SAN ANTONIO — Holt Cat Rental plans to streamline its rental business by discontinuing some allied lines and focusing more on the rentals, sales and service of Caterpillar equipment, company officials said recently, emphasizing its traditional areas of earthmoving, excavation and compaction.
“When we created a separate company in 1996 to handle the rental of small to mid-sized Cat and allied equipment, we did so because industry experts said that separation was necessary to get the proper focus on the rent-to-rent business,” said Allyn Archer, president and chief operating officer. “After seven years in the trenches of rental wars, we have decided that the best way to serve our customers is by focusing on our core competencies — rental, sales, and service of heavy equipment.”
“We will discontinue some very small items and aerial work platforms, which is saturated in our marketplace,” vice president of marketing Howard Hicks told RER. “We will continue those lines that are requested by our customers and that we view as complementary to our Caterpillar equipment. Our main focus is to maximize Caterpillar business, both rental and sales.”
Hicks said the company would keep its 14 rental sales representatives and give them additional responsibilities to promote the rental of the largest lines of Caterpillar earthmoving equipment, such as excavators above 100,000 pounds, which previously were handled primarily by dealership staff.
“We will channel those larger items through the rental store people, which is something we didn't do before,” added Hicks. “We will establish closer relationships between rental staff and dealership people, channeling rentals through our rental coordinators.”
Holt Cat also is moving the rental focus from dedicated Cat Rental Stores into the full-service Holt dealership in San Antonio, Fort Worth and Weslaco. In those stores, the Cat Rental Store sign will be moved to rental counters within the full-service stores, and the dedicated service staff will be augmented by additional dealership service personnel when the work flow requires it. Holt will also establish rent-to-rent presences in Corpus Christi, Longview and Irving, within the dealership locations.
Holt Cat rents, sells and services Cat machines and engines in a 118-county Texas territory from the Red River to the Rio Grande, and offers machine rebuild capabilities, sells used equipment internationally, and operates an international pipeline equipment company. It is No. 21 on the RER 100 with $52 million in rental volume in 2002.
