Should You Buy New or Used Equipment for Your Business?

Deciding whether to buy new or used equipment is a choice more small businesses should be making. That’s because many small business leaders only buy used when they don’t have any other choice. Once they can afford new gear they never go back to pre-owned. While there isn’t much that can be done to magically afford new equipment, there’s no reason companies capable of buying new have to do so every time. In fact, buying pre-owned gear for your business is often preferable to new, as the following examples show:

Vehicles

Anyone who has ever bought a new car from the dealership knows how much the value drops as soon as it’s driven off the lot. With this in mind, there’s rarely a good reason why a business should be buying brand new automobiles when barely used options exist. This is especially the case with utility vehicles, as makes and models available through a pre-owned truck seller like Charter Trucks are typically thousands less than their later model counterparts. This, despite sometimes only having a few thousand miles on the odometer.

Machinery

Whether it’s better to buy new or used machinery for your small business needs is a bit tricky. New technology allows companies to take advantage of state of the art design and sophistication, as well as better secure their ability to adapt in the future. Of course, “state of the art” can also be described as “experimental”; time will tell if the new design will hold up to the demands of commercial manufacturing. Buying pre-owned is preferred so long as two factors are in play: the machine itself has no signs of major repairs, and the design model has a reputation for longevity.

4 Important Attributes to Consider When Purchasing a Vehicle for Business

With so many options available to you, finding the right car for your business can be difficult. Since most small startups are working on a strict budget, they can’t afford to pay for all of the additional features that many manufacturers try and entice you to buy either. Fortunately, there are still some basic models that come fitted with the kind of technology you’ll need as standard. Here are 4 important attributes you should consider when purchasing a new vehicle.

Affordability

Affordability is one of the most important qualities of any company car and finding a vehicle that sits in one of the lower ranking insurance groups is the ideal way to attain this. Insurance groups range from 1-50, with those at the lower end of the scale being much cheaper to insure than those at the higher end. You can use sites like this to see where each make and model will be grouped.

Efficiency

The next step is to take a look under the hood, as this is where the most important technology lies. In order to compete with new hybrid vehicles or all-electrics that have gained popularity in recent years, many manufacturers have redeveloped their existing engines to be much more efficient. We see this with Ford and their EcoBoost range, as well as Vauxhall’s BlueInjection and SEAT’s Ecomotive technology. As well as increasing mpg, these also aim to decrease CO2 emissions so that you don’t have to pay as much in Vehicle Excise Duty.

Buy vs. Lease: How to Choose When Purchasing a Business Vehicle

Whether it’s a part of your mobile sales team or you run a delivery service, a reliable vehicle is essential for many different kinds of businesses. Finding something that suits your requirements is often the easy part, but figuring out how to successfully finance the vehicle is another story. Here’s what you need to know about sourcing your next car.

Buying it Outright

Buying a car outright will give you the most freedom. Not only will you be able to customise the vehicle to your exact needs, but you also won’t have to worry about any limitations that are typical in leasing contracts, like annual mileage limits. Perhaps the biggest advantage of buying a vehicle outright, though, is the ability to sell it on in the future to recoup some of your initial cost.

While your sell-on value will be based on the type of vehicle, as well as its condition, typically after three years on the road you can expect a car to have lost around between 50-60% of its initial value. This is one of the reasons that shopping on used outlets like Shelbourne Motors is so appealing to small business on a budget, as the vehicle will have already experienced the main brunt of depreciation. However, remember you may have to spend more money on servicing and maintenance compared to a new car.