Buying Tips from an Expert

With more than 30 years of experience in the equipment rental industry, Gary Bonds, owner of Advanced Rental Center, Canton, Ga., has learned a thing or two about how to invest in compact equipment. Here are three of the many features of Bobcat compact equipment that he considers important to his business:

Tie-down points. When comparing different brands of compact excavators, he noticed that one had no place to hook a tie-down chain. The area on that machine which most operators use to secure such a chain, he reports, can easily break a nearby grease fitting.

"The tie-down points on the Bobcat 334 are well-designed and easy to reach," he says. "When the engineers pay attention to little things like that, I figure they've also taken care of the bigger, more important things."

Flat-proof tires. Based on his previous experience, Bonds now equips his Bobcat skid-steer loaders with gel-filled tires. "Before, flat tires were a constant maintenance problem for both my customers and me," he says. "Now I don't worry about that."

Keyless start. Bonds has equipped his Bobcat skid-steer and compact track loaders with the keyless start system. It requires operators to enter a keypad code before they can start the engine. This protects him and his customers.

"On large jobsites, the renter doesn't have to worry about another contractor using the machine without permission and running up extra hour and fuel charges," he explains. "And, if I deliver a machine to a homeowner who is gone at the time, I know that the machine can't be started until the renter calls me for the number. That's especially reassuring if I deliver the machine at night."