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How to Track Rental Equipment & Cut Asset Losses by 80%

  • May 22, 2026
  • DreamzCMMS Team
  • 13 minutes read
  • May 22, 2026
  • DreamzCMMS Team
  • 13 minutes read

Untracked Rental Assets Can Kill A Business. How To Track And Cut Your Asset Losses By Up To 80% And Make Money Instead.

Rental equipment tracking tools and solutions that enable rental companies to save up to 80% or more of their asset losses are now available on the market today. Many solutions include a variety of rental equipment tracking methods. Whether you need GPS Tracking Solutions, RFID enabled asset tracking, tracking of rental equipment through the Internet of Things (IoT) or other rental equipment management methods we outline all of the available tools and solutions below. Learn how your business can save time and bring in additional revenue by utilizing automated rental equipment check-in and check-out systems and other tools that increase revenue for rental companies.


Why Tracking Rental Equipment Is No Longer Optional

The amount of losses a rental company can incur from untracked assets can be enormous. It is reported that companies can suffer losses of 5-15% of total assets each year. These losses can be due to equipment theft, equipment being misplaced or even simply unreturned after rental. A company with $500,000 worth of rental assets could suffer losses of up to $75,000 each year. In addition to these losses, companies can also suffer losses and added costs from idle assets, lost revenue, double purchasing of equipment, lack of maintenance of assets etc.

Beyond outright loss, there are subtler costs:

  • A asset holding cost because the asset was left at the job site and not available for hire. Meanwhile another asset was required for the same job at additional cost.
  • Double-purchasing equipment you already own but can't locate
  • No maintenance done on rental equipment that cannot be located.
  • All issues with hours of use of equipment, as well as any damage recorded automatically.

Learning how to track rental equipment effectively isn't just about theft prevention — it's about running a smarter, more profitable operation end to end. Explore how Equipment Rental Software can serve as the operational backbone your tracking strategy needs.


The 6 Most Effective Rental Equipment Tracking Methods

1. GPS Tracking for Rental Equipment

When it comes to tracking rental equipment the most powerful method is GPS tracking for rental equipment. The GPS rental equipment tracking is especially recommended for the so-called high-value mobile equipment. This includes for example excavators, generators, trailers, aerial work platforms and more.

Many GPS rental equipment tracking devices are very small, so they won’t interfere with how you use your rental equipment. Many GPS rental equipment tracking devices are also designed to be solar powered. This is a great way to keep your rental equipment tracking devices charged for as long as possible. The GPS rental equipment tracking device can be set to report the tracking information at whatever interval is needed. For example, it could report every few minutes in real time. This would be known as active tracking. The other way would be for the GPS rental equipment tracking device to report in the background every hour or so. This would be known as passive tracking and would likely be the cost efficient option.

What GPS gives you:

  • Track your rental equipment in real time on a live map.
  • Geofence alerts which alert you when tracked rental equipment leaves a designated area such as a jobsite or storage yard.
  • Trip history and utilization logs for billing accuracy
  • Instant recovery coordinates if equipment is stolen

Out of all the different tracking methods that you can use for tracking rental equipment, GPS tracking is probably the most powerful. The items that are the highest value that are the most mobile are typically the best to be tracked with GPS, such as an excavator, large generator, trailers, aerial lifts, etc.

This is ideal for Heavy equipment, vehicles, trailers, generators, compressors, etc. – basically anything that is able to travel under its own power or gets moved from job to job.


2. RFID Rental Equipment Tracking

RFID Rental Equipment Tracking: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is one of the most commonly used rental equipment tracking methods used in the warehouse and yard management. Each rental equipment is assigned a passive RFID tag. The RFID tags are then read by RFID readers installed in various areas of the warehouse/facility. These areas are typically where equipment is moved into and out of the warehouse/facility such as yard gates, loading docks and storage locations. As rental equipment is moved through these locations it is automatically tracked by the RFID readers.

Advantages of RFID rental equipment tracking:

  • Scan dozens of items simultaneously without line-of-sight
  • Near-zero per-scan labor cost once readers are installed
  • The Best Solution for tracking of high-volume of small to medium size rental equipment and other assets.
  • Long tag life, no battery required. Tags are passive and thus have a long life.

Instant and Automatic rental equipment tracking within your facility. RFID is perfect for automatically tracking rental equipment as it enters and exits your facility. Each item of rental equipment is automatically tracked as the items are loaded onto a van for example. As the van returns to the yard, all of the rental equipment on the van is automatically tracked and any missing items of rental equipment are flagged before the van has even left the parking lot.

The RFID tags can be integrated with  Rental Inventory & Asset Management  software so that the information collected by the RFID system can automatically update the rental equipment stock and highlight any missing equipment.

Best for: Small tools such as bucket and lance attachments, parts and hand tools that come through a specific point in your rental store.


3. Barcode Rental Equipment Tracking

Barcodes: the cheapest tracking method available. If you have a Rental Inventory & Asset Management system, then using barcodes is the easiest way to start tracking your rental equipment. 

Where barcodes shine:

  • Low upfront cost — labels and a scanner app are all you need to start.
  • Easy to generate and replace labels when damaged
  • Works offline with syncing when connectivity is restored
  • Integrates naturally with rental equipment check-in check-out workflows

While using a Barcode Rental Equipment Tracking system has several advantages in comparison to an RFID system, such as low up front cost and ease of use, there is a main disadvantage: every single item is scanned manually, whether it is during check-out or check-in. While for small companies and for slowly moving items this won’t be a problem, for high volume rental companies it can cause a huge delay.

Best for: Small-to-medium rental operations, tool libraries, specialty equipment rental and any business just starting to track assets before moving to RFID or GPS tracking.


4. IoT Rental Equipment Monitoring

Internet of Things (IoT) solutions represent the cutting edge of asset tracking for rental equipment. And it is more than just tracking where an asset is located.

As you move through the levels of tracking for your rental equipment all of the sensors that are mounted on or in a rental equipment item or asset can be monitored by an IoT Rental tracking system. Examples include.

  • Engine hours and ignition cycles for accurate utilization billing.
  • Fuel consumption in real time
  • Temperature and humidity for climate-sensitive equipment
  • Impact and tilt detection for damage event logging
  • Equipment maintenance triggers, based on actual usage, rather than calendar-based.

IoT Rental Equipment Monitoring - The Frontier of Rental Equipment Tracking. Find a lost piece of equipment and follow it with IoT Rental Equipment Monitoring solutions. The solutions can monitor the following aspects of rental equipment: engine hours and ignition cycles, fuel consumption, temperature and humidity, and impact and tilt detection. Various sensors can be mounted on the rental equipment or as separate tracking units. 

The monitoring of rental equipment of rental companies can be used to extend the life of their equipment by monitoring the use of their rental equipment. Smarter maintenance scheduling can be created and customers can be billed for the actual hours of use with Rental Equipment Monitoring solutions. Find out more about Asset Lifecycle Tracking Benefits and extends the usable life of your fleet.

Best for: High-value pieces of equipment that are heavily used and for which the sensors can be paid for by the ability to implement utilization billing, predictive maintenance, and damage detection on an accurate basis.


5. Rental Equipment Tracking Software

Rental equipment tracking hardware is only half of the solution when it comes to your rental equipment and monitoring its location. Without software to tie all of the location information together from all of your different equipment tracking devices, your hardware will not be able to provide you with as much information as possible regarding the current location of your equipment.

Robust rental equipment tracking software typically provides:

  • A live map view of all GPS-tracked assets
  • A current list of yard stock, rental stock, in maintenance and over due stock.
  • Automated overdue alerts and customer communication triggers
  • Utilization reports for optimizing fleet size decisions
  • Integration with the rental equipment’s billing and invoicing.
  • Customer portals for transparent rental visibility

Combine your Equipment Rental Management Software into one consolidated Management Software. For example DreamzCMMS. This will allow you to control all your assets in one centralized management system, to replace your current spreadsheets, whiteboards and memories with a robust database that continues to grow with your business.


6. Rental Equipment Check-In Check-Out Systems

While GPS tracking rental equipment with GPS or RFID can be partially automated, check-in and check-out of rental equipment is generally a process that is formalized and tracked with an automated rental equipment check-in check-out system.

  • Equipment condition is documented with photos at departure and return
  • Customers digitally sign off on asset condition before taking possession
  • Return deadlines are logged and automated reminders sent as due dates approach
  • Every transaction creates a timestamped audit trail

An Automated rental equipment check-in check-out system provides rental equipment tracking by an accountable way of managing the in and out flow of rental equipment. The customer knows that the customer is being tracked, the rental company’s staff know what to do and any discrepancies can be proven with a printed or electronic report providing evidence of what went wrong.

This is also where you capture the data needed to support Maximizing ROI on Rental Equipment — knowing exactly which assets generate the most revenue relative to their costs.


How to Choose the Right Combination

There is no single best tool for tracking rental equipment. Instead, a hybrid approach, using several methods of tracking, will most likely be the best for your rental company. In the following section, we will discuss the key considerations when choosing the best tools for your business and go through an example to show how to choose the right tools for your rental company.

Business ProfileRecommended Stack
Small tool library, <200 assetsBarcode + tracking software
Medium fleet, mix of small tools and heavy equipmentBarcode for small items + GPS for heavy assets + software
Large fleet, high-volume counterRFID at yard gates + GPS on mobile assets + IoT on high-value equipment + integrated software platform
Enterprise with multiple branchesFull IoT + GPS + RFID + centralized cloud software with multi-location support

First address the biggest problem at hand (e.g. the use of GPS tracking for theft, or the use of bar code / RFID tracking for inventory accuracy), and then start layering on more tools and functionality as needed. Next, look at how your current Equipment Availability Scheduling and planning functionality can then be integrated with the new tracking functionality to e.g. make sure that you do not book out a piece of equipment for a job only to have someone else book it as well for a conflicting job several hours later. Or to ensure that you are sending the correct rental equipment to a job on time to get the job done efficiently. Or to ensure that your equipment people spend less time searching for missing rentals.


Strategies to Reduce Rental Equipment Losses Immediately

Even before you start to install tracking devices on your rental equipment there are number of measures that can be implemented to start to reduce Rental Equipment Losses very quickly.

Enforce a Deposit or Credit Card Hold Policy

Money in their pocket equals less incentive to abuse your rental items. Holding a customer’s credit card for the full replacement value of an item they are renting creates great motivation to return that item on time in good shape.

Add Visible Tracking Deterrents

In order to quickly install a tracking system to prevent theft of rental equipment, first of all visible tracking deterrences, like decals or signs with the text “GPS tracked” can be installed. This is enough to deter many thieves, because they do not know which equipment is tracked.

Audit Your Inventory Quarterly (At Minimum)

Most Rental Companies do not even know how many assets they really have as they do not do a full physical count of their inventory on a regular basis. By comparing your actual stock of assets against what your software indicates you have, will reveal any discrepancies.

Train Staff on Check-Out Accountability

Rental tracking solutions do not work if all employees of a rental company are not willing to follow check-out procedures under pressure. Continuously training your staff on the check-out procedures of your rental company is of the utmost importance. Implementing check-out procedures and subjecting these procedures to regular spot-checks is the only way that they will be carried out as intended.

For a deeper look at inventory-level strategies, the guide on Inventory Management for Rental Businesses covers these in detail alongside system recommendations.


Final Thoughts: Track Everything, Lose Nothing

The biggest ROI for any Rental Company is to figure out how to track their rental equipment and put that tracking to good use. That is to have everything available for rent to pay out great returns. The Rental equipment industry is a “have it available or loose your customer” type of business. So tracking in storage as well as in field is required for maximum return on all of your rental equipment. That equipment can quickly become lost revenue if it is no longer available for rent.

First, start by tracking the GPS of your most valuable mobile assets. Next, utilize RFID or barcode scanning for tracking of equipment as it enters and exits your facilities. Finally, put that valuable rental equipment tracking software to work by bringing all of the newly found tracking information to the attention of all team members utilizing the system.

Cut your losses by 80% – the technology already exists. The question is how you will put it to work.Ready to see what full rental asset visibility looks like in practice? Book a Free Demo of DreamzCMMS and explore how GPS, RFID, IoT, and software work together to protect your fleet.

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