United Rentals Expands Digital Platform with Smart Suggestions and Equipment Fit Capabilities
United Rentals, the world’s largest equipment rental company, announced the launch of two new features in its suite of digital tools: Smart Suggestions and Equipment Fit Augmented Reality (AR). These enhancements help customers make faster, more confident rental decisions by anticipating needs and providing greater jobsite visibility before placing an order.
• Smart Suggestions uses advanced machine learning to recommend equipment based on factors such as customer order history, jobsite data, seasonality and industry trends. The tool predicts what customers are most likely to need next, helping them bypass a full catalog search and move quickly to the right rental option. Early results show a 27-percent reduction in the time it takes users to identify and order the equipment they need.
• Equipment Fit AR gives customers the ability to virtually place 3D models of equipment on their jobsite using a mobile device. This feature makes it easier to evaluate equipment dimensions, confirm proper fit, and plan for placement in tight or restricted-access areas. Equipment Fit AR is currently available for select equipment categories, with additional offerings under development.
Both tools are designed to simplify the rental experience and improve productivity. United Rentals developed them using direct feedback from contractors and operations teams across North America.
“Smart Suggestions and Equipment Fit AR are about anticipating customer needs,” said Paul Maddison, director of product management at United Rentals. “By leveraging machine learning and augmented reality, we’re giving customers tools that help them make confident, informed decisions at the moment of rental. It’s about delivering the right equipment at the right time, with less friction.”
These innovations build on United Rentals’ expanding portfolio of digital capabilities, which enable customers to browse, reserve, and manage equipment rentals from any device. From visualization to smarter checkout, the company continues to enhance its digital platform to meet customers wherever they work.
United Rentals, Stamford, Conn., the world’s largest equipment rental company, is No. 1 on the RER 100.
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.