When is it cheaper to rent a Caterpillar 255 by the week than by the day?

From day 4. 4 days at the $450 day rate would be $1,800, but the weekly rate caps it at $1,400.

When is it cheaper to rent a Caterpillar 255 on the 28-day rate?

From day 16. At that point the week-and-day composition reaches the $3,650 28-day rate, and the price stops climbing for the rest of the cycle.

Break-even duration

Equipment rents on three rates — a day rate, a week rate and a 28-day rate — and the cheapest one changes as the job runs long. This finds the two days where it changes, on a real listing’s real published rates.

Caterpillar 255

See the listing →

EMADOL Industries · Loaders - Compact Track

Day: $450
Week: $1,400
28 days: $3,650

Daily stops winning on

day 4

4 days at the day rate would be $1,800. On the week rate it is $1,400.

Weekly stops winning on

day 16

16 days at the day rate would be $7,200. On the 28-day rate it is $3,650.

The working

Whole weeks bill at the week rate; the leftover days bill at the day rate but never add up to more than one extra week; and a whole 28-day cycle never costs more than the 28-day rate. That is the rule, applied one day at a time.

Rental price by duration for Caterpillar 255, days 1 to 35
Days	At the day rate	On the ladder	Difference	Rate in play
1	$450	$450	—	day
2	$900	$900	—	day
3	$1,350	$1,350	—	day
4	$1,800	$1,400	you save $400	week
5	$2,250	$1,400	you save $850	week
6	$2,700	$1,400	you save $1,300	week
7	$3,150	$1,400	you save $1,750	week
8	$3,600	$1,850	you save $1,750	week
9	$4,050	$2,300	you save $1,750	week
10	$4,500	$2,750	you save $1,750	week
11	$4,950	$2,800	you save $2,150	week
12	$5,400	$2,800	you save $2,600	week
13	$5,850	$2,800	you save $3,050	week
14	$6,300	$2,800	you save $3,500	week
15	$6,750	$3,250	you save $3,500	week
16	$7,200	$3,650	you save $3,550	28-day
17	$7,650	$3,650	you save $4,000	28-day
18	$8,100	$3,650	you save $4,450	28-day
19	$8,550	$3,650	you save $4,900	28-day
20	$9,000	$3,650	you save $5,350	28-day
21	$9,450	$3,650	you save $5,800	28-day
22	$9,900	$3,650	you save $6,250	28-day
23	$10,350	$3,650	you save $6,700	28-day
24	$10,800	$3,650	you save $7,150	28-day
25	$11,250	$3,650	you save $7,600	28-day
26	$11,700	$3,650	you save $8,050	28-day
27	$12,150	$3,650	you save $8,500	28-day
28	$12,600	$3,650	you save $8,950	28-day
29	$13,050	$4,100	you save $8,950	day
30	$13,500	$4,550	you save $8,950	day
31	$13,950	$5,000	you save $8,950	day
32	$14,400	$5,050	you save $9,350	week
33	$14,850	$5,050	you save $9,800	week
34	$15,300	$5,050	you save $10,250	week
35	$15,750	$5,050	you save $10,700	week

Rental rates only. Protection and the marketplace service fee are added on top — see the checkout figure below.

What checkout will quote you

Rental · 16 days: $3,650
Rental protection (RPP): $547.50
Service fee: $365
Estimated total: $4,562.50

Pick a listing

The numbers come from one operator’s published rates, so the tool needs to know whose.

Where these numbers come from

The rates are the operator’s own, read live from their listing. The arithmetic is the same best-price billing engine that produces 2Quip invoices — not a second copy written for this page — run on the industry-standard terms: a 28-day cycle, whole weeks at the week rate, leftover days at the day rate capped at one more week.

An operator can agree different terms on an individual rental, and a long rental bills per 28-day cycle rather than in one lump. So treat this as what the rate card says, and the operator’s quote as what you are agreeing to.