It may be a good feeling to know that the shiny new truck on your warehouse floor is owned by you — but leasing from a good supplier can reduce or even get rid of the headaches that often come with truck ownership.
While owning may mean you get more options when it comes to specialised truck modifications, it also affords you much less flexibility should your requirements change and you suddenly find yourself in need of different specialised equipment.
You get a committed, long-term relationship with your supplier
When you sign a leasing contract, it’s not the end of the process, but rather the start of a long-term, close working partnership between you and the supplier. For example, if you want to bring on new equipment, or need service when a truck has problems, they will be your first point of contact. Your supplier becomes a one-stop shop for all truck-related matters, such as advice on different material handling solutions, service support, parts, supply of additional short-term hire equipment and even driver training. And if you have any problems or queries, they will be there to answer them; you won’t be on your own.
It’s easier to accurately predict your long-term costs
When you lease, your regular payments will be decided when the deal is made, and service cover will often be included. That means you won’t get any nasty surprises a few years down the line, so your costs will remain steady over the long-term. Attractive, right?
Easy access to the latest equipment
Once the leasing contract reaches its end, typically after three, four, or five years, a new contract will be initiated, potentially resulting in the provision of a brand new replacement truck. This new truck will have all the improvements that will have been incorporated into the truck’s design during that time – for example, improved health and safety features, greater operator comfort, and better energy efficiency.
This makes leasing a particularly popular choice in specialist areas (for example in cold store operations) where technological developments can make a significant difference.
Access to in-house expert service engineers
If you own a truck, you may rely on engineers from a third-party company, who may have a strong general knowledge of forklifts from many different manufacturers.
However, when your lease includes a service agreement, you’ll have access to your supplier’s own specifically trained engineers, who have a much deeper knowledge of their own equipment, as well as a comprehensive stock of spare parts in their van, and ready access to any other required parts. They can then solve your problems quicker, delivering a very high first time fix rate, allowing you to get the truck back to work with little delay.
And if your equipment is used in arduous environments (again, such as cold store operations) then you’ll have the peace of mind that it will be covered by a suitable maintenance contract.
The opportunity cost of capital
Leasing really allows to you maximise the opportunity cost of capital. Capital can only be invested once, and when you have various projects requiring investment, leasing your truck allows you to invest your capital in other core activities. The result is a ‘best of both worlds’, where you get a new, technologically up-to-date truck, along with a core activity project being invested in. There’s no need to make a choice between one or the other. You deal with an in-house finance company, not an external one (depending on your supplier).
Certain suppliers — including many suppliers in the Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks network — will make use of in-house financing, rather than an external financing company or a bank. This makes the supplier much, much more flexible when it comes to arranging the terms of your agreement. External financing companies are typically inflexible and have additional fees for changing of assets or terms of the lease.
Suppliers who finance in-house won’t bring these problems, and will also have a quicker response time. Once your deal is worked out, there’s no need to wait around for a number of working days to get authorisation from a bank.
Short-term hire and full ownership will always have their place. But if you haven’t considered leasing before, it’s worth taking a serious look at now. Leasing trucks from a trusted supplier gains you the benefits of working with a long-term partner to with everything from equipment needs to maintenance.
Materials handling is a busy and complex industry, and having less to think about when it comes to service, supplier relationships, and your finances could be a welcome and positive change to your business.
Find out more about leasing from Mitsubishi Forklift Trucks: https://www.mitsubishi-forklift.co.uk/solutions-and-support/finance/forklift-leasing or contact us directly.
