Forklifts: Rent or Buy?

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages on deciding to rent or buy equipment. Whether you will be needing to use the equipment short-term or long-term, there are many options to consider depending on your needs. This guide should help you decide whether you should rent, lease, or buy equipment.

 

Renting

The best advantages to renting equipment is low up-front costs and flexibility. If there is an uptick in demand, renting provides the flexibility to have a fast turn-around during production. Renting more equipment during high demand could potentially improve productivity with workers, thus providing a quicker turn-around and happier customers. Flexibility with renting provides the option of short-term or long-term use. Renting is usually costlier in the long run, but the benefits could potentially outweigh those expenses incurred.

 

Leasing

Leasing is very similar to actually owning the equipment without the hassle of maintaining the equipment or incurring extra repair costs. Leasing gives you access to the most up-to-date and top of the line equipment. If you anticipate the value of your equipment will decrease over time, leasing would be a great option. Disadvantages to leasing include interest charges, which would likely make the final cost more than what you could have paid for the equipment with cash up front. You are also obligated to pay for this equipment for a certain time frame, which could be a problem, for example, if your lease was for 12 months and operations ended at 9 months.

 

Buying

If you plan on using the forklift over a long period of time, such as over 10 years, and anticipate little maintenance costs, this may be the best option. Most likely, little maintenance costs are due to using the equipment infrequently, as the more you use the equipment, the more likely maintenance issues and other costs will arise. The biggest disadvantage to owning equipment is the high up-front cost of the purchase. If you are the owner of your equipment, precautions must be made to make sure you meet all safety and maintenance requirements to prevent accidents in the workplace.

 

 

Whether you want to rent, lease, or buy equipment – there are several advantages and disadvantages to consider for each option. We hope this guide will steer you in the right direction based on your needs.

Thinking about renting? Adkins, Inc offers our customers the option to rent our forklifts. We provide daily rentals from our fleet of forklifts ranging from 5,000 lbs. to 60,000 lbs. for any size job. Adkins has on site forklifts from Hyster, Toyota, Caterpillar, Versa-Lift just to name a few. For pricing please fill out the Request Quote form.