Where Do You Need Forklifts?
It is usually the job of the owner or equipment manager of a company to determine whether it is more financially feasible to rent or buy a brand new piece of equipment, such as a forklift. In many cases, a lot of owners and equipment managers simply default to buying a brand new piece of equipment, without giving any concern to the financial feasibility of such an investment. It is far more prudent to do some research into the topic to see whether it would be better to buy or rent a forklift. If buying is the only option, then there are ways to mitigate the financial impact it could have on the company as a whole. Here we take a look at some of the more pertinent topics associated with purchasing or renting a forklift.
Sometimes, there is no option but to buy a forklift. When this is the only option presented to you, then you have to consider that buying can be categorized into brand new forklifts and used forklifts. Now, when we consider brand new forklifts, it is prudent to estimate the kind of benefits you're going to get against the cost of maintenance and repairs. Far too often, purchasers simply look at the use that they can get out of a forklift instead of the maintenance costs, writing them off as small liabilities. In the case of a brand new piece of equipment, maintenance costs might rival that of purchase if the unit is not of a respectable brand, or if it requires a constant amount of maintenance throughout its lifetime. On the other hand, a used forklift could save your company thousands in purchasing costs, but maintenance costs could eat into the profits that would be saved from buying a brand new model (which would have much less in terms of maintenance fees). On average, a used forklift could range from $1,000 to upwards of $16,000, with yearly maintenance costs varying between $450 and $2,600 per year. Considering that a brand new forklift would cost between $20,000 to $35,000 with an average maintenance cost of less than $500 per year, you can see that depending on the usage that the forklift would go through, it would impact the decision as to whether a brand new or a used forklift would be a better business investment.
Buying a used forklift can be a headache, and in some cases, if you're not careful you can find yourself intimidated and end up making the wrong decision. Here are four tips to keep in mind when looking to purchase a used forklift.
A forklift is a unique and irreplaceable piece of hardware. Where there may be a few other pieces of equipment that can fill in to do other duties, a forklift is usually the only type of equipment that can do the things it is designed to do. This simple reason makes it indispensable for any business requiring its usage. It's because of this unique situation that buying a forklift could affect a company's financial situation massively, as brand new forklift costs can run into the tens of thousands. Alternatively, buying a used forklift might be the way to go. Benefits from buying a used forklift include:
There are times when renting is a better option to buying. This may occur when a company only uses a piece of equipment such as a forklift sparingly and without an everyday need for the equipment. In such cases, renting is by far a better solution to the problem, since renting a forklift hourly comes up to a much lower long term cost than buying and maintaining a forklift. Some owners opt for buying a forklift to keep for business use but also allow for it to be rented to other businesses in the short term to offset maintenance costs. This is also a viable alternative.
There are a lot of new options for forklifts on the market today and as the field becomes more saturated, affordability becomes a major issue. Many companies are now offering forklift leasing. These options include paying a down payment of up to 30% on the equipment and monthly rental thereafter until the equipment is completely paid off, to simply taking the equipment out on monthly installments without a down payment (but installments in this case are markedly higher). The upside is that it allows smaller companies to afford a brand new piece of equipment; however the overall cost is usually much more.