Columbia was recently invited to participate in a head to head demonstration for AHERN Rentals in Las Vegas featuring both the Payloader and Expediter. Ahern rentals is an equipment rental company with locations primarily in the southwestern United States offering rental equipment to customers through its 76 locations in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
Allen Holland, Vice President of Operations for AHERN, was in need of competitive units for his fleet and referred to this demonstration as an "equipment rodeo". Four different manufacturers were asked by AHERN to bring 2 of their vehicles for the "equipment rodeo" where they were put on actual job sites and were put to the test. "Real world testing, real comparisons with mechanics, not purchasing agents" was Mr. Holland's goal with the vehicle mash-ups. Columbia came out on top during this demo and outperformed the other manufacturers.
Mr. Holland stated that he chose Columbia for a combination of reasons including their performance during the field test and his customer's feedback. He also said that Columbia had competitive pricing and the vehicle features took a part in his choice of Columbia for this purchase. AHERN purchased fifty Payloaders and fifty Expediters as a result of this demonstration. They also chose to have the vehicles custom painted extreme orange with the AHERN logo laser cut. Mr. Holland is impressed with the vehicles and expressed that "service and product quality will keep him a loyal customer".
Footage from one of the "tests" in the equipment rodeo can be seen below.
