FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rental Industry Locks Down On Heavy-Equipment Theft

American Rental Association and National Equipment Register
Gang Up to Combat Equipment Theft

November 7, 2006 (MOLINE, IL) — Two powerhouses in the equipment rental industry — the American Rental Association (ARA) and the National Equipment Register (NER) — have joined forces to fight the $1 billion equipment-theft problem. Together, ARA and NER are urging all rental businesses to actively participate in “Rental Fights Back,” a new campaign aimed at creating awareness of the theft issue and encouraging rental business owners to take proactive steps at securing their fleet.

Once a piece of rental equipment is stolen, the chances for recovery are slim unless it is registered on a national database, such as the one NER offers, which can be accessed by law enforcement officers 24 hour a day, seven days a week. When officers see something suspicious, they need to act quickly. If they don’t have a mechanism for tracking the serial number and discovering who the rightful owner is, that equipment could be moved out of town, out of state or offshore, never to be recovered again.

To combat this problem, the “Rental Fights Back” campaign encourages rental businesses to register their equipment on NER’s national database. As a benefit of their ARA membership, American Rental Association members may register up to 1,000 units of mobile, off-road equipment, each worth $5,000 or more new, on the NER database for free. In addition, ARA members who have coverage with ARA Insurance Services may choose to have their equipment data uploaded by their underwriter.

“It’s time for rental companies to take a stand against equipment theft,” said Carl Newman, ARA president and CEO of A & A Rentals in Sevierville, Tenn. “By registering equipment, rental businesses are taking an important step in protecting their fleet.”

The “Rental Fights Back” campaign plans to encourage rental companies to develop a relationship with local law enforcement agencies before crime occurs, participate in regional equipment-theft summits, and support the Rental Fights Back campaign by displaying a new bumper sticker that reads, “STOP EQUIPMENT THEFT” and the phone number 866/NER-TIPS.

As the program continues, ARA and NER will announce additional plans to help prevent and fight equipment theft.

About ARA: The American Rental Association (www.ARArental.org) is an international trade association for the owners of equipment rental businesses and the manufacturers and suppliers of construction/industrial, general tool, and party/event rental equipment. ARA members, which include more than 7,700 rental businesses and 1,100 manufacturers and suppliers, are located in every U.S. state, every Canadian province and more than 30 countries worldwide. Entering its sixth decade of operation, ARA is the source for information, advocacy, business development tools, education and training, networking and marketplace opportunities for the rental equipment industry throughout the world. According to the ARA’s most recent State of the Equipment Rental Industry research study, the rental industry continues to grow with rental industry revenue in the U.S. at approximately $31.1 billion annually.

About NER: The National Equipment Register Inc. (www.NERusa.com) was established in 2001 to increase the recovery rate of stolen farm and construction equipment by improving the volume, quality and availability of information available to law enforcement investigating suspicious equipment. NER has developed national databases of equipment ownership (13 million records) and theft (80,000 records), and provides this information and equipment identification advice to police 24 hours a day. Equipment owners register their equipment with NER to ensure that it can be identified quickly, even before a theft has been reported. Theft is also deterred by placing NER decals on registered equipment to warn thieves of the increased chance of detection and arrest. These processes and relationships have resulted directly in the recovery of more than $10 million of stolen equipment, much more if related recoveries are included.

ARA Public Relations Contact: Jennifer Vrban, jennifer.vrban@ararental.org; (800) 334-2177, ext. 270, (309) 764-2475, ext. 270

NER Public Relations Contact: Glen Sider, gsider@nerusa.com; (212) 297-1805