The Business Case for Purchasing Lift Equipment Instead of Renting: Insights for Long-Term Growth

To buy or to rent? The question occurs at every level of business. As a business owner, you need to decide whether to buy or to rent the buildings you operate from. You need to decide whether to buy or to lease vehicles for your business. You need to decide whether to buy or to rent office furniture and equipment of all kinds. And, of course, you need to decide whether to buy or to rent your lift equipment.  

For many business owners, lift equipment isn’t a top priority, and many owners will prioritize the short-term benefits of renting equipment rather than shelling out for ownership. But, if you are looking at the long-term, there are many good reasons to choose to buy your own lift equipment over renting from someone else.

In this post, we’ll take a look at a few of the reasons that it might make more sense to buy.

1. Lower costs in the long run. OK, let’s start with the most obvious benefit: Owning costs less over the long term. When you rent, you are paying someone each month for the use of the lift equipment, and those costs add up over time. Eventually, you’ll have paid more than the value of the equipment, without ever actually taking ownership of the equipment. When you purchase, you put out more money upfront, but you avoid those recurring fees.

2. No unexpected price hikes. Another downside to renting is that the costs may not remain fixed over time. Owners may increase prices for rentals when the original contract term ends or on an annual basis, and this will increase your prices over time. When you purchase lift equipment, you can control the costs because you have already paid upfront and will have only regular maintenance costs to pay going forward.
   

   

3. You can recoup some of the costs. When you buy lift equipment, you own the asset, and that equipment retains value over time. If you ever purchase new equipment or your business changes or closes, you can sell that asset and recoup some of its value. Rented equipment, of course, can’t be sold and offers no value later on. Additionally, beyond resale value, lift equipment can also receive depreciation benefits on your taxes, meaning that you can write off some of the cost each year as the equipment ages. As is obvious, you can’t do that with equipment you rent and don’t own.

4. Consistent availability. Depending on the deal you’ve struck, you may not be in full control of when you can access lift equipment you rent. If you lease it, then you have it for a fixed period, but if you only rent lift equipment when you need it most, you may encounter difficulties with scheduling or availability, and this can result in delays and slowdowns than negatively impact your business. When you purchase your own equipment from a reliable provider like Zuma Sales, it’s always there for you.

5. Better control over maintenance. When you rent from someone else, you can’t be sure how well the equipment is maintained, especially if other clients heavily use the same equipment. When you own your own equipment, you can reduce the risk of unexpected breakdowns or unscheduled maintenance because you are in charge of the upkeep and can be sure that your machines are always in good working order.

6. More efficient employees. One of the subtler benefits of owning your own lifting equipment is that your employees only have to learn one system and can become highly skilled and proficient in it. When you rent lifting equipment, you may receive various makes and models each time you rent, or even in a single rental. There is a learning curve each time employees have to learn how to use new equipment, and that creates a small but noticeable amount of friction that can be a drag on your business. When you own your own equipment, employees learn once and then grow their knowledge over the time, allowing efficiencies to accumulate.

Conclusion

Renting lifting equipment might seem like a short-term way to avoid shelling out big buck up front, but over time, the costs will gradually start to outweigh the benefits.

When you think long-term, the benefits of owning your own lift equipment start to seem increasingly clear. If you expect your company to grow and scale over time, owning from the start is the smart choice.