While exact figures for the financial impact of equipment theft on the rental industry are not known, the National Equipment Register's (NER) 2007 Equipment Theft Report estimates losses in the range of $600 million annually. Couple that staggering figure with the intangible costs associated with the time rental operators must spend completing police reports, filing insurance claims and purchasing replacement equipment and it's obvious the rental industry has an imposing problem on its hands.
But rental operators don't have to resign themselves to equipment theft being a cost of doing business.
ARA members can take advantage of a valuable member benefit that helps safeguard your equipment inventory — ARA and NER's Theft-prevention Service. This comprehensive program enables you to register up to 1,000 pieces of mobile, off-road equipment on NER's database at no cost — a $3,500 value.
If your information is on the NER database and you report a piece of equipment stolen, it can be flagged right away and theft alerts will be sent to thousands of officers in the area.
Making accurate information about your equipment available to law enforcement before a theft occurs goes a long way toward reducing incidents of theft as well as increasing the recovery rate for stolen equipment.
Register your equipment online at www.ARArental.org. If you are insured by ARA Insurance Services, you can have your inventory registered by the insurance service at no additional cost.
For more information about the National Equipment Register, visit its Web site at nerusa.com.