Rental Trucks at Your Site

[MusicCity Gal]

Hi Everyone!

As of yesterday we became an agent for Penske Trucks! I am very excited about starting this new venture. I would like any feedback, pros, cons, tips, etc from those of you who have rental trucks. I do believe this will be good for our market and drive more people to our facility. We do not have any other facilities offering this in our zip code!

Any and all advice is very much appreciated!!

[Autodoc]

Good job and happy renting!!!

We have a storage facility down the road (within a mile) that rents U-Hauls -- they actually help us as they have very poor customer service! We have gotten more rentals lately from people that went there to rent a U-haul and came to us for storage

I guess what I'm saying here is don't loose site of where the majority of your business comes from!

[MusicCity Gal]

Hi Wayne!

I was so excited to get a response from you! You always give great advice! We also have one of those about 3 miles down from us with poor service! They are the ONLY place to rent a truck around here, but they are outside of our city limits. We have a small community but I have 400 tenants and get complaints about them all the time. That was one of the reasons we decided to try it. We really are doing it as a community service more than anything. We want to be a one stop shop if you will.....

[AprilWhine]

A lot of our sites are Penske agents. Penske is willing to price aggresively to get the moving business, if you follow suit it should really increase your market share.

[sharont]

truck rental tips

#1) make sure customers know the time the truck is due is the time they turn the keys into you....have had storage customers drive in and begin unloading in their unit at the time the truck is due back and try to justify that b/c the truck is on the property they shouldn't have to pay for extra time

#2) remind them to fuel back up BEFORE they drive back to unload into storage, otherwise they will whine at you about having to pay extra mileage to drive back to gas up when they are already here

#3) provide a broom/cordless vac/etc for them to clean up after themselves and INSIST they are responsible for cleaning out ashes (i hate cleaning up after smokers in reantal trucks!) and all pet hair (suggest they use a blanket in the truck, even for their pet they insisit "won't shed")

#4) stress, stress, stress that others are waiting for the truck and they really do need to return equip on time (even if you don't have another reso at the minute they rent, you don't want to loose a possible really good downloaded reso later on)

#5) don't take it personal when they yell at you...they are stressed with moving...

[MusicCity Gal]

Hi SharonT and thank you for such a great post!! Those little tips from experienced folks is exactly what I was hoping for!! Great Stuff!! Thanks again!

[The great north wet]

One more thing to add to the list

Get a industrial size bottle of Aspirin, you're going to need it!!!

[jcarlisle]

Get a industrial size bottle of Aspirin, you're going to need it!!!

I really like your username.

[onthemove]

Install a secure drop box for them to return keys....they promise to have it back by 5:00 but 5:00 becomes 6:00 which becomes 6:15 etc.

If you have a hand truck, furniture pads, etc., charge a deposit. Working at On The Move, I take orders for missing hand trucks and furniture pads more often then I would like! They are expensive and easy to walk away with.

Determine your pricing based on demand. Weekends have more demand, so charge more. Offer 1/2 day specials during the week to encourage more week day rentals.

Be careful how you sell insurance options...if you are not a licensed agent, you should not be offering "coverage."

[StorGal]

...industrial strenght aspirin!

I don't know anything about working with Penske. We are a Budget dealer and will offer my experience with that. I pray for you that it is apples & oranges.

Our truck rentals have brought in 2 storage tenants as a direct result in the 9 months that I have been here. Although, it brings people in that are relocating to our area (and their friends), so providing top notch customer service and understanding their exhuastion and stress from the move provides us the opportunity to rent to them or anyone they mention us to later. We never know where the next one comes from, right?

I am constantly frustrated with my truck rentals, and there are some days that I want to wish them off of my lot...but, I have to remember that it usually has nothing to do with the customer and that the name they take away from the experience is mine and my company's.

My last word of advice is to post something and be sure to state at the time of rental that when dropping off the truck they should not block the entrance or exit your storage facility OR your dumpster. I can't tell you how many "extra pickups" I paid for until I figured that one out!

Have fun!

StorGal

[RhodyStor]

Penske

Hello Everyone....

We are in the process of getting Penske Trucks at the Storage Facility/Store that I run.... I was just looking for information on the sort of impact to expect related to time devoted to PENSKE... Such things as

1. how long it typically takes for daily opening and closing/balancing procedures (Penske System)

2. how time consuming is the weekly (I think I read that it's done on Wednesdays) report/balancing process.

3. For truck returns, how long does it take to clean and prepare for re-rental according to what Penske requires (just an average - assuming it's not spotless nor terribly dirty when returned)

4. As far as refilling gas, i know that customers are supposed to refill, and if not I would have to charge them... roughly what % of truck returns will require STAFF running out to refill the truck (assuming that either the customer doesnt refill or drops off after hours and tank isn't full)

I am not new to the Storage business... I have been Managing locations for years... I spent most of last year Managing the day-to-day operations for 2 locations in 2 different states simultaneously (states with 2 very different sets of delinquency timelines/laws and procedures) I have worked facilities in small and large markets.... but as far as truck rentals, my only experience is with a company truck that we rent free with move-in rentals... so any info on "outside" truck rentals, especially Penske, would be very much appreciated...

Thanks!

[MusicCity Gal]

Hey Rhody!

I just sent you a message!!! Hopefully it answered all of your questions!!