Part of me would rather not do this, because it feels like a downer. Pointing out what businesses are not financing new or used equipment feels like it’s picking on them. But then I rationalize it’s more or less the natural order of things – new technologies become available, springing up new businesses, and that sometimes leaves certain industries stagnant.

The good news is, many of these stagnant industries will adapt to new realities, and perhaps utilize strengths they never thought they had. And others will cease to exist as their owners move on.    

Let me start this off with some good news that emphasizes the “new realities” statement. For a few years in doing these posts, “brick and mortar retailing” made my “not hot” list. And looking through the 2010-2017 or so lens, it was easy to see why – online retailers were kicking the stuffing out of their brick and mortar cousins. And indeed, many retailers could not adapt, and went away.

But then something happened. Some retailers started to use their physical presence in interesting ways. Like the explosion of “buy it online and pick it up at the store”. This offered consumers the ease of “add to cart” buying online, and the convenience of not waiting for delivery – they could place an order online during their lunch hour, and pick it up on the way home from work.  

So while the industry is still in flux and nowhere near what it was, brick and mortar retail has dropped off the “not” list. That’s always welcome news.

The two industries that are still on the list, however, are Printing and Telecom. Both continue to be affected by newer technologies that make their traditional offerings less appealing. When you can design your business card and other marketing collateral yourself online, and have them delivered in a few days, it makes going to the printer less appealing. And with many newer companies having a more spread-out, virtual workforce, it’s easy to see why traditional telecom is not as popular as it was.

That all stated, I have high hopes. For the printers and telecoms (etc.) that are still around, they are likely doing everything they can to innovate and move forward. And that’s a great thing.

I get asked “does Crest Capital offer private party equipment financing?” or similar all the time. The answer to that question is “yes”, which makes our customers happy, because there aren’t too many equipment financing companies who offer private party financing (aka User-to-User financing).

I’m going to devote a few posts to the topic of financing equipment from private party sellers, because for something that seems so simple, it’s actually a very complex and interesting subject.

To start, let’s define what private party equipment financing is:

Essentially, private party equipment financing is our customers buying equipment (usually used / preowned equipment) from a private party seller, and not an established dealer. This private party can be almost anyone who isn’t an official dealer. Another small business selling you their used truck is a private party seller. A local auto repair shop going out of business and liquidating their equipment is a private party seller. Someone offering a used backhoe on Craigslist is a private party seller. And so on.

While financing private party equipment purchases is very popular, it also carries several layers of risk that aren’t readily apparent to buyers. For example, an old lien can really throw a wrench (or worse) into the deal. Or the fact the equipment could be stolen. Or perhaps the seller isn’t completely forthright, and the equipment isn’t what you think it is.

Over a few posts, I’m going to go over some of the extra work involved with private party deals, and also highlight some of the perils of such (there are some real horror stories out there where buyers really took it on the chin). I want to do this because sometimes buyers don’t quite understand the legwork involved, and the lengths we go through to try to help protect all involved (us, our customer, etc.), but ultimately the buyer (not us) is solely responsible and at risk – caveat emptor, buyer beware.

But yes, private party equipment financing is something we consider on a limited case-by-case basis, even though it involves another hoop or three to jump through. Stay tuned.

Of course, higher fuel prices mean everything else will be going up in price, which should shock nobody, since we’ve been hearing of a recession for quite some time.

If you recall, a few months ago, I posted about financing equipment during a recession, and how businesses that expand during hard times actually have a better chance at surviving. However, when I mention this to people, I sometimes hear statements like “but Fletch, if times get hard, I can’t afford to finance new equipment.”

To that, I have a simple solution that many might not be aware of: finance used equipment. Unknown to most businesses, some (but not all) equipment finance companies will happily finance used equipment. In fact, I’ll go as far to say that used equipment financing is a large part of my business here.

It actually surprises me that more companies don’t know that used equipment financing is an option that is available to them. Oh sure, we all know thereâ€s a market for used vehicles, and even the bank will happily finance those. But there’s also a market for used printing presses, used welders, used office furniture, used industrial shelving; the list goes on and on. In fact, just throw the word ‘used’ in front of any piece of finance-able equipment, and you likely have a great money-saving option. And many equipment financing companies will happily finance this used equipment.

However, I do want to mention that financing used equipment isn’t something all equipment financing companies participate in (mine does, as do some others, but it’s a bit more work on our end, so some shy away from it.) There are also a few things you may want to keep in mind when financing used equipment, which I’ll go over in a future post. But for now, just understand that used equipment financing is definitely an attractive option in today’s economic climate, and something you may want to look into to help save a few dollars.