Did you know that the trucking industry in the United States is worth over $273 billion?
Even in a digital world, products need to get to where they have to go. That is where a trucking company comes in because they can deliver the necessary products and materials for businesses.
You may recognize this about the industry and want to invest in trucking yourself. However, if you want to buy up a bunch of trucks for your company, that can get expensive.
This is where lease-to-own programs can help you.
What is this? What are the biggest benefits of this program for your future company?
This is your trucking guide.
What Is a Lease to Own Program?
Before we go further into trucking companies, you have to understand what a lease-to-own program is. Think of this as similar to trying to buy a car.
You are in a position where you think you like the car, but do not know if you want to sign up for over a dozen years of commitment from one model when something better may come out in a couple of years.
This is where a lease-to-own program comes in. This will allow you to have the vehicle for a shorter period of time before you can give it back to the dealership. However, the main catch is that you still have the right to own the vehicle if you do end up falling in love with the vehicle.
Let’s say that you have a semi-truck that you want to buy for about $120,000. As the owner of a company, you are going to likely need several of these.
Say you end up needing five of them. That is asking you to come up with $600,000 just for the semi trucks to start your business. With a lease-to-own program, you will only have to pay a fraction of that cost upfront.
Needing Less Money Upfront
As you can see from the above, if you decide to go this route, you will need less money upfront to start your business. When you are not seeing any profits yet and merely have a vision, this can be a big advantage.
The reason is that in this arrangement, you are essentially just paying a down payment on the semi-trucks if you do have every intention of owning them by the time your lease period is over.
The best part is that if you do not end up like the terms of this deal, you do have the option to give it back to whoever leased it to you at the end of the lease period.
Flexibility
This leads us to the next pro of this type of arrangement. When you are just starting a business, you always want to keep your options open.
A lease-to-own program can do that because it gives you more flexibility with not only business strategy but what you do with the capital that you have.
You can use the money that you save in the beginning on trucks to put towards other aspects of your business, such as marketing. Or, you could decide near the end of your lease agreement that you need to go another direction with your trucks and change things up.
Having a lease-to-own agreement gives you these flexible options to change things down the road. If you decide to buy multiple trucks outright in the beginning, you may not leave yourself any room to adapt later.
Newer Trucks and Equipment
When you are leasing any type of vehicle, it implies that you are getting the newest and latest edition of that vehicle. Well, the same holds true for trucks, because this type of deal makes it affordable for businesses to get their hands on those right away.
Having new trucks can do a few things for a business. Potential customers who know their trucks can see that your business is investing in the best that there is to offer in that industry. They can see that you care and that you are a reputable business by doing this.
Another thing that this can do for you is to improve the safety of the vehicles. When it comes to newer vehicles, there is far less of a chance of there being routine maintenance issues to deal with in the middle of deliveries.
Trucks that are stuck on the side of the road are losing money on potential deliveries, and your business is going to want to mitigate that risk by any means necessary. New trucks and equipment keep that risk down because there should be a longer lifespan.
However, just be aware of what make and model you are buying when it comes to this. While newer trucks decrease your chances of this happening, that does not hold true if there proves to be a fault with the make or model.
Do your due diligence on this matter.
Own a Trucking Company
These are the biggest things that you need to know about lease-to-own programs if you want to start a trucking company.
The biggest thing to keep in mind is how much money this can save you in upfront costs. After that, think about the flexible options you will have to run your business along with the reliable reputation that you can gain.
Do you want to know more about owning a trucking company? Message us today with your questions.
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