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  Anthony Toop February 12, 2010 at 4:50pm

  This would be great, especially for those just starting out, as it would be an ideal way to buy new, guaranteed, professional kit without seriously depleting the start up fund.
  
  £300 quid second hand or £700 new, guarantee etc, 0% finance..... its a no brainer, shame its not available!
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  Lawncare-4u.co.uk February 12, 2010 at 5:28pm

  good post.
  
  ive seen the ads to on mow-master? lawn ride-ons , cars etc etc.
  
  i think it will catch on here eventually if they want sales . and agree it would help us to finance ourselves.
  
  rob
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  Gary RK February 12, 2010 at 6:07pm

  Ah, but what about cashflow....
  
  If I were buying a digger for £12k, I rather just put down £1200 and keep the rest as cash at bank to give me working capital.
  
  Given the interest would be 0% I could put the balance into a interest bearing account and earn some money.
  
  Utlimately it depends how much you feel you can get off by negotiating
  
  Also, I would then have immediate access to cash if any other problems occur or bad weather stopped work or........
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  Gary RK February 12, 2010 at 6:14pm

  You must be 'cash-rich' - lol ;-)
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  Robert Smale February 13, 2010 at 4:01pm

  Given that the major banks we bailed out are in the doo doos for not lending enough money I suspect we will see some discounted finance deals as we run up to the election.....call me cynical?
  
  Truth is all these deals are paid for by someone and the reality is you can usually get the best deal by buying outright. However if you don't have the funds this is an obvious route to reliable kit. Just make sure you don't buy for the sake of it!
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  Gary RK February 14, 2010 at 1:01pm

  It's interesting to note that dealers often get financial incentives to sell stuff on finance agreements rather than cash.
  
  I can tell you that is absolutely true in the motor dealers and is filtering out to other areas where finance is available.
  
  In these cases dealer often do not offer the best price for cash, preferring to get the kick-back, sorry commision from the finance house. Having just bought equipment recently I've seen it in action. As well we did get some discount and an 'optional extra' thrown in (so its possible to have your cake and eat it.....)
  
  So with zero or low rate interest deals, the total cost of ownership can be lower via the finance route.
  
  So the 'balance' (ie 12,000 - 1200 = 10800 ) in my example above is sitting in MY account gaining 'some' interest' and it's not cost me anything for finance, ie at least revenue neutral.
  
  If something else fails or goes wrong I have working capital to use to solve/help it..
  
  In the meantime I have simple montly payments that help our cashflow.
  
  I'm not saying it's right for everyone or every situation, but be aware of it - all is not as it seems ;-)
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  Gary RK February 14, 2010 at 1:41pm

  Only if you can't afford it and default on payment, which is what happened to the US housing market.
  
  People took out sub-prime loans they couldn't afford and the house of card came tumbling down
  
  Hence the last sentance on my last post.
  
  We needed equipment, I did a business plan for it, spent time with my accountant who guided me and checked my figures etc and gave me his 'blessings'
  
  Clearly if you don't know whether you can afford someting or not - DON'T BUY IT until you know you can.