Online equipment rental is a convenience that saves contractors phone calls and trips to the rental store. But across the rental industry, customers express frustration over a common occurrence: learning after the fact that items they’ve reserved aren’t available on the selected dates. In an industry first, United Rentals is solving the problem by offering both visibility into equipment availability up front and equipment substitution suggestions when appropriate.

Determining availability

With United Rentals’ upgraded online ordering system, customers will know the availability status of a piece of equipment when they go to their online shopping cart. If equipment isn’t in stock near them for the selected dates, they will receive a low-inventory alert. From there, they have several options.

First, they can change the parameters of their order by date, account or jobsite location. Customers who have schedule flexibility may find that the equipment they want is available before or after their originally requested date.

Second, they can choose to view similar, available items suggested by the United Rentals’ new substitutions feature.

Third, if a specific piece of equipment is needed on a specific date, they can proceed with checkout. Depending on when equipment is returned by other customers, the requested item may become available in time. The local United Rentals branch representative will do their best to procure the piece and will keep the customer informed about how soon they expect the order to be filled.

Substitution suggestions

Often, an alternative piece of equipment will serve the customer as well as or even better than the original choice. For example, if a 20-foot scissor lift isn’t available, an available 19-foot lift might get the job done while saving the customer money. When renting a forklift, the extra load capacity of a larger model might increase productivity and allow for moving more types of loads.

Alternative equipment suggestions from the United Rentals online ordering system are based in part on what substitutions have been made by customers in the past year. Customers can select one of the suggested alternatives, view the product details, add the item to their cart to see the cost, then check out or view different substitution options.

At any point during the process, they can call the local United Rentals branch phone number displayed on the screen to speak with a representative. The rep will ask about their needs, provide equipment options and place the order.

Convenience and time savings

By giving customers visibility into equipment availability and offering available substitutions to consider, United Rentals has eased one of the biggest pain points reported by customers. Thanks to innovative improvements to the equipment ordering process, customers now have the knowledge they need to make equipment rental decisions with confidence so they can spend less time getting equipment and more time using it.

Knowing in advance that equipment may not be available lets customers plan accordingly, such as by choosing a substitution or adjusting the order of project tasks. If a customer is deciding between two pieces of equipment, knowledge of availability can inform the decision.

United Rentals is committed to providing the best possible customer experience. Customers have asked for a streamlined online rental process, and United Rentals has delivered. The new experience will soon roll out to customers nationwide.

Visit our online marketplace to browse our extensive inventory of equipment and find what you need for your next project.