FORK-LIFTS FINANCING YOUR FLEET
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• As with road-going vehicles, finance is available in many forms including various flavours of contract hire, leasing, outright purchase and short-term rental.
Tony Sproul, marketing manager of Jungheinrich (GB), says the most popular finance package is contract hire over fiveyears. "This allows users to preserve their capital for other things," he explains. "It gives you a fixed horizon on costing and someone else responsibility for maintaining the kit. It's the supplier's obligation to keep you running."
Whether you hire or buy. Sproul recommends looking for second-hand bargains. "Because of the five-year rental trend there is a good market for refurbished trucks, where equipment can be bought as new or
rented," he says. "Typically, you'll save 2530% off the cost of a new truck. This can be a very good route if you're just starting out or the intensity of the operation doesn't warrant buying new."
John Roper of BT Rolatruc confirms the contract-hire trend, It's just growing and growing. Purchase is really only for cash-rich companies," he says.
Leasing is a good source of finance but less flexible than contract hire, he warns: "You get the truck off the manufacturer but the finance is done through a bank, so if there is any problem with payments you're stuck with the bank. With contract hire your finance is with the manufacturer, which usually means a lot more flexibility."