A new customer who wants a 3 tonner tomorrow
A caller says he is a small groundworks firm, needs a 3 tonne excavator and a breaker from tomorrow for two weeks, and will pay on account. The hire desk is busy and he sounds genuine. The account form is emailed; he sends a photo of it back half filled. The machine goes out on a cash deposit that doesn't cover much, delivered to an address that turns out to be a field.
Most new customers are exactly who they say they are. The risk is in the few who aren't, and in the ones who are genuine but can't pay.
Why checks get skipped
Checking a new customer properly needs several things done in sequence, and the hire desk is under pressure to say yes quickly.
- The application form is a PDF, so details arrive incomplete.
- ID and proof of address are requested but not always received before delivery.
- Company details and credit checks are run separately, if time allows.
- Delivery addresses aren't checked against anything.
- There is no clear rule for when a new customer can have a machine on account.
How much risk to accept, and what deposits or guarantees to ask for, are decisions for your business and its credit policy. The system gathers the information quickly and applies the rules you set.
What skipped checks cost
Machines lost or recovered at great effort. Bad debts from customers who were never going to pay. Staff time spent chasing. And the chilling effect: after a bad loss, hire desks get cautious and turn away genuine new customers, which costs you too.
There is also the question of where the machine goes. A delivery address that is a lay-by or an empty field is a warning sign on its own, and the driver is the only person who sees it, often too late to do anything but ring the office. Catching it at the booking stage is far easier than recovering a machine afterwards.
Quick onboarding before release
- The new customer fills in one form on their phone: business details, contact, site address and hire requirement, with photo ID and proof of address uploaded.
- Company details are checked against Companies House where the customer is a company, and the credit check runs through your agency's API, such as Creditsafe or Experian.
- The site address is checked against mapping data, and a note is added if it doesn't look like a working site.
- Warning signs you define, such as a very new company, a mismatch between ID and company officers, or a mobile-only contact, are flagged.
- The hire desk sees a summary with a suggested outcome from your rules: release on account, release with deposit, hold for checks, or refer to a manager.
- The decision and evidence are stored with the account, and the account is created in your hire system.
| Check | Source |
|---|---|
| Company exists and is active | Companies House |
| Credit standing | Your credit agency |
| Identity | Photo ID uploaded |
| Site address | Mapping check |
| Warning signs | Your rules |
The hire desk afterwards
New customers can apply in minutes from their van. Most are cleared the same day with the evidence on file. The few who need more checking are spotted before a machine leaves the yard. And the hire desk can say yes to genuine new business with more confidence.
Is this your hire desk?
- New customers get machines before their account form is complete.
- Credit checks are run occasionally rather than every time.
- Delivery addresses are not checked.
- There is no clear rule for new customers on account.
- A past loss has made the desk nervous about all new customers.