Budgeting: Is your current finance deal the best for your fleet?

by Startacus Admin

Your business budget is important, it ensures you and your staff always have the means to fix problems, get your hands on the latest tools or software and ensures you can put together a fleet that works for you. 

This is why you must take a look at your current business fleet finance deal and ensure this works with your business’s budget in mind. Many people are paying more than they need to for their vehicle finance, ignoring the various extras some garages add-on – like many of us and our mobile phone contracts.

Your finance deal also means at the end of it all you could be left with a vehicle that has depreciated in value and a large final fee to pay to secure the ownership of it. Once you sell this vehicle on, you will have paid more than perhaps it was worth and not received anything back for your troubles.

A finance deal is good for your business credit, but if it is a struggle to make the repayments over time then it’s important you take a look at other options. If your deal isn’t compatible with your monthly budgets, then you need to either work on securing a modified deal or find a way out of the deal once the term is up.

So what are your other options?

Finance deals aren’t flexible when it comes to prices but refrain from opting to purchase your commercial vehicles just yet. Leasing might be a much more financially viable option and one that can save you money in the long run, while allowing you to get your hands on a brand new van at the same time.

The likes of LeaseVan offer a whole range of high-quality vans with packages tailored to your requirements. You simply drive the van for 2-4 years then hand it back once the lease is up. The ownership is never passed over to you, so there are no costly charges at the end and you have the luxury of handing back your van at the end of your lease and either walking away or taking on a new lease vehicle. It’s a preferable option to selling your old van or making a large end of contract payment.

You could start out leasing a smaller model but after two years your business has expanded and may now require a transit! Leasing allows you to make the move to a bigger vehicle, once your current leasing period is up, without any costly settlement fees to contend with. 

Alternatively, hiring vehicles is another option if your employees don’t need to leave the office every day to see clients or attend jobs. Some services will drop vehicles off when they are needed and then pick them up later, this means you can have a constant circulation of new cars and vans to attend important meetings and events in. It’s ideal when your business practices a policy that doesn’t allow people to drive their own cars for work purposes.

Take another look at your commercial vehicle finance deal, weigh up the costs and if you feel like another solution may improve how your budget looks then ensure you make the move to something more financially beneficial. 

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• #business
• #finance
• #fleet

Published on: 8th November 2016