret formula for cyclical planning, kudos to you! But for those who need a bit of relief in their wallet during off-peak seasons, perhaps renting your fleet trucks will give you some wiggle room.
MWS: CAN YOU GIVE AN OVERVIEW OF FLEX FLEET RENTAL?
ELIASON: Flex Fleet rental is a business-to-business truck and van rental company. We rent our trucks and vans to established companies, as well as government contractors and government agencies on the local, state, and national levels. We rent our vehicles long-term with a minimum of four months. We’re much different than a consumer car rental company that you may use when traveling and would typically rent for a few days.
MWS: WHO ARE THE BEST CANDIDATES FOR FLEET RENTALS?
ELIASON: The type of organizations that find the most value in renting trucks and vans from us are those that have cyclical or project-based work. The revenue for these types of organizations is cyclical—meaning when they have projects, they get paid. When they don’t have projects, they don’t get paid. Many of these companies struggle fiscally during downtime (no active projects), especially when making monthly payments on a fleet they lease long-term or own. What’s the point of paying for work trucks while they sit inactive gathering dust in a yard? This is why a majority of project-based organizations, many in the construction industry, rent some or all of their fleet. They only pay when they have projects or during “uptime.” They don’t pay during downtime when they don’t have active projects. They only use the trucks and vans during a project, then release them once the project is finished.
Many businesses have found great value in renting trucks from us, specifically those in the construction industry. From residential construction to infrastructure and heavy construction, we serve them all.
At Flex Fleet Rental, we focus on light-duty (Class 1 and 2) 4×4 pickup trucks and passenger vans. All of our trucks come equipped with receiver hitches and are ready to tow. And because many of our customers are in the construction industry, our trucks are off-road ready. In other words, we expect our trucks to be driven off-road. All of our trucks are crew cab to fit the crew. In addition to the pickup trucks, we offer flatbed trucks with larger engines and passenger vans to haul a larger crew when necessary.
The size of your fleet needs does not matter to us. We’ll gladly assist you whether you need one truck or 1,000. I will say that a majority of our customers rent 10 or more trucks at a time.
MWS: DOES FLEX FLEET OFFER ANY GPS TRACKING/TELEMATICS SOFTWARE FOR ITS RENTALS? IF NOT, HOW EASY IS IT TO USE A COMPANY’S EXISTING SYSTEM WITH A FLEX FLEET RENTAL?
ELIASON: Yes, all Flex Fleet Rental vehicles come equipped with GPS fleet tracking systems installed. It is available to customers at a small monthly fee per truck. For most fleet managers, it is a no-brainer. They love the myriad benefits it brings including the ability to see the location of the driver and vehicle in real time, the ability to track driver behavior like idling, speeding, and aggressive driving, the reduction in costs for vehicle maintenance and fuel consumption, and the improvements to dispatch, visibility, and routing.
If a customer already has a mobile telematics system, they can definitely use that with our vehicles.
MWS: HOW DOES RENTING A FLEET HELP WITH MAINTENANCE?
ELIASON: When you rent with Flex Fleet Rental, you are getting current-year model trucks. All of our customers receive trucks with low miles on them. We turn over our fleet often because we want to have the latest and greatest models in the fleet. Engines in newer vehicles are built to be more efficient and feature less wear and tear. Thus, little maintenance is needed. Our customers do need to complete the preventive, or routine, maintenance like oil changes.
MWS: HOW DOES RENTING A FLEET HELP WITH SAFETY?
ELIASON: Because Flex Fleet Rental only carries the newest vehicles in its fleet, we have the most up-to-date safety equipment. All our rental vehicles come equipped with backup cameras, which can nearly eliminate the blind zone and can aid in parking. Further, our vehicles are equipped with Bluetooth technology that allows for hands-free cell phone communication.
Other safety features in our rental trucks include anti-lock brakes, stability control, and airbags throughout the vehicles.
MWS: CAN YOU OFFER ANY REAL-LIFE SCENARIOS WHERE A FLEET SAVED ON MAINTENANCE/SAFETY EVENTS BY CHOOSING TO RENT INSTEAD OF BUY A FLEET VEHICLE?
ELIASON: We have many real life examples of this. Several of our customers switch to rental trucks based on the current age of their existing fleet. One such customer, based in the Southeast, switched their entire existing fleet, which was owned, to rentals because it was always in need of expensive repairs. Their most expensive repairs were to the drivetrain and suspension.
Not only was it costing them money to repair the aging trucks, it was costing them downtime as well. Downtime is a metric that fleet managers hate to see.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
With more than 18 years in marketing, including digital and traditional, Jan Eliason is currently the director of marketing at Flex Fleet Rental (FFR). She oversees lead generation and customer acquisition and retention. Jan has been in the fleet rental industry for three years and has been a key figure in the growth that Flex Fleet Rental has experienced in recent years. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications from Utah State University. Find out more, visit www.flexfleetrental.com.
