Equipment Leasing - Your Path To New LED Signs Without Using Your Own Money

This is where equipment leasing shines. Let me explain what equipment leasing is for those who might not know.

Equipment leasing is another financing option wherein a vendor sells equipment to a lease company and you in turn lease the equipment from the leasing company. Ususally it is a 3-5 year lease term with a $1 buy-out at the end of the lease. There are alternatives such as a 10% buy-out but this is less common when dealing with signage.

There is nothing fancy or scary about equipment leases, they are very straight forward.

There are many advatages but I will hit on the top 5 advantages:

1. Using an IRS Section 179 deduction, you can write off the entire cost of the LED Signs lease in the first year - remember though IRS regulations can be tricky, check with your tax/financial advisor to make sure this applies to you. I am not a tax code expert.
2. Usually you only need to pay the first and last payment up front. This allows you to leverage your available funds to purchase a larger and more effective sign.
3. This is related to the 2nd advantage - you do not tie up you working capital or credit so, in an emergency you will still have your cash or line of credit available to you.
4. Leases are unsecured meaning you will not have to put up the deed to your house to qualify.
5. Leases are safe. The vendor you purchase from will not be able to get paid until you tell the lease company the contract has been fulfilled. This keeps honest companied honest and scares aware the dishonest ones.

There is one thing you should definately watch out for: sign companies who add points to a lease. This allows them to sell you the equipment at a lower price knowing they will make additional profit on the lease.

This is a problem because it prevents you from being able to make an informed decision on who is providing you with the best value for your dollar.

The LED Sign company certainly has a right to a profit, but it should be in the LED Signs themselves, not hidden in the lease.

Make sure you ask if they are charging points on your lease. 

Here are a few helpful links. Just so you know, I mark any of the links as going to a commercial site if that is the case, I want you to be able to decide if you want to visit the commercial sites.

• Equipment Leasing on Wikipedia
• LED Sign Central - A Blog About LED Signs 
• iCatch Displays - A Commercial Retailer of LED Signs & LED Displays