How we verify listings
Every company on RentalCooler passed the same checks, and every listing shows the page we checked and the date. This is what those checks are, and what we leave out.
- Businesses checked
- 303
- Passed and listed
- 145
- any type of business
- Verified rental vendors
- 43
- the number used across the site
- Turned down
- 118
- 40 more not confirmed yet
What a listing has to show
- The company's own website says it rents the equipment. A refrigerated trailer, freezer trailer, walk-in cooler or freezer, refrigerated container, or ice chest. Selling it, repairing it or renting warehouse space doesn't count.
- It serves the metro. An address in the metro, or a service area or delivery claim on its own site that covers it. We record which: a company with no address or yard nearby is listed separately as one that only claims the area.
- Every listing keeps its sources. The pages we read are stored with the record, and the listing links to the main one with the date we checked it.
We find candidates through map and web searches. Directory sites, Yelp, Facebook and map listings help us find companies, but they never count as proof. AI tools help us fetch and read vendor pages; every record keeps the exact pages it relies on, so anyone can check a listing against its source.
What counts as a verified rental vendor
A verified rental vendor is one business, counted once however many metros it serves, whose own website shows it rents refrigerated or freezer trailers, walk-in coolers or freezers, or refrigerated containers, and gives an address, yard or service area in a metro we cover.
- The vendor’s own website shows it rents the equipment. Directories, maps and social pages help us find companies and never count as proof.
- It owns and rents the equipment itself: a local operator or a multi-region company. Brokers and booking networks, and lessors of 53 ft over-the-road freight trailers, are listed where useful but not counted.
- It names an address, yard or service area in at least one metro we cover. A company that only claims service from far away is listed as remote and not counted.
- A company in several metros is counted once. Party-rental shops that rent only ice chests are listed on the ice chest pages and are not part of this number.
That is 43 of the 145 businesses that passed. The rest are listed but not counted: 80 rent only ice chests or party coolers, 8 are brokers or booking networks, 7 lease freight trailers and 7 only claim service from outside the area. Every count of companies on this site uses this definition.
What we never add
- Ratings, reviews, star counts or testimonials. We did not collect any, and we don't copy them from other sites.
- Values a company doesn't publish. If its site doesn't mention delivery, power or a minimum rental, the listing doesn't either.
- Estimated prices. A price appears only when the vendor prints it on its own site, quoted word for word with a link.
When a metro gets its own page
A page for one kind of equipment in one metro needs at least 3 verified companies that own their equipment and have an address or yard in or near the metro. Brokers, booking networks and companies that only claim the area are listed on the page but don't count toward the 3. Where fewer qualify, the companies are listed on the equipment and metro pages instead, and a metro page with fewer than 3 is kept out of search results.
Prices
- The price stays with its terms. “$250 a day, 3-day minimum” is never shown as “$250 a day”.
- Prices are due for a re-check every 60 days. A price older than that is hidden rather than shown.
- Listings are due for a re-check every 90 days.
What we turned down
118 of the businesses we checked are not listed, and we keep a record of why so nobody re-checks them by mistake:
| Reason | Businesses |
|---|---|
| Outside the metro | 31 |
| Air conditioners, evaporative, spot or water coolers only | 26 |
| Party or equipment rental with no coolers or ice chests | 24 |
| Dead site, parked domain or no real business | 10 |
| Repair, sales or warehouse space, not rentals | 8 |
| Other reasons (not open to the public, not cold storage, and so on) | 7 |
| Dry or general trailers and containers, nothing refrigerated | 6 |
| Trucks or vans only (drive-away) | 6 |
Money and placement
Listings are free. Nobody pays to be listed, to be placed higher or to have a listing removed. Vendors are listed A to Z unless you choose another sort. Vendors may pay a flat $1 for each quote request routed through the Request quotes button on the refrigerated trailer page. No vendor has been charged so far and the site cannot collect a fee today. If charging starts, this page will say so on the day it does. Links to vendor websites are plain links: we earn nothing when you click them.
Corrections
A listing follows the vendor's own website. If a vendor changes its site, the listing changes at the next re-check. See also the editorial policy.