Neff Rental traces its history to two companies, MP Equipment, which was founded in 1988 by the Mas family and Jose Perez, a former Hertz executive, and Neff Machinery, a John Deere dealership with locations throughout South Florida. In 1989, Neff Machinery was purchased by the Mas family and merged with MP Equipment to create Neff Rental.

Throughout the 1990s, Neff Rental grew quickly, strategically acquiring rental equipment companies in sunbelt states and opening rental branches in high-growth markets, eventually growing to a size that allowed it to go public in 1998. During the economic downturn and subsequent non-residential construction slowdown in the early 2000s, Neff Rental became a private company again, allowing it to focus on internal issues. The company’s operations were restructured, it increased operating efficiencies, invested in the areas of sales and training, and remixed its inventory to focus more on the earthmoving sector.
When the non-residential construction ramped up in 2004, Neff Rental was positioned for growth. Through rental fleet and rate growth, coupled with operational discipline, Neff became an industry leader in revenue and margin growth.

In 2005 and 2006 Neff began to add to its network of branches, adding new locations in Washington, D.C., and Port St. Lucie, as well as acquiring a metro-Sacramento rental company, Valley Rents, increasing its branch network to 66 locations in 14 states.
In June 2005, Neff Rental was acquired by Odyssey Investment Partners, a New York-based private equity firm.

In June 2007, Neff Rental was acquired by New York-based Lightyear Capital LLC, a private equity firm that provides buyout and growth capital to companies in the financial services industry.