Tool Rental Availability?

[jbair]

Is anyone familiar with a "tool rental" outfit that rents Festools? Just curious. Or is there some kind of policy by Festool that would prevent that from occurring? I was thinking that some of the neat tools available are "neat" but not necessarily something I would feel I could justify buying for as often as I would use them. Classic rental tool type of things such as the new Planex Sander or perhaps if I got into a project where I was regretting opting for the Domino DF 500 and now wished I had the Domizilla, maybe renting it for that type of project. If there is no "policy" prohibiting this, I was thinking it might even make an interesting business venture to consider. With todays internet accessibility, it wouldn't even really have to be a local only service. Work out the arrangements and charges with someone, ship the tools and supplies to them (with security deposit) they use the product and ship it back. Any thoughts?
Jim

 

[ccarrolladams]

Is anyone familiar with a "tool rental" outfit that rents Festools? Just curious. Or is there some kind of policy by Festool that would prevent that from occurring? I was thinking that some of the neat tools available are "neat" but not necessarily something I would feel I could justify buying for as often as I would use them. Classic rental tool type of things such as the new Planex Sander or perhaps if I got into a project where I was regretting opting for the Domino DF 500 and now wished I had the Domizilla, maybe renting it for that type of project. If there is no "policy" prohibiting this, I was thinking it might even make an interesting business venture to consider. With todays internet accessibility, it wouldn't even really have to be a local only service. Work out the arrangements and charges with someone, ship the tools and supplies to them (with security deposit) they use the product and ship it back. Any thoughts?
Jim

For as long as I have owned Festools, the lack of rental places offering Festools has been discussed.

It could be that the Festool contract with dealers prohibits them being in the rental business. There is no direct way Festool USA could prevent a non-dealer owner from renting Festools. However, perhaps use by a third party rental customer would void the warranty.

Still I have never learned of such a rental firm.

One of my side businesses rents out broadcast TV and motion picture production equipment. Another of my businesses rents and leased top of the line computerized TV and motion picture rental equipment. Frankly I would not invest in a tool rental service, especially when Festools are involved. But that could be profitable for someone else. Perhaps shipping Festools to rental customers would work. The problem is who pays the rent while the Festools are in transit? With expensive motion picture and TV cameras, the client starts paying rent the moment the equipment leaves our loading dock and that rent continues until the equipment has been returned, been inspected and is placed back in rental inventory. Should a client damage said equipment, they are responsible for continuing paying rent until the equipment has been repaired and returns to inventory. This has been the standard trade practice in the movie industry since before WWI and later in the TV industry. Clients have insurance for that reason. As a business person I have doubts that such a harsh policy would be practical in the small tool rental business.

However, who knows?

 

[RDMuller]

Most rental firms insist that they fix tools in house.  If you look at the successful rental houses, they all have huge service areas to keep everything running.  To my knowledge, Festool does not train outsiders to fix the tools.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Most rental firms insist that they fix tools in house.   If you look at the successful rental houses, they all have huge service areas to keep everything running.  To my knowledge, Festool does not train outsiders to fix the tools.

What you say certainly is true in the movie and TV equipment rental business. For example, my digital editing rental firm only deals in equipment for which our technicians can receive factor repair training and for which we can purchase spare/replacement parts at dealer price. The same is generally true of the production equipment business I own. However we do source maintenance of a few highly specialize items where we do not have enough repair volume to stay up with factory training. On the other hand our lens repair/modification department is so large and sophisticated we also take on outside business from lens owners and other rental firms.

I can understand why Festool does not train outside repair technicians. As a business person I would never dream of buying a rental inventory that could not mostly be repaired in-house.

 

[jbair]

Ok, so you would have a learning curve to keep the equipment operating correctly. That's every business I've ever experienced. The more I see some of this stuff and enjoy using the items I've managed to obtain, the more sense it makes to me to have a rental service available. I'd have to believe an existing dealer would have to generate additional sales. I understand there's the 30 day money back guarantee so people can try it to be sure it's worth it. But let's face it, you have to come up with the bucks first, and then give it a try. But imagine renting the TS55 REQ, using it through a project and then trying to get on without it afterwards. Nope, rent it, use it, keeeeping it! I mean, I'm not interested in a new business venture at this stage, I just can't imagine no one has given this a go. Seems like it would almost have to be successful.
Jim

 

[AIPDX]

Why would someone ever consider renting a Festool - other than for demo purposes? People rent tools either when they need a large tool which they have no room to store if they buy one, or because the type of tool they need is too expensive to own and there are no alternatives, or because they need it for only 4 hours and it is cheaper to rent than to buy. A typical rental cost is in the ballpark of 10% of the tool price per day. With this kind of math, a Festool tool with a vacuum could easily cost $100 - $200 - $300 per day to rent. At this price, one day of rent is equivalent to a new - if not Dewalt or Bosch - then at least Ryobi  at the Home Depot.

The second factor, rental tools should be able to withstand any abuse. They should not be made of green plastic. Festool owners take great care of their tools, but I do not think that they were built for the type of handling which rental tools may experience. Arizona sand may be fine for Festool, but dropping them to the floor might be too much.

The third factor is how to operate the tool. Festool has some of the worst manuals in the world. Operation of the tools is not always self-evident without good guidance because oftentimes it is so different from other brands. Good luck figuring on your own how to use the Kapex.  A renter does not have hours to study videos on youtube. He wants a tool which he can plug in and run - very simple and very robust.

Finally, I believe that one of the reasons why Festool owners love Festool is because these tools are very neat toys for grown up boys who have enough income to afford them. They do their job very well, but they have charm way beyond that.

 

[caconnect2020]

I have to send my Rotex 90 for repair but I am in the middle of a project. I found out that there is a company online (www.rentafestool.com) where you can rent Festool tools online for a few days. They don't charge for shipping and return and the prices are OK. This works only in California. Not bad.

 

[AlexThePalex]

A dealer with a couple of stores in my area has rental tools. They also have a few Festools for rent. I've seen the TS55, CT36 AC, Planex, Ro150 and the Renofix.

 

[jaguar36]

Why would someone ever consider renting a Festool - other than for demo purposes? People rent tools either when they need a large tool which they have no room to store if they buy one, or because the type of tool they need is too expensive to own and there are no alternatives, or because they need it for only 4 hours and it is cheaper to rent than to buy. A typical rental cost is in the ballpark of 10% of the tool price per day. With this kind of math, a Festool tool with a vacuum could easily cost $100 - $200 - $300 per day to rent. At this price, one day of rent is equivalent to a new - if not Dewalt or Bosch - then at least Ryobi  at the Home Depot.

I'd love to be able to rent a Planex, I don't do enough drywall to make it worth while, but for a day or two every couple of years that would be fantastic.  Same thing for the big Domino, not something I would use enough to justify buying it, but there has been a time or two in the past that I would have gladly paid 10% of the the price to rent it.

Regular sanders, vacuums and cordless tools I don't see much use for though.

 

[mkasdin]

Try the planex easy it’s cheaper than the more expensive option. I bought the Wen drywall sander about 6 months before the planex easy came out. It has the same hole pattern as the Festool so I bought the Festool sandpaper. All 4 grits. The Wen is not the same quality as planex, but it works ok. Also search in google for Wen drywall sander, there’s quite a few Chinese drywall sanding tools. I’m in the same mindset, I only needed it a few times a year. If I would do it over again I would have just gotten the planex easy, but it wasn’t available when I bought my Chinese clone.