EquipmentWatch Names Lowest Cost of Ownership Awards Winners
EquipmentWatch named the winners of the 2017-2018 Lowest Cost of Ownership Awards. The announcement was made during the awards ceremony held during EquipmentWatch’s first annual customer conference “Traction.” Winners are models with the lowest five-year total cost of ownership and the prize is based on the proprietary EquipmentWatch Ownership Cost data. The Lowest Cost of Ownership Awards is the latest installment in the EquipmentWatch Awards program, along with the Highest Retained Value Awards, a data-driven recognition of the best residual values in the industry.
“We’re excited to launch the Lowest Cost of Ownership Award, with the goal of helping equipment buyers objectively understand the best performing machines,” said Garrett Schemmel, vice president, EquipmentWatch. “The LCO Award provides clarity to a critical question that owners of equipment have long wanted answered.”
Five-year total cost of ownership is calculated according to established Rental Rate Blue Book calculations and methodologies, leveraging EquipmentWatch’s industry-leading residual values and utilization benchmarking. The products provide detailed benchmarks and estimates spanning the economic life of more than 17,000 models across the spectrum of heavy construction equipment.
More than 200 individuals attended Traction: The Data-Driven Heavy Equipment Conference at Atlanta’s Loews Hotel, including equipment managers and contractors, OEM personnel, dealers, lenders and insurance carriers.
2017-2018 Lowest Cost of Ownership Winners
Backhoes: Deere 310 Series
Dozers, Large Track: Komatsu D85 Series
Dozers, Small Track: Caterpillar D3 Series
Drum Compactors: Sakai SV201 Series
Excavators, Compact: JCB 8018 Series
Excavators, Large Crawler: Case CX700 Series
Excavators, Medium Crawler: Doosan DX300 Series
Excavators, Small Crawler: Caterpillar 311 Series
Loaders, Compact Track: Bobcat MT55 Series
Skid Steer Loaders: Bobcat S70 Series
Loaders, Large Wheel: Kawasaki 95 Series
Loaders, Medium Wheel: Komatsu WA320 Series
Loaders, Small Wheel: JCB 407 Series
Motor Graders: Mauldin MG618 Series
Rear Dumps: Deere 300 Series
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.