Since transitioning to Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s annual rental program, Micro Roll-Off Containers has reduced downtime, stress and cost of operations.
Located out of Baltimore, OH, close to the city of Columbus, Micro Roll-Off Containers operates seven roll-off trucks and deals with more than 500 containers of all sizes, serving the Columbus area and all of central OH, primarily handling C&D debris out of construction sites. They also work some special events, such as festivals and concert venues, where open-top containers are available to consumers.
About four years ago, Micro Roll-Off was running a lot of older trucks, ranging from eight to 12 years old. Deciding that they would like to upgrade their equipment, they first began looking at just buying brand new trucks outright and once they were paid off, moving them and looking at buying new again. However, as Rusty Mock, Micro Roll-Off’s CEO, put it, “When you are talking about six brand new trucks, it gets expensive, so we started looking at other options, like just buying one truck this year and then one the next year and getting them on a rotation.” One day, when he was searching through one of the industry publications, he spotted a Premier Truck Sales and Rental ad that highlighted their month-to-month rental program. At the time Mock called and talked with Vicki Lojek, the Rental Manager at Premier Truck Sales and Rental, they did not have a long-term rental program but were in the process of introducing an annual rental program and would Micro Roll-off be interested in this option.
Founded in 1985 in order to fill a niche in the refuse industry, Premier Truck Sales and Rental specializes in supplying quality used trucks and trailers for vocational applications and has evolved their product mix over the years. In 1995, Premier Truck Sales and Rental started their Rental Division, which specialized in short-term rental of environmental and refuse trucks and trailers. In 2011, Premier Truck Sales and Rental formulated a long-term rental program to benefit their customers. Michael Taylor, Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s Logistics Manager says, “Rusty Mock first called Premier Truck Sales and Rental in 2005 looking for quality used equipment, specifically hooklift trucks. After that, Rusty continued to contact Premier Truck Sales and Rental regarding different types of equipment that might be available. In 2011 Rusty inquired about the rental of roll-off trucks and we realized that Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s long-term rental program would be ideal for Rusty’s company.”
“We discussed the details with Premier Truck Sales and Rental and ran the numbers internally, including what it would cost us if we bought new. We tried to take everything into consideration—even down to the costs of tags and titles for new trucks,” says Mock. “However, with buying new, by the time you took interest out of it, etc. at the end of the year, we found that there wasn’t a significant of monetary difference—only about $2,000.” Mock says they also talked with Premier Truck Sales and Rental about what would happen with regards to truck breakdowns. “The benefit that we saw was that if a truck broke down and had to go back for warranty work, and it would be down for a significant amount of time, Premier Truck Sales and Rental would give us a loaner so we wouldn’t miss a beat.” To further assist Micro with the long-term rental program, Premier Truck Sales and Rental even purchased some of Micro’s existing roll-off trucks when Mock started renting long term.
In addition, Micro Roll-Off would be able to trade out for a new truck every year, meaning that they also keep up on any of the new emission rules as well as get better fuel mileage. Mock says that after a two-month discussion with all the parties involved with the decision making with regards to the fine print, incidentals, hours, maintenance, etc., Micro Roll-Off decided on renting three trucks the first year. “At the end of the day, there were some advantages of buying outright (such as depreciation); however, there were more advantages on the rental side. Right away, we noticed a lot more benefits than what we could see on paper.”
Immediate Benefits
Receiving the trucks within two weeks of making their final decision, Micro Roll-Off started with the standard Kenworth roll-off truck straight out of Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s rental fleet. “I didn’t add a whole lot of features to them the first year. By the time the next year rolled around, I added a bunch of features that I really liked. For example all trucks are equipped with automatic greasing systems and container stops. Although, they added to the price a little, it saved us even more,” says Mock.
He goes on to explain that both he and his drivers saw immediate benefits to the rental program and the trucks they put into use. The first benefit was that the trucks were brand new when Micro Roll-Off received them, so automatically it boosted many of the drivers’ morale. “These trucks are just like your own vehicles and they include all of the features; they are luxurious, nice and quiet, so you don’t mind taking a long trip in it. We noticed an upbeat in all of the guys right away that had the new trucks.” In addition, many of Micro Roll-Off’s drivers want to stay in the truck and work longer. “Previously, we were averaging six to eight pulls a day just on our roll-off cycles with our old trucks and now we are getting 10 to 12 pulls a day with our new ones; this has led to a very big increase on revenue and profit.”
Fuel advantage and maintenance were also huge benefits, Mock points out. “Our old trucks were getting about four miles to the gallon and the new trucks are getting six miles to the gallon—just that difference right there would make up more than $2,000 at the end of year on a truck.” As far as maintenance, Micro Roll-Off used to have a full-time mechanic that just worked on the trucks. Since Micro Roll-Off has switched to obtaining trucks year-to-year through Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s rental program, they have never needed a full-time mechanic. “We were able to eliminate the truck mechanic position, but we didn’t eliminate the person; we did move him somewhere else within the company,” says Mock. “All the time that spent on downtime and keeping the trucks up and running has decreased drastically; we don’t have much downtime anymore unless there is a warranty issue or something of that nature. We still handle the everyday maintenance and any wear items, such as oil changes, tires, fueling, greasing, etc. If anything larger goes wrong, that’s when Premier Truck Sales and Rental steps in and tells us how they want us to handle it. The trucks are always under warranty, so if they start throwing codes or have a malfunction, we ship them over to the manufacturer, Columbus Kenworth, for the warranty work. If the work is going to take more than a day, we get a loaner from Premier Truck Sales and Rental and never miss a beat on it. On the other hand, if it is an easy fix, like a cylinder, then Premier Truck Sales and Rental will actually ship me the part because we can do it at our shop. Now, if I bought those trucks outright, I would have been at the mercy of the manufacturer until they were fixed.”
Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s Sales, Rental and Operations Departments work together to make sure all of Rusty’s needs are taken care of. “We strive to always be available to answer any questions or offer assistance to Micro,” says Taylor. “Because of Micro’s close proximity to Premier Truck Sales and Rental we are able to offer loaner trucks if there is a problem with one of the long-term trucks.” Jerry Kocevar, Premier’s Operations Manager, also talks to Mock several times each month just to make sure things are going well with the trucks.
Ongoing Success
Since transitioning to Premier Truck Sales and Rental’s annual rental program, Mock expresses that he couldn’t be happier with the program, service, trucks, especially with regards to the ease and convenience of it all. “Honestly, it is the things you can’t see in black and white that are the most valuable and make it beneficial. I’ve been very happy with it and Premier Truck Sales and Rental is a great company to work with. They have always been very helpful. If we have a problem, they are right there to figure out how to work through it,” says Mock.
Micro Roll-Off currently has a total of six trucks, so the whole fleet is involved in the rental program. After the first year of just transitioning out half of their fleet for a trial run, Mock decided to continue from there and switch out to all of the trucks to the program. Now, normally a couple of months before the trucks need to be switched out, Taylor starts calling Mock to ask him if he would like to make any changes to the trucks he will be receiving, how everything is going, etc. “I set the trucks up for how I need them and Premier Truck Sales and Rental definitely tries to accommodate adding any features on the trucks. Then, once Premier Truck Sales and Rental gets the trucks in, we set a date to switch them out. We usually drive the old ones back up there and then drive the new ones back. However, we don’t send them back all at once, we stagger them,” says Mock.
Mock is proud to be one of the first users of the long-term rental program. “They had just started it when I was looking at everything. Transitioning to this program actually took away most of our downtime and the stress on whether the trucks were going to make it through the day or if they were going to break down on the side of the road. I think it’s a great program.”
Premier Truck Sales and Rental continues to expand its rental division with the latest model trucks and trailers while striving to provide quality inventory for customers that are looking to buy pre-owned trucks and trailers. Says Taylor, “Everyone at Premier Truck Sales and Rental believes they have established a mutually beneficial relationship between Micro Roll-Off and Premier Truck Sales and Rental. We have made sure that Rusty has the correct equipment for his operation as well as equipment that he and his driver are comfortable and proud to drive.”
For more information about Premier Truck Sales and Rental, contact Vicki Lojek at (800) 825-1255 or e-mail [email protected].
