COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

Leases

Total rental expense for operating leases was $26,363, $24,986, and $24,329 for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. As of October 31, 2016, future minimum lease payments under noncancelable operating leases amounted to $96,136 as follows: 2017, $15,002; 2018, $13,540; 2019, $11,597; 2020, $10,580; 2021, $10,042; and after 2021, $35,375.

Customer Financing

Wholesale Financing. The company is party to a joint venture with TCFIF established as Red Iron. See Note 3 for additional information related to Red Iron. Some products sold to independent dealers in Australia are financed by a third-party finance company. This third-party financing company purchased $28,887 of receivables from the company during fiscal 2016. As of October 31, 2016, $12,316 of receivables financed by the third-party financing company, excluding Red Iron, was outstanding.

The company also enters into limited inventory repurchase agreements with third party financing companies and Red Iron for receivables financed by third party financing companies and Red Iron. As of October 31, 2016, the company was contingently liable to repurchase up to a maximum amount of $10,389 of inventory related to receivables under these financing arrangements. The company has repurchased only immaterial amounts of inventory under these repurchase agreements since inception.

End-User Financing. The company has agreements with third party financing companies to provide lease-financing options to golf course and sports fields and grounds equipment customers in the U.S. and select countries in Europe. The company has no contingent liabilities for residual value or credit collection risk under these agreements with third party financing companies.

From time to time, the company enters into agreements where it provides recourse to third party finance companies in the event of default by the customer for lease payments to the third-party finance company. The company's maximum exposure for credit collection as of October 31, 2016 was $4,904.

Purchase Commitments

As of October 31, 2016, the company had $5,140 of noncancelable purchase commitments with some suppliers for materials and supplies as part of the normal course of business. The company also entered into a construction agreement for renovations at its corporate facilities located in Bloomington, Minnesota, for a maximum obligation, subject to certain exceptions, of $3,038. The amount of the remaining obligation as of October 31, 2016 was $2,524.

Letters of Credit

Letters of credit are issued by the company during the normal course of business, as required by some vendor contracts. As of October 31, 2016 and 2015, the company had $8,984 and $16,245, respectively, in outstanding letters of credit.

Litigation

The company is party to litigation in the ordinary course of business. Such matters are generally subject to uncertainties and to outcomes that are not predictable with assurance and that may not be known for extended periods of time. Litigation occasionally involves claims for punitive, as well as compensatory, damages arising out of the use of the company's products. Although the company is self-insured to some extent, the company maintains insurance against certain product liability losses. The company is also subject to litigation and administrative and judicial proceedings with respect to claims involving asbestos and the discharge of hazardous substances into the environment. Some of these claims assert damages and liability for personal injury, remedial investigations or clean up and other costs and damages. The company is also typically involved in commercial disputes, employment disputes, and patent litigation cases in which it is asserting or defending against patent infringement claims. To prevent possible infringement of the company's patents by others, the company periodically reviews competitors' products. To avoid potential liability with respect to others' patents, the company regularly reviews certain patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and foreign patent offices. Management believes these activities help minimize its risk of being a defendant in patent infringement litigation. The company is currently involved in patent litigation cases, including cases by or against competitors, where it is asserting and defending against claims of patent infringement. Such cases are at varying stages in the litigation process. The company records a liability in its consolidated financial statements for costs related to claims, including future legal costs, settlements and judgments, where the company has assessed that a loss is probable and an amount can be reasonably estimated. If the reasonable estimate of a probable loss is a range, the company records the most probable estimate of the loss or the minimum amount when no amount within the range is a better estimate than any other amount. The company discloses a contingent liability even if the liability is not probable or the amount is not estimable, or both, if there is a reasonable possibility that a material loss may have been incurred. In the opinion of management, the amount of liability, if any, with respect to these matters, individually or in the aggregate, will not materially affect its consolidated results of operations, financial position, or cash flows.