bbforks - It is strange that we are in the same business and yet we are so different how we trade.

The dollar buy-out option would reflect a finance lease where the truck is written down to zero. We used to do that in the early days of finance. Today a value is pre-set on the machine so rather than writing down to zero, the finance writes down to a pre-determined number - say 20%. This brings the weekly rentals down and makes it more competitive. You can have huge variances on the pre-set figure. Some suppliers take a safe approach and keep it low at the expense of the weekly rate. Others set a high pre-set number, get the business on price then hit the customer on damages at the end.

As regards maintenance, it is the supplier's risk as to the maintenance money covers the total service and breakdowns but of course this must also fit into the pre-set values discussed above. if it is neglected, it wont be worth the value. I believe most service providers who do this, do enough to keep legal but would wait for breakdowns inbetween services. They certainly would not spend money unneccessarily.