With so many shopping Web sites out on the information superhighway, it comes as no surprise that used equipment sites are springing up to help potential equipment buyers hook up to equipment. The Ingersoll Rand Remarketing Services Group's used equipment site, irusedequipment.com, allows the buyer to buy quality top-of-the-line products for an economical price, great for those rental centers that know what they need and are on a budget. Because the site is updated daily, a customer can be sure that equipment he or she is interested in wasn't sold months ago. While much of the equipment featured is manufactured by Ingersoll Rand, other equipment brands are also included. Especially noteworthy is that potential buyers can contact the company to set up a live demonstration of the equipment being considered via a Web cam.
Designed to be user friendly, the first step on the site is to select one of seven languages by clicking on a flag in the left column. Then, the potential buyer can click on the part of the world where he lives in the map portion to bring up inventory in the selected area. Once the language and location are determined, the potential customer can start narrowing down equipment of interest. By simply clicking on a Category option in the left column, a list of options in the Subcategory field pops up. For instance, clicking on Skid-Steer Loaders brings up three size ranges. If the buyer has a specific size in mind, he can click on his exact range to find out if there are any options in that category. If the buyer just has a general idea — just wants a skid-steer loader and doesn't care what size — he can click on the “All” option to bring up all of the options.
If a buyer doesn't have any particular equipment in mind, but is just looking for some bargains, the Advanced Search option also allows the user to search by make, model, hours on the equipment, country and price. The left-hand column is particularly handy because it lists various categories and how many items are featured in that category. So if the buyer is looking for portable air compressors, he can see at a glance that 26 compressors are available. Clicking on the words then brings up the listings. Below all of the categories, various makes are available for at-a-glance viewing. For example, 164 pieces of equipment are available for Bobcat. Once a search is executed, a listing of all relevant products is shown in a summary grid, giving information such as model year, price, location and the condition of the model. Once an option strikes the user's fancy, he can click on that option to bring up more information on that particular product, including images.
When a buyer is ready to buy or get more information, he can simply contact Ingersoll Rand by telephone or e-mail. A buyer could then set up a live demonstration via Web cam. Ingersoll Rand sets up the equipment the customer wants to see more closely, gives the customer a Web address to log in to and sets up a conference call. The customer can then see the equipment live and ask the representative to focus in on a particular part of the machine. If the customer wants the boom to be moved, to zoom in on the tracks, or to see the controls up close, that capability is available.
“We're showing the customers exactly what they want to see,” says Mike Reilly, sales manager, United States and Canada, Remarketing Group. The benefit is that the demo enables the customer to thoroughly inspect the piece of equipment without having to go to the physical location.
Reilly says the company tries to match the best machine with the customer, regarding both features of the equipment and geographic area. The Web site helps this happen, as do the condition reports available for the equipment. The condition reports — a sort of equipment report card — help the customer to gauge the machine's quality.
“What we're striving to do is give the customer a higher confidence level by providing as much information as possible and supporting the equipment through an extensive dealer network and with factory-backed warranties,” Reilly says.
And with a good mix of used equipment over many geographic areas, a rental company should be able to find used equipment that fits its fleet, and feel confident buying without seeing the machine in person.