So you've decided your business need a coffee machine - whether its for your staff or customers, we think you've made a great choice.
The next step is to figure out whether you should buy a coffee machine or lease it. This all depends on your budget (obviously), but there are a few other factors to consider which we are going to explore in this blog post.
Leasing a coffee machine - advantages and disadvantages
When you lease a coffee machine, you pay regular amounts throughout an agreed time period to use the machine as if it were yours – but it is not.
At Coffee Seller, you’ll be leasing for either 3 or 5 years – depending on your business’ trading history and credit score – and you will be offered a few options at the end. You can either change the ownership to yourselves, upgrade it or return it, whatever works best for you.
One main benefit of leasing a coffee machine is that you do not need to have the full amount ready to pay outright. The cost is split up into monthly payments and spread across the contracted time, making it much more affordable and monthly budget-friendly. Rather than spending up to £2,000 in one payment, you can pay as little as £3 a day for your coffee machine!
Despite it being cheaper payments, in the long-term it works out more expensive. This is a disadvantage of leasing a coffee machine. Due to extra fees the leasing company charges to work with them, and interest set by them, at the end of the contract you will have paid more for the machine than you would have if you’d have purchased it outright.
Another advantage if you lease a coffee machine for your business, is the extra benefits you get due to being in a contract with the coffee machine company. At Coffee Seller, a service agreement is available if you stick to the contract. Ingredients and stock customers will receive an engineer free of charge for any manufacturing faults. This is a huge benefit to leasing as it can save you huge costs during the years for any faults that are not your own.
Something to consider if you are a new starting business, if you have not been trading for a minimum 12-24 months, some leasing companies may decline your lease application. This is simply to ensure the leasing companies are covered in terms of getting the money paid – unfortunately a lot of the time there is no way around this. This may be the deciding factor on whether you can lease or purchase a coffee machine for your business.
Buying a coffee machine - advantages and disadvantages
If you purchase a coffee machine you simply pay the full amount in one payment for the ownership of the machine. There are no monthly fees and the machine is completely owned by you.
The main benefit of buying a coffee machine outright is that you own it so you can keep it for as long as you want without any extra fees. You can move it between businesses or locations if you need, without additional paperwork being signed or sell it if you no longer need it!
You also do not need to go through finance checks by leasing companies and there are no contractual obligations you need to stick to in order to keep your coffee machine. The process is usually a lot quicker, from inquiry to installation so if you have the money ready to spend and need a coffee machine as soon as possible, this may be the best option for you.
One downside to purchasing a coffee machine is that there is usually no service contract agreement. This means you will have to pay for every engineer call out, whether it’s a manufacturing fault or user error which can quickly add up and become expensive. A lot of coffee machines have a 1-year warranty which will cover manufacturing faults so this is something to look out for when choosing your business’ coffee machine.
Conclusion
So, after reading of some benefits and disadvantages to both leasing and buying a coffee machine – what are you going to do?
The best way to help you decide is by considering:
- Your budget – can you spend the full price in one lump sum?
- Contract benefits – do you want to have a service agreement?
- Length of ownership – do you want a coffee machine for less than 3 years?
These questions should help you decide and help us advise you the best way we can!
Whether you are looking at an instant coffee machine, fresh milk bean to cup machine or a traditional espresso machine, you can lease or purchase them all. For extra support, advice or if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch and our coffee experts will be on hand to help!