Finance Pro's & Con Con Con's

Copiers are usually available to buy outright, lease or rent.

Renting

Rental is much like leasing, you pay a fixed charge every month for a copier and involves a minimum period of generally 3 to 5 years. A little publicised detail regarding rental of business machines is that early cancellation of an agreement means the total liability of the client for all outstanding payments. We do not see any great business logic in rental.

Leasing

Leasing is an inflation proof and tax friendly way of keeping your copier up to date. It offers guaranteed fixed payments and is the most flexible and affordable way of paying for your copier. The length of the lease on any copier should never be longer than 5 years, we ideally recommend 3 years. Arrange a separate service agreement.

We arrange very competitive leasing. Drop us a line or call us on 278 2222, we will talk to you about your requirements, make our recommendation and take a digital snap of that exact machine in our showrooms in Stillorgan! We’ll e-mail or post it to you that day and we will quote transparently clearly itemising capital costs and service / maintenance costs together with the finance options that suit YOU!

AT ALL COSTS AVOID a 'copy plan agreement' which combines capital and service costs, see below for the pitfalls……

Copy Plan Agreements

also known as your..

“PERSONALISED PARTNERSHIP PLAN”
“PAY AS YOU COPY PLAN”

or plain old ...

“DAYLIGHT ROBBERY PLAN”

Let the Buyer Beware! - Over the past few years, we’ve seen the most experienced of purchasers being caught off guard by these agreements. Copy plans amalgamate capital and service costs into a single agreement with payments calculated as a ‘single copy cost’, quoted in cent per copy. You pay this cost for a fixed minimum number of copies per month over the period of the contract and you must pay for these copies whether they are made or not! Make a strong mug of coffee, take 5 and read on...

Scary Stuff!!

These figures were presented to one of our representatives in Dublin on 23 September 2003 as a credible way to purchase a Photocopier!!!!

We were informed the RRP of a copier was €20,000. We were then informed that after 'discount' & 'trade in' this would be €10,000! (Incidentally the real market value we know to be €6,500). The 'PERSONALISED PARTNERSHIP PLAN' would involve a minimal copy charge and only as we use the machine - WOW!

	We were helped to equate our monthly copy volume at 40,000 copies per month
	We were helped to agree that 5 years was a logical time period for our 'PERSONALISED PARTNERSHIP PLAN'
	We were helped in respect that this would not represent a capital acquisition therefore we would not have to consult our financial controller.
	We were helped to loose sight of the actual capital cost - our contention of course is that a competitive price for this supposed "€10,000" machine is €6,500!!!!

Let's use the €10,000 as the notional cost, the 40,000 copies per month as the notional copy volume and the 5 year (63 months) term as a feasible term.

Lease €10,000 over 5 years (63 months)	€200 Month x 63 months
Service charge for 40,000 copies @ 0.85c per copy	€300 Month x 63 months
Total Costings	€500 Month x 63 Months

Therefore:	€500 x 40,000 Copies = 1.25c per copy

Looks Good, Eh? But that helpful salesperson forgot to mention.....

We have just been asked to sign a legally binding document for €31,500.00 plus VAT at 21%.

We have no opt our facility - In Irish law the rights of the consumer are clearly protected - not so in commercial business - we are supposed to have the good sense to read the document, get a calculator and add up what we are signing!!

Even more Disturbing!!!!!!

You MUST do exactly 40,000 copies EVERY single month - under this and you pay full cost for 40,000 anyway - over this and you pay 1.25c instead of the normal cost of no more than 0.85c - think of your cyclical business. May not seem a lot - but add it up over 63 Months…..

And the 'piece de resistance' - If you die, are locked up for robbing, taken by aliens, & other daft bit's, you pay this 1.25c for 63 months and then they take back the machine you paid €31,500 for!!!!!!

Now we really do not think this is the best way to blow €31,500, do you??

Remember our contention of course is that with help we have lost sight of the capital costs and that a competitive price for this supposed "€10,000" machine is €6,500!!!!

How about buying the same machine this way, the HONEST way?

Take €6,500 leased over

3 years, 39 monthly payments of €195 per month	Or	5 years, 63 monthly payments of €130
Total Repayment over 3 years: €7,605		Total Repayment over 5 Years: €8,190
Service Costs: Unlike we were led to believe, our volume would naturally be cyclical 40,000 Max per month Circa 12K Minimum (e.g. December, July, August)

The only logical way to pay for maintenance is per copy and make sure the toner is included. Pay per month only on actual readings - then you are only paying for what you actually get. Copy cost on this level of machine is generally 0.85c.

We factored the information we gave to our little friend and our standard computations indicate 312,000 copies p.a. compared to his 480,000!! So 312,000 copies @ 0.75c per copy = €2,340 service cost p.a.

Look how it compares.....

"HONEST"	vs.	"PERSONALISED ROBBERY PLAN"
For 5 years (63 Months) Service Costs €12,285 For 3 years (39 Month) Lease on machine €7,605		For cost per copy of 1.25c @ 40,000 copies per annum for 5 years (63 months)
TOTAL: €19,890		TOTAL: €31,500
You own the machine on the "Honest" Side		You own diddly squat with the "Robbery Plan"

Kopikat's policy is to facilitate the a good working relationship with all of our clients and live up to our promise of fair dealing, Integral to this is transparent fair pricing.

Drop us a line or call us on 278 2222, we will talk to you about your requirements, make our recommendation and take a digital snap of that exact machine in our Stillorgan Showrooms!

We will e-mail or post it to you that day and we will quote transparently clearly itemising capital costs and service / maintenance costs together with the finance options that suit YOU. We promise we are a nice bunch!