Loaded with extras

Trailer-leasing companies today are doing much more than just renting out boxes. They now offer 24-hour emergency service, computerized maintenance, and other options.

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 5/1/1998

A box is not just a box. That's what trailer- and container-leasing companies are telling customers today. More and more, lessors are touting the value-added services they offer.

No wonder. The Truck Renting and Leasing Association, based in Alexandria, Va., says that some 275,000 trailers were leased in the United States in 1994 (the last year for which figures are available). To gain a slice of that market, lessors have to give

the customer special value with their lease. Here are a few of the additional services companies offer today.

XTRA Lease offers customers a written guarantee of customer-service excellence and provides in-house, 24-hour emergency road service. Through its computerized system, it also offers the "Repair Cost Standards" program for handling damage claims. That program promptly bills customers only the fair market cost of trailer repairs.

XTRA provides a variety of dry vans, refrigerated vans, flatbeds, and specialty equipment at nearly 100 locations across North America.