Major rental companies tracked by Rouse Asset Services sold more equipment at auction, as a percentage of total sales, in the third quarter of 2008, as compared to the third quarter of 2007, RAS reported last week. Auction sales comprised 17 percent of all third-quarter equipment sales, versus 12 percent for the same period in 2007. Retail sales decreased, as a percentage of total sales, from 82 percent in Q3 2007 to 73 percent for the third quarter of 2008.
Equipment sold by rental companies to dealers or on trade-in to manufacturers grew from 5 percent of total sales in the third quarter of 2007 to 10 percent in Q308. Total equipment sales volume in Q308, for the major rental companies tracked by Rouse, increased by 1.3 percent compared with Q307.
According to RAS, aerial work platforms represented 46 percent of equipment acquisitions among rental companies tracked by Rouse, followed by high-reach forklifts (11 percent), cranes (7 percent), trucks (4 percent), 3 percent for air compressors, industrial forklifts, excavators and industrial equipment, and 2 percent skid-steer loaders and loader backhoes.
August was the month with the highest percentage of equipment purchases in the past year among companies tracked by Rouse, followed by July, May, April, June, September, March, February, October, November (2007), January and December of 2007.
According to RAS, construction equipment prices are 3.9 percent higher than a year ago, with most of the gain occurring early in 2008 when construction materials inflation soared to nearly a 20 percent annual rate. The survey predicts price increases will slow sharply later this year with a brief decline possible.
Rouse Asset Services is owned and operated by the third generation of specialists in appraisals, auctions and marketing of machinery, equipment and inventories. RAS is a full-service appraisal and marketing firm specializing in rental/dealer equipment fleets. An industry pioneer in information technology, Rouse Asset Services has developed proprietary software offering the most convenient, cost effective suite of services to appraise, and market rental/dealer fleet equipment.
More information can be obtained from www.rouseservices.com.
