Whether you’re opening a brand new garage or you’re upgrading existing garage equipment, chances are you might need to borrow money to help fund your plans. This guide looks at how garage equipment finance works to help you find the best solution for you and your business.
Garage equipment finance is a way of borrowing the funds you need to acquire essential garage equipment. Buying new equipment outright can be very expensive and often won’t be possible if you’re just starting out. Garage equipment finance offers a more affordable solution as it lets you spread the cost of the equipment over a fixed term.
In addition, financing garage equipment means you won’t be using up precious cash reserves. Tying up all your money in the purchase of new equipment can be risky for your business if you then struggle to cover the cost of future bills and other outgoings.
Financing equipment also makes it easy to upgrade your equipment on a regular basis. As well as enabling you to have the most up-to-date equipment and keep up with your competitors, it could make it easier to expand or diversify your operations.
Keep in mind that garage equipment finance can also have tax benefits as interest paid on loans and lease payments might be tax-deductible. Your accountant can help you with this.
Garage equipment finance can suit those who are just starting out and establishing their own business. It can also suit existing small businesses that are looking to expand or update tired equipment. Finding the cash to pay for expensive garage equipment isn’t always easy, but using garage equipment finance can enable you to acquire the equipment you need without breaking the bank. It also means the equipment can be making you money, while effectively paying for itself.
Whether you’ll qualify for garage equipment finance might depend on your personal and business circumstances, as well as your credit rating and available finances, so it pays to check each lender’s terms and conditions carefully.
The type of garage equipment that can be financed can include:
If you want to finance garage equipment, there are a few different options to explore. These include:
Leasing is the most common form of asset finance. It means you rent your chosen equipment from a leasing firm or vendor over a set term. You then make regular (usually monthly) payments to the leasing firm. These payments are fixed, meaning you can budget your cash flow more effectively. Many lease agreements also include maintenance costs.
At the end of the term, you can typically choose to extend the lease, return the equipment to the leasing company, upgrade the equipment, or buy the equipment outright.
You can usually lease equipment for terms of between one and five years, but this can be longer. However, while it can enable you to acquire equipment you might have otherwise struggled to pay for, keep in mind that it can work out to be more expensive overall due to the interest and fees that are usually applied.
In some cases, you might come across an operating lease. This is an agreement to rent garage equipment for the short to medium term. If you sign up to this, the leasing firm retains ownership of the equipment and you then pay a monthly fee to rent the equipment for a limited time. At the end of the lease term, you can choose to either return the equipment or renew the lease. This might work for you if you plan to upgrade equipment on a regular basis.
If you already own some garage equipment, it’s possible to use this equipment as security against a loan. This means you effectively access the value of this asset and can spend the money where you need to – whether you’re looking to refurbish your garage or carry out some essential maintenance work on your equipment. The advantage of this is that because the lender has a form of security, this type of loan can be cheaper compared to other forms of borrowing. The downside is that if you fail to repay the loan (plus interest) on time, the lender has the right to sell the equipment to recoup its money. But if you do pay back the loan in full and on time, the asset is usually returned to you.
Some vendors might also offer an option to pay for garage equipment in short instalments – this is often known as buy now, pay later (BNPL). However, this is generally for limited companies only and you’ll typically need to be able to afford to split your purchase into three equal, interest-free payments, over a short time frame. For this reason, it’s more suited to smaller, less expensive purchases, such as diagnostic tools or EV chargers. There’s usually a minimum amount you must spend, but you can usually pay up early without triggering an early repayment charge.
When weighing up what’s best for you and your business, you need to think about whether you want a more flexible financing option so that you can regularly upgrade your garage equipment, whether you’ve already got equipment you can use as security, and how much each financing option is going to cost you.
If you need help deciding whether gym equipment finance is right for your business and which option is most suitable, the team at Swoop would be happy to help. We can talk through the different options and help you find the ideal lender for your business. Get in touch today.
Swoop was amazing! I was looking for refinancing and they were straight onto finding me the best possible option. I would highly recommend them.
Owner, F45 Cambridge
Written by
Rachel has been writing about finance and consumer affairs for over a decade, helping people to get to grips with their finances and cut through the jargon. She's written for a range of websites and national newspapers including MoneySuperMarket, Money to the Masses, Forbes UK, and Mail on Sunday. Rachel has covered almost every financial topic, from car insurance and credit cards, to business bank accounts and mortgages.
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