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Some reasons for selecting an asset finance broker for your business

By: Arthur Clarkson


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An asset finance broker will scan the market and use their experience and contacts to get multiple quotations. In common with most experts, an asset finance broker spends their working day on their area of specialism and so they should be able to source good deals. Sometimes using an asset finance broker who is an expert in your sector can be the best solution to ensuring that you achieve the best deal.

If you are in the market for equipment leasing then it will not be difficult to locate an appropriate leasing company. The marketplace for leasing is huge and since most assets can now be leased it is simply a case of locating a finance provider who works with X. Most of the time the company selling the asset does not provide the finance themselves directly, they rely on a third party equipment leasing company. You will often get a referral from the company selling the asset to their preferred finance provider.

In common with all areas of commercial purchasing you should aim to get several quotations when selecting an equipment leasing company. The simple approach in the first instance is to get a quotation from the recommended finance company. The prices charged by the recommended finance provider should be close to market prices. Always be practical and recognise that you may not get the best quotation for your situation. Shop around and get multiple prices from other companies.

Asset finance is a broad term describing the various methods that are employed to fund the acquisition of assets for a business. In some scenarios the equipment is not actually legally owned by the business since the finance provider keeps ownership of the asset. The key point from the business owners perspective is that they have the use of the asset in return for frequent repayments. Normally what is significant to a business is that they can utilise an asset, regardless of whether they actually own it or not, to enable their business to operate efficiently and produce greater levels of profitability.

In the instance of a Finance Lease the equipment is owned by the finance company. However in this situation the lease payments are calculated to include the full cost of owning the equipment. Another approach would be for a balloon payment to be included to keep regular payments low and a larger final payment at the end of the term of the lease. When the asset is eventually sold at the end of the term the business will normally receive a share of the sales price split with the leasing company according to a defined formula. A finance lease may also include the option to extend the rental period when the lease term finished for what is known as a “peppercorn” rent. The peppercorn rent is a small ongoing payment compared with the size of the original payments.

One form of asset finance is where a business signs up to an Operating Lease. In this case the equipment belongs to the finance company who effectively hires the equipment to the business over an agreed period (usually one to five years). At the end of the agreed term the finance company will either sell the asset in the second hand market or lease it again. This means that the lease payments can be kept low because the full asset value does not need to be recovered by the finance company during the first term. At the end of the lease term the asset is either returned to the finance company or a further lease agreement may be put in place.

A common form of asset finance is known as Contract Hire. This is another form of operating lease and is often adopted for acquiring vehicles. Most contract hire agreements include a number of potential service features like maintenance, replacement during repair, management, etc. When contract hire is used the finance company retains ownership the asset. The way in which the rental payments are decided is based on a residual value of the equipment after a predetermined timescale has concluded. This means that the cost calculations include a fee to recover the asset depreciation during the course of the hire timescale.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

When looking for equipment leasing quotations it is recommended that you use asset finance brokers to do the legwork for you. Sometimes using an asset finance broker who is an expert in your sector can be the best solution to ensuring that you achieve the best deal.

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