International sets up municipal lease plan

State transportation departments in the U.S. are facing a $30-billion gap in their budgets this fiscal year, and International Truck and Engine Corp. said that figure is only going to grow larger. With that in mind, International began an initiative designed to help municipal fleets finance trucks while dealing with their budget deficits. The truckmaker launched a website designed as a resource for

Tim Parry

March 12, 2003

2 min read

State transportation departments in the U.S. are facing a $30-billion gap in their budgets this fiscal year, and International Truck and Engine Corp. said that figure is only going to grow larger.

With that in mind, International began an initiative designed to help municipal fleets finance trucks while dealing with their budget deficits.

The truckmaker launched a website designed as a resource for government professionals, includes tools for spec'ing and the bid-writing process.

Also, International set up International Municipal Lease, a financing program designed specifically for government customers, that it said has already proven to help customers replace and maintain their equipment without spending scarce dollars.

Rob Swim, International's director of marketing, severe service center, said the payments are typically set up to coincide with the government agency’s budget cycle. A term is selected typically somewhere between two and 12 years, depending on the useful life of the equipment.

The government agency builds equity with every payment, and at the end of the term purchases the equipment for $1, he said.

International truck group president Steve Keate said state, local and municipal government spending on equipment, construction and maintenance represents a huge portion of the multi-billion dollar transportation industry. Keate said that up to 25,000 Class 6-8 trucks a year are sold to those entities.