Off-Highway Research, a firm focused on studying the global construction equipment market, disclosed that rental businesses made up 33% of the 333,000 earthmoving, material handling, and compact machinery units sold last year. The data does not account for aerial platform sales.

Material handling machinery—including telehandlers, mobile cranes, and rough terrain forklifts—was the most popular, with rental firms purchasing 79% of the total sales in this category.

For the earthmoving equipment category, which encompasses dump trucks, loaders, dozers, graders, and excavators, rental companies acquired 28% of the 95,000 units sold.

Compact equipment saw the largest number of units sold in 2023 at 200,130, with rental firms purchasing 27% of these.

Chris Sleight, Managing Director of Off-Highway Research, commented, “Rental represents a vital sales channel for equipment providers in North America, especially for material handling equipment within the construction industry, where they dominate.”

The report also noted that major rental chains like United Rentals and Sunbelt Rentals held a significant share of the market. Meanwhile, the growth of EquipmentShare showcases how technology is reshaping the competitive landscape.

Within the earthmoving category, articulated dump trucks were the most sought-after by rental firms, making up 55% of sales, followed by backhoe loaders at 35% and crawler excavators at 33%.

In the electric equipment segment, rental companies purchased all 100 electric compact tracked loaders sold in 2023, along with 90% of the electric mini excavators.

A similar pattern was observed in material handling equipment, with rental firms acquiring all 10 electric telehandlers sold last year.

Electric machinery adoption in earthmoving remains limited, with only 47 electric units sold in total during 2023, and 11 of these purchased by rental companies.

Regarding fleet value, earthmoving machinery represents the highest expenditure for rental businesses, contributing close to $63 billion, followed by compact equipment at $25 million and material handling equipment at $16 million.