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The Benefits of True In-House Leasing with Advance
Posted On January 19, 2012 By Scott Guercio
There are many things that make Advance – The Document Specialists the ideal choice for your organization’s document workflow solutions. One of which is our own in-house leasing option. We are one of a very few, if not the only dealer in the region, to offer true in-house leasing. Other companies in this industry claim to offer their own leasing by adding their company name to a third party leasing document. However, it is certainly not the same. At Advance, all of our in-house leases are handled 100% by Advance at our corporate headquarters in Cockeysville, MD.
Advance entered the leasing business as a value added service for our clients, to avoid the pitfalls associated with outside leasing companies. We didn’t want a third party leasing firm damaging our treasured partnership with our clients. Moreover, by providing our own leasing, we can offer our customers an unmatched level of flexibility. As their businesses change and evolve, we can adapt our agreements, to make sure that our solutions are the proper fit. Also, by handling the leasing ourselves, we give our clients one point of contact for everything involved with our solutions, as well as, the accounting convenience of a single invoice. And at the end of the lease term, we can pick up the equipment for free!
Some things to consider before you sign that 3rd party lease:
-Don’t get stuck in the middle. Leasing is their core business and their sole source of income. They don’t care if you lease a truck, crane, x-ray machine or a document management system. The only thing they care about is their timely lease payment. So what does that mean to you if a problem should arise? Who takes ownership of the resolution? Is it the company that sold you the system, or is it the leasing company? Will they work well together or will they point fingers?
-Watch out for weird terms. We have seen leasing companies using 63 and 72 month terms to make their monthly payment appear lower.
-We have been told that getting information from a 3rd party leasing company is “like pulling teeth!” The leasing companies sometimes don’t even respond to you, and you are the one paying them every month. They may require that the dealer who sold you the system be the intermediary that they communicate through. Well that’s certainly not ideal if you are having issues with the dealer, or if you want information in a timely manner.
-Be careful of high late fees. We heard from a company that their leasing firm was slow to mail their invoices, creating a turnaround time of only two weeks to remit payment, something that wasn’t feasible for this organization who cut their checks once a month. As a result, they were being billed late fees that nearly equaled their monthly payment!
-You may need to have some high powered glasses to read the fine print, and a really good memory. Certainly, all leasing companies require that you notify them in writing that you do not wish to renew the lease at the end of the agreement. However, we have seen some interesting 3rd party lease terms and conditions state that you cannot notify them sooner than 120 days, nor later than 90 days, prior to the lease expiration. And if you don’t hit their 30 day sweet spot, you most likely have now agreed to continue your lease for another full term.
-When you evaluate prices, don’t forget to add hundreds of dollars for the expense of shipping your 3rd party leased machine to wherever the leasing company tells you at the end of the term. And you better insure it, because if it doesn’t arrive in the condition that the leasing company expects, hello more fees.