Demolition and plant hire specialist group, John F Hunt Hire Services has announced the purchase of ten new Cat 216B skid steers from Finning, as part of the business’s move to replace and update its plant hire fleet.

Following positive feedback from customers and general word of mouth support for the new Cat 216B skid steer loaders, managing director of John F Hunt Hire Services, Keith Scott made the decision to purchase ten units to replace the company’s ageing fleet.

Keith: “Having worked in the demolition sector for more than 25 years our experience tells us that there is no tougher test for plant than the demolition and plant hire sectors. As a business we know that the real workhorse in this sector is the skid steer loader, so when we were looking to replace our ageing fleet, we performed a comprehensive review of the plant we owned at the time."

“A significant part of this analysis was the cost of ownership, maintenance and up time achieved by each active unit in our fleet. Once we had this information to hand we were able to make an informed choice to the future direction of our plant investment. As one of the cornerstones to the success of our operations related to the performance of our skid steer loader fleet, we went out into the market to purchase the best all round product package on offer.”

“After listening to our plant hire customers, inter nal staff and contacts within the industry we went to a number of dealers and assessed the equipment they were selling and the support services they offered to assess our options.”

Before John F Hunt Hire Services placed the order with Finning for ten new Cat 216B skid steer units, sales manager, Phil Stock demonstrated the capabilities of the equipment to Keith and his team at one of the John F Hunt Hire Services depots in London. Phil: “The great thing about the new Cat 216B skid steers is that once you get them in front of a customer, they literally sell themselves. In the case of John F Hunt Hire Services, the company was looking for a product that gave all round value. They were not just making a short term price based purchase.”

“As important as the unit itself however, was the access to support services that could react swiftly to the needs of the equipment, ensuring up time was maximised. So the package we were able to put together included service and machine capabilities delivering a financially beneficial solution that worked hard for John F Hunt Hire Services. We were also able to meet Keith and his teams main focus of the purchasing decision, namely the build quality and reliability of the Cat 216B, which I believe is the best unit of its kind on the market.”

John F Hunt Hire Services customers will now be able to benefit from hiring a product that combines a compact footprint with an ergonomically designed operator station, that allows them to take full advantage of the superb performance offered by the Cat 216B. In addition customers working in the demolition sector will also benefit from the Cat 216B’s full range of attachable work tools, maximising the productivity and versatility offered by the unit.

Now delivered and in action across the UK, the new Cat 216B skid steers are proving their worth for John F Hunt Hire Services and are extremely popular with the operators that handle them.