Fleet
Fleet Data for Equipment Rental: Your Utilization Number Is Probably Wrong
Most rental companies calculate utilization from whatever they can export, and "export" usually means half a day of someone's time pulling data from each OEM portal and merging it. The number that comes out is late, partial, and often wrong. Here is what rental fleets need instead.
A rental fleet is mixed by design. Customers specify brands, the fleet grows through purchases and acquisitions, and older machines stay in service. The data follows the same pattern: some OEM telematics, some aftermarket trackers, and many machines with nothing at all.
What rental companies need
- One view across brands instead of a portal per manufacturer.
- Rental-system alignment so each machine's data matches its contract and asset record.
- Utilization that means something, calculated from complete data rather than only the machines that report.
- Service forecasting from hours across all sources.
- Untracked equipment included with manual hours and the same rules.
What goes wrong with partial data
Utilization built from only the tracked machines looks complete when it is not. Decisions about which units to buy, rent out or sell get made on a biased sample.
What the manual process costs
Companies with several OEMs and telematics vendors tell us the same story. Someone on staff spends half a day to a full day logging in to each portal, exporting the data, and merging it into a spreadsheet. By the time the file is done, the numbers are already out of date. And when that person is out, or the file gets overwritten, the work is gone and has to be done again.
A fleet data platform removes the export-and-merge step. The data from every source is brought together continuously, so the view is current when you open it.
How a device-agnostic platform helps
It treats every device and ERP as an input, so you keep the equipment and systems you have. Adding a brand, acquiring a fleet or changing a device does not require starting over.
Proof point
Texas First Rentals unified more than 26,000 assets across 40+ locations with Incus5. Read the customer story.
Where Incus5 fits
Incus5 unifies rented, owned and third-party equipment, connects to 51+ telematics, OEM and ERP systems, and includes assets with no telematics installed. See Incus5 for rental.
Key takeaways
- Rental fleets are mixed by design, so fleet data must be device-agnostic.
- Utilization from only tracked machines is biased and misleading.
- Data should align with the rental system's asset and contract records.
- Untracked equipment belongs in the same view.
Frequently asked questions
What fleet data does an equipment rental company need?
Location, hours, utilization, service status and cost for every machine, tied to the rental system's asset record, whether or not the machine has telematics.
Do I need the same telematics on every machine?
No. A device-agnostic platform reads data from whatever devices you have and combines it.
How are machines without telematics handled?
They are carried in the same system with manual hours and the same service and utilization rules.