Leasing a photocopier
Most businesses lease their photocopiers and office multifunction printers instead of buying them outright. There are a number of good reasons for leasing.
Leasing a photocopier is one way for you to avoid the initial capital outlay required for outright purchase.
Whilst the overall outlay is slightly more with a photocopier lease as opposed to a straightforward purchase there are sound reasons to consider it as a method of finance for office equipment such as an office printer or copier machine.
Leasing is a well-established and tax efficient form of finance, enabling cost-effective trade-up access to the very latest technology at the right time.
Are you asking yourself this question?
“I’ve never leased a photocopier before. Which one should I order?”
Intuity Technologies are a leading photocopier leasing company in Ireland. Call us on 0818 987 900 and a member of our team will help you find the right solution for your needs. You can also email us at hello@intuity.ie and we will schedule an appointment for you with one of our Account Managers.
The Account Manager will conduct a survey of your office. They will assess your current office photocopying needs, as well as any future workload requirements (new staffing, change of operations, etc.) that may have an impact on your photocopying needs.
The latest photocopiers are multifunctional, giving you the added capability to print or fax documents from the desktop.
Your account manager will take all of these factors into consideration and will recommend the appropriate photocopier that is right-sized for your office needs.
Three major advantages of leasing a photocopier machine:
- There is no capital outlay.
- You pay for the office printer equipment as you use it.
- You can keep up to date with changing office printer technology.
Many businesses earn revenue over time – to pay as you use makes sense.
Why pay out in one lump sum when with leasing you can make small fixed manageable payments?
It equates to pay as you use.
Payments made throughout a lease arrangement are unaffected by changes in interest rates; you can therefore accurately plan for lease payments in advance.
As cash flow can be forecast, cost of use can be compared with projected revenue and profits generated by the use of the photocopier / printer.
Leasing can reduce your overall tax bill, as the cost is deductible as a business expense reducing the net cost of leasing the equipment. This factor will help determine whether to rent or lease, rather than buy.
If you buy you will be able to claim a percentage of the photocopier / printer purchase price against tax in the first year and thereafter claim a percentage of the outstanding balance.
If you lease you do not have to pay the cost of the photocopier or printer immediately and you may reclaim everything you pay out on a ‘by payment’ basis – monthly, quarterly or annually.
It is well accepted that a photocopier or printer is not a business asset that appreciates.
Information technology (IT) depreciates faster than the vast majority of purchased assets.
So save purchases for assets that either appreciate or depreciate less.
Leasing gives more freedom for up to date office equipment, important with printers and copiers, to be installed as required, less affected by budget restraints.
Photocopier and printer leasing improves cash flow and creates a hedge against inflation, depreciation and obsolescence.
Importantly, it allows you to take advantage of technology improvement at a time of your choosing and at a reasonable cost.
By contrast, a business that owns its office equipment can only upgrade by reinvesting and disposing of the existing asset.
A photocopier lease with Intuity Technologies will include provisions to trade up to a newer model or, when necessary, to one that accommodates the higher volume, speed and features your business requires at the right time, giving you freedom to upgrade without buying new.
Options Include:
- Lease Periods from 2 to 5 years
- Deferred Payments
- Ownership Option at the end
You can choose the option that makes for the most comfortable leasing arrangement, normally up to 5 years, giving immediate access to the photocopier / printer equipment you need, the necessary speed, and the right multifunctional technology, via payments your business can handle and without the large deposit normally associated with outright purchase.
Let the new office printer provide you with a return … the reason for a new photocopier office multifunction printer is to increase productivity; with leasing you are in the position to use the cost saving and increased production return on investment(ROI) to make the periodic payments.
Tips for a Photocopier Lease
Test drive it: When deciding between two or three copier models, please feel free to ask us for a demonstration of how the machines work.
If it is more a case of needing to be certain about colour print quality ask an Intuity Technologies sales representative to forward you copies or prints of your own document files ensuring satisfaction in advance.
When not to: If you expect to make fewer than 700 copies a month, you probably do not need to lease a “business” copier.
You would be better off purchasing a smaller desktop copier or multifunctional laser printer that would cost much less overall – unless you want the advanced features of a business photocopier or printer.
Why should you choose photocopier leasing?
Title to the goods remains with the finance provider, which means the equipment does not show on your company balance sheet and therefore not applicable to the expected value depreciation over a fixed period.
This of course gives you the advantage of staying in touch with the latest technology by changing your equipment towards the end of your lease.
Photocopier Leasing is the most popular choice for small businesses that need a mid-to-high volume photocopier or printer just as a large multi-national organization prefers to keep a tighter control on their finances and enjoy the tax efficiency and upgrade opportunities of a lease agreement over purchasing.
Why lease a photocopier rather than purchase?
The cash flow and tax relief benefits of leasing provide a very strong case against cash purchase.
If you buy equipment outright the capital invested becomes, in effect, tied up in a depreciating asset.
Photocopier Leasing on the other hand allows you to save resources for other purposes or opportunities.
To be sure of the right decision for your business specifically, speak to your accountant who can advise upon what is best for your company financially.
How does copier lease work in practise?
Leasing is a contract between a finance company and a customer, giving the customer use of the equipment on payments of rentals over a period. When you lease equipment you make a series of regular (usually tri-monthly) payments, instead of a large capital outlay.
With a Photocopier Lease can I upgrade in the future if my requirements change?
Yes! But beware many suppliers will lie and tell you that this is free of charge.
This is not true.
Any outstanding payments will be added to your new lease.
This will make the second printer a higher cost than if you hadn’t upgraded.
On the other hand, your running costs may be a lot lower!
Is Photocopier Service included in the Copier Lease?
No! A charge for copies may be made and added to the lease cost but leases usually have a disclaimer that the Photocopier Service is separate to the Photocopier lease and if the photocopier service given is not satisfactory it will not affect the lease cost apportioned to the photocopier.
In the eighties photocopiers were sold through a system called “CopyPlan”.
CopyPlan like Timeshare may have been initially a reasonable idea but hard sales tactics resulted in massive overcharging within the industry.
The reason was simple, it was confusing and misleading.
What CopyPlan did was effectively tie the customer to a high charge per copy that bundled the price of the machine, service and occasionally paper as well.
It left many companies overpaying by thousands of pounds per year for their copiers and gave them little protection for bad service or in some cases no service at all.
Photocopiers under CopyPlan were poorly maintained as the copier company had no incentive to provide good customer support and consumers ended up paying for thousands of unused copies each month.
Why do some companies offer lower lease rates for the same photocopier cost?
If the photocopier cost is similar and the lease cost is very different this will be for one of two reasons
- A reduced lease rate has been offered for a larger initial payment being made [typically 2 quarters required for the first payment] or;
- An additional Quarter is charged i.e. there are 12 quarters in a 3 year lease. Normal charges are 1 payment followed by the remaining 11 quarters. You may be asked to pay 1 quarter followed by a further 12 [not 11] payments.
Beware the Long Lease.
The price looks good for the monthly lease – the only problem is when you are asked to sign, the lease suddenly becomes a 7 or 9 year lease.
No new photocopier should ever be sold on more than a 5 year lease and used photocopiers should only be sold on a 3 year lease.
As a customer you should always be left with a copy of the lease and you must ensure that the lease term is written in front of you.
Our advice is to check exactly how many payments you are going to have to pay.
What features do I want with my photocopier?
The most common photocopier options are document feeder, finisher, scan, print, fax, and duplexing (automatic double-sided printing). Depending on the photocopier some of these options will come standard.
Other options will increase your monthly lease cost. Please note that most of the photocopiers come standard with scan, fax, and print capability.
We are hiring some new employees. How can I figure out how many more photocopies a month we will be running?
Check out a few of your monthly invoices.
Suppose you currently run 5,000 copies a month and have 20 employees.
Divide the number of monthly copies by the number of current employees (5,000 (20 = 250).
This gives you an estimated number of copies each employee runs in one month.
Now, combine the number of current employees with new employees (20 + 5 = 25).
Multiply the estimated copies per person times the total number of employees (250 x 25 = 6,250).
So, you can estimate that 25 employees will be running about 6,250 copies per month if there are no major changes in your copier demands.
What photocopiers are the most dependable? What vendor provides the best service when my copier breaks down?
Canon office multifunction printers are among the best the industry has to offer.
We constantly monitor service calls to ensure that our service technicians continue to provide high quality service to our customers.
We stand behind our office printers and encourage you to call us if you have problems.
Our goal is to provide excellent customer service that helps your business.