If you are looking to lease a printer for your office, there are some things to consider. You may be worried the equipment may be too expensive or too cheap for your office. As an office equipment dealer, we aim to help companies find the best printer for their office.
By the end of this article, we will cover the basics of leasing a printer, and discuss other options as well so you can make an informed decision about leasing or buying a printer or copier.
Key 1 – What kind of printer do you need?
The first question is what type of printer do you need? There are single function (meaning only printing), or multifunction printers (meaning they can print or copy). Do you need to scan? If so, you need a multifunction printer. If not, and all you need to do is print (not copy), then a single function would be fine for you.
Key 2 – How long should the lease term be?
The first thing to think about with an equipment lease is the term you want. With copiers and printers, this is generally 5 years and an FMV lease. An FMV lease means you return the copier at the end of the lease.
We think the useful life of most printers is between 5 and 7 years. The less you want to deal with it breaking, it could shorten it a bit down to 4 or 5 years. The older the printer, the more it starts having mechanical issues.
Key 3 – Who should you lease from?
Remember, when you lease, you will be getting new equipment from a dealer you are going to have to work with for the next 5 years. Do they have good customer service? A fair monthly payment? A solid service agreement? Optional services like managed print or managed IT services?
The last thing you want is to work with a company where you don’t even like their team. Remember, a printer lease lasts a while, so why not work with someone you like working with.
Key 4 – How does supplies and printer service work?
If you are leasing a printer, then one of the keys should be, if this breaks, what happens? A good dealer with get you printing equipment with a full onsite service plan. What this means is you will get all of the parts and all of the service you need in order to be able to continuously print the documents for your office.
You can check with your accountant about the difference between an operating lease and a capital lease to decide what type of lease you should have for your company. In the copier world, we would call these a FMV lease and a $1 Out lease. With an FMV lease, you return the printer at the end of the term, with $1 Out, you keep the printer at the end of the term. There are good arguments which can be made for either kind of lease.
Key 5 – Read the fine print
One issue that happens, because printer companies work with banks and very tight margins, is the contract can have some items which wouldn’t favor you as a client.
A few we can think of are automatic 1 year renewals, coverage penalties (meaning if you use a lot of toner on prints, you have to pay more than the original amount), escalations (some is normal as it gets more expensive to service the printer, we would just suggest you compare amounts.) We have also seen people get charged if the copier or printer isn’t supporting automated meter collections. All of these charges along with admin charges like lease paperwork fees or automated insurance being added are items to ask questions about.
We would love to help you find the best lease option for your small business or medium sized or enterprise company. We work with companies of all sizes, from just 2 or 3 employees, to companies with thousands of employees. We will help you find a device with a great monthly payment which meets all the needs of your company.
Please give us a call or fill out a form if you are looking for a printer lease for a single function or multifunction printer. We will help line up a lease with a leasing company that gives you fair terms and we work with Xerox, Canon and HP to make sure you have the right equipment for your business.
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