When acquiring equipment for your business, you may find that it makes sense to rent certain equipment rather than buying it. Below are some of the advantages to renting equipment instead of buying it.

You Need Access to Top Quality Equipment on a Budget

Top quality equipment can cost a lot of money upfront. If you’re on a tight budget, you may not have this money to spare. While you can always buy cheaper lower quality equipment, this may not be suitable if you need to meet certain demands and expectations.

Renting allows you to acquire top quality equipment without spending too much money upfront. It’s ideal for startups that don’t have much funding. An example could include renting top quality photography gear as a budding freelance photographer.

You Don’t Want To/Can’t Afford to Take Out a Loan

Borrowing money to buy expensive equipment is always an option, however this means getting into debt. If your credit score isn’t great, you may not want to take on extra debts. You may even find that you’re unable to get approved for a loan.

Renting doesn’t require taking on debts – it’s much easier to cut short a rental term than it is to wipe out a debt. You could also find that there are more options available if you have a low credit score.

You Only Need Equipment for a Temporary Period

There may be instances where you’re only likely to use a piece of equipment for a temporary period. It’s therefore not worth buying this equipment, as it could end up simply gathering dust after you’re done using it. Selling it could be an option, but by then it could be devalued.

Renting makes more sense with temporary large and expensive equipment. Things like crane hire and frac tank rental are often much more practical than buying these items of equipment – you won’t have the hassle of struggling to sell them or finding somewhere to store them when you no longer need them.

You Have No Need to Personalize Equipment

An advantage of buying equipment is that you have the freedom to personalize it such as adding permanent custom branding or making custom mechanical tweaks.

However, if you have no need to personalize equipment you may find that you’re better off renting. Not all equipment needs to be personalized and there’s no point paying extra for this freedom.

You’d Like to Be Able to Regularly Upgrade Equipment

When you buy equipment, you often want to keep onto it for as many years as you can in order to get good use out of it. This can sometimes mean putting up with outdated equipment.

When renting equipment, you can often get short lease terms, after which you may have the option to upgrade to new equipment. For example, when renting office PCs, you may have the option to take out two year leases, allowing you to upgrade your computers every two years. This allows you to constantly have access to modern technology.