Organization And Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Organization And Business [Abstract]

Organization And Business

NOTE 1. ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS

McGrath RentCorp (the "Company") is a California corporation organized in 1979. The Company is a diversified business to business rental company with three rental products; relocatable modular buildings, electronic test equipment and liquid and solid containment tanks and boxes. Although the Company's primary emphasis is on equipment rentals, sales of equipment occur in the normal course of business. The Company is comprised of four business segments: its modular building division ("Mobile Modular"), its electronic test equipment division ("TRS-RenTelco"), its containment solutions for the storage of hazardous and non-hazardous liquids and solids division ("Adler Tanks") and its classroom manufacturing division selling modular classrooms in California ("Enviroplex").

Significant risks of rental equipment ownership are borne by the Company, which include, but are not limited to, uncertainties in the market for its products over the equipment's useful life, use limitations for modular equipment related to updated building codes or legislative changes, technological obsolescence of electronic test equipment, changes in Federal and State laws regulating liquid and solid containment storage, environmental litigation and rental equipment deterioration. The Company believes it mitigates these risks by continuing advocacy and collaboration with governing agencies and legislative bodies for continuing use of its modular products, staying abreast of technology trends in order to make good buy-sell decisions of electronic test equipment, and ongoing investment in repair and maintenance programs to ensure all types of rental equipment are maintained in good operating condition.