Lawsuit alleges pricing cartel in US rental market

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A lawsuit has been filed against five of the biggest US equipment rental companies and Rouse Services accusing them of conspiring to increase rental prices.

The lawsuit, filed on 1 April in a Chicago Federal court by Illinois roofing contractor AXG Roofing Llc, names United Rentals, Herc Rentals, Sunstate Equipment, Sunbelt Rentals and H&E Equipment, along with Rouse Services and its owner RB Global (Ritchie Bros).

It claims the rental companies used Rouse’s rental metrics service to collude in fixing prices and limit the supply of rental equipment, in violation of antitrust laws.

AXG is seeking to have the case certified as a class action, representing potentially thousands of businesses and individuals who rented equipment from 31 March 31, 2021 to the present. The lawsuit was reported by Reuters on 2 April.

IRN has contacted the rental companies involved as well as RB Global, the owner of Rouse, for comment. Some of the rental businesses have not had time to respond, but Sunstate told IRN, “At Sunstate Equipment Co., we are committed to operating with the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and compliance. We take our obligations under antitrust laws seriously and are confident in the integrity of our business practices.

“We firmly believe these allegations are without merit and intend to vigorously defend ourselves. Sunstate remains dedicated to acting ethically and responsibly in all aspects of our business. We appreciate the trust our customers, employees, and stakeholders place in us and will continue providing exceptional products and services.”

Shortly after, IRN also received the following response fron United; “URI has reviewed the allegations of the complaint filed against Rouse and various rental equipment companies in the Northern District of Illinois. URI believes those allegations are wholly without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against them.”

RB Global also responded; “While we generally do not comment on pending litigation, we believe these claims are meritless and mischaracterise Rouse Rental Insights’ business practices and the competitive nature of the rental industry.

“Rouse Rental Insights is purposefully configured to comply with all regulations, including competition and antitrust laws. We intend to vigorously defend the company”. 

Rouse’s rental metrics service is well established in North America, with hundreds of rental companies providing data on pricing and utilisation, which Rouse then aggregates and provides to subscribers on an anonymised basis.

The model operates on the premise that anti-trust laws are not broken where there is data from at least five rental companies for any geographical area or product segment that is being reported.

In recent years Rouse has started to expand into Europe and Australia.

Rouse makes progress on European rental market data Data specialist has 130 members outside North America