GREENWICH, Conn., Oct 01, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) today announced that it has acquired
Portland U-Rent-It, Inc., a privately held industrial oriented rental
company, with sales of approximately $11 million, based in Corpus
Christi, Texas.

Michael Kneeland, chief executive officer of United Rentals, said, "The
acquisition of U-RENT-IT is consistent with our strategic focus on the
industrial marketplace. We are actively pursuing growth in industrial
rentals, where our depth of resources and branch footprint can give us a
competitive advantage. Moreover, industrial rentals are subject to
different cyclical pressures than the construction market, where we are
seeing demand continue to soften as spending is curtailed."

Founded in 1977, U-Rent-It has benefited from rapid growth in the past
year stemming from increased demand from energy-related customers, such
as refineries in the Gulf region.

About United Rentals

United Rentals, Inc. is the largest equipment rental company in the
world, with an integrated network of over 665 rental locations in 48
states, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. The company's
approximately 10,500 employees serve construction and industrial
customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others. The company
offers for rent over 2,900 classes of rental equipment with a total
original cost of $4.3 billion. United Rentals is a member of the
Standard & Poor's MidCap 400 Index and the
Russell 2000 Index(R) and is headquartered in
Greenwich, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is
available at www.unitedrentals.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking
statements. These statements can generally be identified by words such
as "believes," "expects,"
"plans," "intends,"
"projects," "forecasts,"
"may," "will,"
or "should," or by
discussions of vision, strategy or outlook. Our businesses and
operations are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of
which are beyond our control, and, consequently, actual results may
differ materially from those projected by any forward-looking
statements. For a description of possible uncertainties, please refer to
our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, as
well as to our subsequent filings with the SEC. Our forward-looking
statements contained herein speak only as of the date hereof, and we
make no commitment to update or publicly release any revisions to
forward-looking statements in order to reflect new information or
subsequent events, circumstances or changes in expectations.

SOURCE: United Rentals, Inc.

Hyde Park Financial Communications 
Fred Bratman, 203-618-7318 
Cell: 917-847-4507 
fbratman@hydeparkfin.com

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