Search for track mats for sale and you will find no shortage of panels, prices and delivery promises. Search for trackway hire and you will find much the same. The harder question is which costs less for your site, and the answer differs between a two-week groundworks job and a contractor laying access roads every month.
This is a buyer's guide, not a sales pitch. We hire track mats and do not sell them, so there is no reason to pretend buying is always a mistake. Plenty of projects are better off owning their panels. Here is how to tell which you are.
Two different things you are paying for
Hire buys access for a period. Buy buys an asset, and with it every cost that comes with owning heavy equipment.
That distinction is where most hire vs buy comparisons go wrong. A week's hire quote is a complete number: panels, delivery, collection and usually support on site. The price on a track mats for sale advert is only the first of several numbers.
The real cost of ownership
Work through this list honestly for your own operation. Most of it applies whether you buy new or used.
Purchase price. Panel price multiplied by the number you need at your busiest moment, not on an average day.
Delivery and transport. Every move to a new site is a lorry and a forklift at each end, plus someone's time to arrange it. Track mats are too heavy and bulky for a van, and this cost lands on every job.
Storage. Dry, level, secure ground with room to stack and turn a telehandler. A hundred PowerTrax 60 panels cover over 560 square metres laid out.
Cleaning. Mud, clay and concrete splash come back every time. Pressure washing takes water, time and somewhere for the runoff.
Inspection and repairs. Connectors bend, pins go missing, and composite panels crack at the hinge. Someone has to check them before they go out again.
Damage and loss. Pins and connectors disappear on large sites, and a panel driven over by a tracked machine may not survive. Replacements are bought at full price.
Depreciation. Used track mats sell for what the market will pay, which is well below what you paid.
Your own time. Storage, transport, cleaning and inspection all need managing, and that cost rarely appears on an invoice.
None of this is a trick. It is the ordinary cost of owning heavy plant, and none of it appears in the listing price.
The utilisation rate decides the argument
The number that settles hire vs buy is not the purchase price. It is the days a year you actually use the panels.
Take your annual cost of ownership, including storage, transport, cleaning, repairs and replacements, and divide it by the days you expect to use the panels. Compare that cost per use day with the hire rate for the same panel and duration. Whichever is lower is the better deal.
Here is the shape of it using completely invented round numbers, chosen to make the arithmetic easy. They are not our prices and not any supplier's:
- 100 panels at £50 each: £5,000
- Storage for a year: £1,000
- One site move: £400
- Cleaning, repairs and replacements: £500
- Annual cost of ownership: £6,900 before labour
Use those panels 20 days a year and each day of use costs £345. Use them 200 days and the cost falls to £34.50. Same asset, same bills, different verdict. Any article that declares buying or hiring cheaper without asking how often you will use the panels is guessing.
There is a second version of the question: peak concurrency. If one job a year needs 300 panels and the rest of your work needs 40, buying 300 leaves 260 idle for eleven months. Buy for the base load, hire for the peak.
Hire vs buy at a glance
| Hire | Buy | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost profile | Day or week rate, no capital outlay, cost stops when hire ends | Up front purchase, then ownership costs all year |
| Flexibility | Change quantity and product between jobs, scale up for a peak | Fixed quantity, and a shortfall means hiring anyway |
| Storage | None, panels collected after use | Secure, dry, level space for the whole fleet |
| Maintenance | Cleaning, inspection and repairs included | Yours to manage and budget |
| Suitability | Short or uncertain duration, peaks, changing sites, no yard | Frequent, predictable use on sites you control |
When buying makes sense
Buy if most of these are true:
- You use panels in most weeks of the year, not a few weeks in summer.
- You have secure, level storage and a telehandler.
- You run your own transport and can absorb moving panels between sites.
- Your workload is steady rather than spiky.
- You want a specific panel type that suits your fleet and will keep it for years.
- The cost per use day is clearly below the hire rate, with every ownership cost included.
When hiring makes sense
Hire if most of these are true:
- The job runs for weeks rather than years.
- You need different products for different jobs, from heavy vehicle panels to pedestrian walkways. The trackway range is wide for exactly this reason.
- You have nowhere sensible to store a hundred panels between jobs.
- The demand is a peak you will not repeat next month.
- Delivery, collection and support are included.
- You do not want capital tied up in an asset that sits idle.
Buying used: read the advert carefully
Used track mats are where the arithmetic looks most tempting and where the risk sits. A second-hand lot can be excellent value for a contractor with a yard and handling gear. It can also be a pallet of mismatched panels with missing connectors and no load rating you can rely on.
Check the connectors and pin sets first, because they are the part that fails and the part most often missing. Look for cracks around the hinge, wear through the traction surface and, on composite panels, chalky UV degradation. Ask whether the panels are a single batch, because two batches of the same model will not always interlock cleanly. Then price the collection before you decide it is a bargain.
A cheap pallet of panels that will not connect to each other, or to the ones you already own, is not cheap. It is a storage problem with a price tag.
Renting for a season, then deciding
If you want to rent track mats for a season before deciding, our range is hired rather than sold. If you are looking at months rather than weeks, say so at quote stage. Long-term and repeat hire is priced differently from a one-week job, and it is worth that conversation before you commit capital to an asset you may not need. The trackway hire page sets out the range, and our guide to ground protection hire costs explains what moves the rate.
If your decision hinges on whether the panels can take your traffic at all, start with what load rating you need. A panel that is too light for the site is not a bargain at any price.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to hire or buy track mats?
It depends on how often you use them. Hiring is almost always cheaper for a single project or a short season. Buying only pays when the panels are used regularly, stored securely and maintained, so the cost per day falls below the hire rate.
How many days a year do I need to use track mats before buying makes sense?
There is no universal number, because it depends on panel price, storage and transport costs. Work out the annual cost of ownership and divide it by the days you expect to use the panels. If that figure is higher than a hire rate for the same panel, hire is the better deal.
Can I buy used track mats instead?
You can, and it can work if the panels are a matching set with intact connectors and a known load rating. Check for cracks, missing pins and mixed batches that will not interlock, and price in collection before you commit.
Do GT Trax sell track mats?
No. Our track mats and trackway panels are available for hire only. If you have a long-term or repeat requirement, tell us at quote stage and we will look at the right arrangement.
Products mentioned in this article
- PowerTrax 60: HDPE composite heavy-duty track mats rated for 150 tonnes
- PowerTrax 40: rubber track mats for vehicle access and temporary roadways
- TuffTrak: heavy-duty ground protection mats for construction and events
- EuroMats: lightweight interlocking mats for light vehicles and event flooring
You may also be interested in
- How Much Does Ground Protection Hire Cost?: understand what moves the hire rate before you compare it with a purchase.
- What Load Rating Do I Need for My Site Traffic?: work out what your vehicles weigh and which panels can carry them.
- Track Mats vs Track Tiles: Which Do You Need?: compare load capacity, deployment speed and ideal uses.
Contact our team to talk through your site, your duration and whether hire or ownership is the better fit. Call 0800 088 6224 or use the contact form for a quote.