Cal/Amp sets out stall as asset tracking partner for rental firms

The company, which also owns the stolen vehicle recovery brand LoJack, has traditionally operated as a technology provider to other businesses, supplying hardware and software that are often sold under different brands.

But speaking to Rental Briefing at the International Rental Exhibition (IRE) in Maastricht, the Netherlands, Cal/Amp said it now sees an opportunity to work more directly with rental companies as competition intensifies in the asset tracking market.

Ashley Davies-Payne, senior sales director at Cal/Amp, said many rental firms and equipment manufacturers are looking for alternatives to established providers.

“We’ve realised as a company that OEMs and rental companies are looking for options,” he said.

Davies-Payne said Cal/Amp’s technology already underpins telematics services offered by a number of other organisations. In the UK, for example, the company provides the technology behind RAC Connected, including vehicle tracking, cameras and onboard diagnostics devices.

While Cal/Amp has extensive experience in transport and logistics, the company is only now making a concerted push into equipment rental.

“This is the first time we’ve actually exhibited at a show like this,” Davies-Payne said. “We’ve probably been a bit slow to come out from being the engine behind other people.”

The company said its services range from basic asset tracking through to CAN bus data collection, predictive maintenance and theft recovery services through the LoJack brand. It also highlighted its ability to integrate with original equipment manufacturer (OEM) telematics systems as well as third-party software platforms.

Davies-Payne argued that Cal/Amp’s experience working with OEMs gives it an advantage when integrating machine data from multiple brands.

Among its other differentiators, the company pointed to its established relationships with law enforcement agencies involved in recovering stolen assets, its ability to reverse engineer CAN bus data where OEM support is unavailable, and a flexible commercial model designed to lower upfront costs for customers.

Rather than building a large direct sales operation, Cal/Amp said it expects much of its growth in the rental sector to come through local resellers, software partners and OEM relationships.

“We’re not looking to become a 3,000-strong company,” Davies-Payne said. “We’re looking to get the multiplier effect through industry specialists.”

While the company has already signed deals with resellers in the equipment rental space in the US already, it has yet to announce any customer wins in Europe and the UK yet, although Davies-Payne said the company is already in discussions in the region.