Rachel and Mark Letourneau (L-R, Front) both of Letourneau Enterprises in Charlotte, enjoyed the lunch and learning about the new facility from John Crocker (L) and Mark Kincer both of Carolina CAT.

Carolina CAT held an open house to celebrate opening its newest CAT Rental Store facility in south Charlotte on June 2.

More than 250 guests attended the event, which provided the opportunity to see Caterpillar's latest compact models. Attendees also participated in an operator contest featuring mini-excavators and compact track loaders.

The new branch joins seven CAT Rental Stores that are situated across the western half of North Carolina. Neil Carbaugh, VP of Carolina CAT's Rental Services and Compact Construction Equipment, said that while the new branch is similar to many others in North Carolina, its focus on Caterpillar's compact construction equipment line makes it unique. This includes skid steers, compact track loaders, multi-terrain loaders, compact wheel loaders and mini-excavators.

“Our focus at this branch is to serve compact equipment clients with sales, service, and parts,” said Carbaugh. “On the CAT Rental side, you can still expect to rent everything that you would normally rent from a CAT Rental Store — from dozers and excavators down to plate tamps and jumping jacks.”

Customers have the chance to get an up-close look at this inventory from the moment they step onto the property with a sizable display in front of the building. Carbaugh said the display allows customers to see the range of compact equipment the company carries. In addition, Carolina CAT also has a dedicated demo area for guests to try out machines as well as other items that the company has in stock, including work tools and attachments. A dedicated inside sales representative also is on hand to help them during demo and answer any questions they may have.

“In order to service our customers immediate rental needs, we try to keep somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 to 100 machines available at any given moment,” Carbaugh said. “The branch rental inventory is upwards of $10 million and is very diverse. In addition to Caterpillar equipment, we also offer a full line of boom and scissor lifts, water trailers, light towers, concrete saws, and much more.”

On the service side, Carolina CAT's South Charlotte branch has an eight-bay shop with the capacity to service 12 to 14 compact machines at a time if need be. For customers in the field, the location has two field service trucks as well as dedicated CAT Rental delivery trucks. The branch's parts inventory focuses on compact construction equipment lines.

For the company's local customers that need service, Carbaugh said the branch is much more convenient.

“While we do not stock all of the large equipment parts, we do have three parts shuttles per day that come from the main facility on the north side of Charlotte. That gives our customers three-to-four-hour parts availability and can save them a trip up north,” said Carbaugh.

According to Carbaugh, the new location in Charlotte makes sense for the company.

“There has been a lot of growth in south Charlotte over the past few years, and it will continue to grow into the foreseeable future,” said Carbaugh. “Geographically, servicing this part of the market can be a challenge with traffic patterns, so it is a great complement to our clients to have a facility on the south side of town.”

For more information, visit www.carolinacat.com.

CEG

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