U-Haul Holding Company

Please stand by. Your program is about to begin. If you need operator assistance today, just press star zero. Hello and welcome to the U-Haul Holding Company fourth quarter fiscal year-end 2024 investor call. At this time, all parties are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, press star and 1 on your phone keypad. It's star 1 if you would like to ask a question. If you would like to remove yourself from the queue, press star 2. Please note that this call is being recorded, and I will be standing by should anyone need assistance. I would now like to turn the conference over to Sebastian Reyes. Please begin.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. Welcome to U-Haul Holding Company fourth quarter fiscal 2024 year-end investor call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that certain of the statements during this call, including without limitation statements regarding revenue, expenses, income, and general growth of our business, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. For discussion of the risks and uncertainties that may affect the company's business and future operating results, please refer to the company's public SEC filings. I'll now turn the call over to Joe Schoen, Chairman of U-Haul Holding Company.

Good morning. Thanks for joining the call today. The huge price increases that Ford and GM put in over the last three years are manifesting themselves in less gain on sale. There is abundant product in the resale market, and resale pricing increases have so far failed to parallel new vehicle pricing increases. How this will go into the fall is still a guess. Positively, repair has come down. and has the potential to come down more as we trade vehicle depreciation expense for vehicle repair expense. Ordinarily, this is a positive trade-off. Recent consumer confidence reports indicate some chance for an upturn in miles traveled per rental. So far, consumers remain cautious in our experience. Personnel costs are up. It's a combination of government wage mandates, and inflation. Our best way to combat this is through increased productivity, primarily at the retail level. This is through better IT and whatever product improvements we can achieve. We continue to expand our footprint in self-storage. We are still filling rooms, but at a slower rate than we are adding them. We have the broadest footprint in the self-storage business, yet there are still many markets I believe it is smart for us to expand into. Both moving and storage are need-based businesses. We, of course, aim to be the customer's best choice. I encourage you to patronize our products and services and encourage your friends to do the same. Look forward to talking to you in the Q&A section. Jason?