Dive Brief:

• Contractors have been reluctant since the recession began to commit money to owning equipment and have been turning to rentals since the recovery began.
• With the rental industry predicting business for its construction and industrial sector will grow 9.1% this year and 10.5% next year, GE Capital, Equipment Finance is expanding its lending for dealers who want to bolster their rental components.
• GE says that about half of U.S. equipment dealers are renting equipment as well as selling it.

Dive Insight:

The dealers have to own equipment to serve the contractors who do not want to own it, but they are no more interested in going out on a financial limb than contractors are. GE's expanded program will allow dealers to borrow unit by unit for machines they want in their fleets rather than having to finance a collection at one time.