Turning the investment in equipment into a fixed monthly rent is no longer a cash-flow question; it has become a question of fleet management. This guide explains how it works, what it costs, when it pays off, and when it does not.
It is a long-term rental contract in which the company pays a monthly rent for the use of IT equipment, over a term set at the outset, between 12 and 60 months. The equipment belongs to the funder; the company uses it and, at the end, returns it, renews it or offers to buy it.
Put like that, it sounds like just another way of paying in instalments. The difference that matters lies elsewhere: with renting, the renewal of the fleet is already contracted. When the contract ends, the company does not have to decide whether to invest again, only whether to renew on the same terms. It is the difference between a fleet that updates itself and a fleet that ages while waiting for a budget to be approved.
The rent is calculated by applying a rate factor to the value of the equipment. That factor depends on the term, the total value and the company's risk assessment. As an order of magnitude, at 36 months it is close to 3.4% of the value per month; at 60 months, close to 2.2%.
In practice, that means a €30,000 fleet costs roughly €1,000 a month over 36 months or €650 a month over 60 months. The calculator gives a narrower range, and the actual proposal follows once the funders have been consulted.
The number that matters is not the rent. It is the total paid over the contract compared with the purchase price, and that number is not always unfavourable. When the finance comes from the manufacturer's own financial arm, whose interest is in placing the brand rather than profiting from the finance, the proposal can come in below the outright purchase price. We explain why.
The least discussed and most valuable advantage: with a purchased fleet, renewing requires a fresh investment decision, and that is always the first one to be postponed when the budget gets tight. The result is a fleet that spends half its life below what would be acceptable.
Twelve months is rarely the choice for a stable fleet, because the rent is high. It is for things with an end in sight: a project team that is wound up at the end of the year, a seasonal boost, or equipment under evaluation before a bigger decision. In those cases, buying means tying up capital in machines that will be left over.
When the company has surplus cash with no alternative use earning more than the cost of finance, and when the equipment will genuinely last much longer than the contract term. A server the company intends to use for eight years is better bought than financed.
Nor does it pay off for tiny fleets: the minimum value of a proposal is €500 excluding VAT, and below that there is no application, nor in situations where the cost of finance is clearly higher than the company's cost of equity. When that is the case, we say so in the proposal.
Most problems with renting contracts are not in the rent; they are in the clauses nobody reads because they do not affect the first year.
We check these six points in every proposal we compare and set them out side by side. It is often here, and not in the rent, that the best proposal stands apart from the worst.
To give a sense of what we are talking about before you ask for anything. They are illustrative scenarios calculated with average market rate factors, not clients: they are the calculation anyone can redo.
Full renewal of the administrative fleet
Three years is the right cycle for an administrative fleet: at the end you return it and start a new contract with new machines, with no new investment decision.
Eight front-desk workstations and the infrastructure for the clinical software
Capital stays free for clinical equipment, which generates revenue. IT is infrastructure, and it gets financed.
Data centre renewal at a mid-sized company
Sixty months brings the IT cycle closer to the cycle of productive investment and avoids draining the company's capital all at once.
Figures exclude VAT and services, calculated with average market rate factors. They do not constitute a contractual offer. The corporate tax (IRC) saving assumes a 20% rate on total rents and should be confirmed with your certified accountant.
Most companies receive one renting offer, from the supplier that sold them the equipment. Without anything to compare it with, there is no way of knowing whether it is a good one.
A list of equipment, a supplier quote or just the number of workstations. If you are not sure yet, we design the solution with you.
One independent, one manufacturer, one infrastructure and one international. The same request, submitted to all four, with the credit assessment running in parallel.
Within 48 working hours: terms side by side, rent, total cost, implicit rate and what happens to the equipment at the end. No small print.
We handle the contract, the order, the preparation and the delivery. A single point of contact from start to finish.
The laptop is the equipment that ages fastest and the one that costs most to maintain after the third year.
Fixed workstations, all-in-ones and mini PCs are still the right choice for counters, receptions, laboratories and production lines.
Infrastructure is the IT investment with the highest ticket and the longest cycle.
It is the fastest-growing format and the one that best reflects the real cost of IT: instead of financing machines, you contract a cost per workstation per month that includes everything an employee needs to work.
Printing is the only IT equipment where the cost of consumables far exceeds the cost of the device.
The network is the investment nobody wants to make until the day it fails.
Equipping meeting rooms is a concentrated investment: it happens all at once, costs a lot, and the benefit is spread over years.
It is a long-term rental with a fixed term. What sets it apart from short-term hire is the commitment: a renting contract has a defined term, usually between 12 and 60 months, and cannot be ended midway without cost. In return, the rent is a fraction of what it would cost to hire month by month.
Not in an operating rental. The company pays for the use and the asset remains the property of the funder, which keeps the balance sheet lighter and avoids fixed assets. The accounting treatment depends on the reporting framework that applies to the entity and should be confirmed with your certified accountant.
You can, but at a cost: early termination usually means paying the outstanding rents, with or without a financial discount depending on the funder. That is why getting the size right at the start matters so much. A contract that is too large is more expensive to correct than one that is too small, which is solved with an addendum.
There are three usual options: return it and sign a new contract with new equipment, return it and finish, or offer to buy the equipment at market value.
Companies with at least three years of trading, filed accounts and no outstanding debts to the Tax Authority or Social Security. Below three years, the funders we work with do not open an application, and we would rather say so now than waste the time of someone who will not be able to go ahead. Registered credit incidents are not an automatic refusal, but they affect the term and the amount.
Usually not. The standard structure has no down payment, with the first rent falling due in the month after delivery. For higher risk profiles, a down payment or a deposit may be requested to make the deal viable.
Tell us what you need to equip. We consult the four funders and send back compared scenarios within 48 working hours, with no commitment.