Rental equipment business system and method

A method of managing a relationship with a customer in an equipment rental business, the method comprising:

• receiving status information associated with the one or more pieces of equipment in an automated manner;
• comparing the status information with a contract associated with the customer and the one or more pieces of equipment;
• and
• notifying at least one of the customer and a service representative of results of the comparison.

A method of processing a rental transaction with a customer for delivery of one or more pieces of rental equipment at a location remote from an equipment rental business, the method comprising:

• obtaining an invoice associated with the rental transaction;
• confirming that the one or more pieces of rental equipment are present on one or more delivery vehicles in an automated manner;
• delivering the one or more pieces of rental equipment to the customer;
• and
• receiving acknowledgement of receipt of the one or more pieces of rental equipment from the customer.

A method of processing a rental transaction with a customer upon request for a work tool associated with a piece of equipment in an equipment rental business, the method comprising:

• obtaining information about the work tool in an automated manner;
• determining a configuration of the piece of equipment associated with the work tool;
• and
• configuring the piece of equipment, if necessary, based on the determined configuration.

A method of processing a rental transaction with a customer, comprising the steps of:

• establishing transport data associated with one or more pieces of equipment;
• receiving status information associated with the one or more pieces of equipment, the status information including a location of the one or more pieces of equipment;
• and
• planning a work function associated with the one or more pieces of equipment based on the established transport data and the received status information.

A method of processing a rental transaction with a customer, comprising the steps of:

• receiving status information associated with the one or more pieces of equipment;
• planning a work function in response to said status information;
• and
• performing an inventory management action in response to the work function.