Thinking of investing in cleaning equipment? Tom Harrison, Sales Director at Harrison Hire and Sales gives an insight in what you need to know.
Opertors know the importance of keeping their fleet clean. If you have a truck or bus covered in graphics to promote your business, then keeping them dirt free ensures maximum exposure on the road and passengers of PSV’s expect to board a clean coach. Cleanliness promotes a culture of professionalism and reflects on the care that the operator takes in their load or passengers.
What is the cost for maintaining high standards? Paying to visit a truck or bus wash facility soon adds up. Manually washing your vehicles is time consuming, as labour costs are continually rising, it is worthwhile looking at the time you might save on wages by investing in your own automated equipment.
Harrison Hire and Sales is an industrial cleaning equipment specialist, with over 50 years’ experience in providing independent advice on solutions for cleaning problems. The company is the UK distributor for the Iteco Brush Wash System, a simple to use system, available in battery or diesel options, which can clean a commercial vehicle in less than 10 minutes. This represents a massive time saving over cleaning using a pressure washer, or a brush and hosepipe. Available in heights up to 4.9m; the Iteco makes easy work of even the tallest vehicles. Its large on-board water tank and independent power supply means that there are no trailing cables or flexes which improves manoeuvrability.
Lease hire
When you’ve decided on the equipment that best suits your needs, the next consideration is how to pay for it. The majority of our larger fleet customers (who pay corporation tax) that use this type of machinery have opted for lease hire, as it is the most tax efficient method of acquiring cleaning equipment. If you are a profitable business then you can claim tax relief at 19% on the entire payments made over the term of your agreement. Sole traders and partnerships can also claim tax relief, but should take their accountant’s advice on what rates these will be. As well as being tax efficient, leasing offers improved cash flow with no requirement to part with a lump sum of cash. Therefore, the VAT is also spread into instalments and existing credit lines are not unnecessarily tied up. Unlike outright or hire purchase, lease hire is very tax efficient as the machinery doesn’t appear on the balance sheet as an asset.
When you take out an agreement, check what is and isn’t included. Our typical lease hire agreement for a brush wash is between three and five years, which includes regular services to ensure the equipment is reliable and works well. We also include a warranty for the full period to avoid unexpected and expensive repair bills.
For customers who prefer to buy, we do offer lease purchase options with or without maintenance included. Whilst some organisations do offer purchase options at the end of lease hire agreements, most of our customers prefer to update their equipment, in order to ensure continued reliability and to keep their equipment up to date.
