Deciding When to Rent or Buy a Forklift

When deciding between renting and buying, there are lots of things to consider. Your best solution will depend a lot on the specifics of your operation. Things like fleet flexibility, budgets and maintenance are all important factors when making your decision.

WHEN IT’S BETTER TO RENT A FORKLIFT:

• When your business is seasonal to be as cost efficient as possible, it’s an easy way to adjust your lift truck fleet to keep up with demand
• Maintenance and service is included in the rental fee, so there are no unexpected repair costs
• No need for in-house technicians or the carrying costs of parts
• You need to conserve capital- no expensive upfront investments
• Planned usage spikes such as warehouse relocation or yearly inventory
• You want to ‘test drive’ a specific truck or new technology.
• Forklift rentals are an operational expense versus depreciating a purchased truck.
• You have a fixed budget

WHEN IT’S BETTER TO BUY A FORKLIFT:

• You have unique needs or spaces that require custom machinery for the best productivity
• Your operation has a steady demand which requires consistent forklift usage
• You have steady, but light forklift use so a purchased truck will last a long time
• If you already have an in-house service tech and can perform your own maintenance
• If you are not located near a rental business making it inconvenient to rent
• Operations are predictable without seasonal fluctuation

We help businesses make decisions on whether buying verses renting is best for their specific operations. If you would like to have a free conversation about your operation contact us at 800.856.0931.