Cutting the cost of key equipment for opticians

£250,000 Asset Funding - for less than the leading lender 

Equipping an optician’s consulting room is costly - and the costs are rising. 

“You can’t use a paper chart on the wall these days. You need a focimeter and an autorefractor before the patient even sits down with you - and that’s when the real costs start. Fundus camera, OCT set-up - you need them all or you are putting your clients' eyesight at risk.”

There is, of course, another reason why you cannot economise on optician equipment. The large optician chains are always well-equipped. You have to match their facilities, or customers will simply not use your practice.

Asset Funding solutions - including Hire Purchase and leases - can be the most cost-effective way to provide this equipment, and have become standard in the opticians' sector.

Asset Finance covers a number of financial solutions, and can be particularly effective because it allows loans or leases to be secured on the assets or equipment itself. This means that lenders can take away the assets if payments are not maintained - but on the plus side, they can reduce costs compared with conventional business loans.

Many opticians use Hire Purchase to spread the repayments for high-value items which will give service for many years to come. If a piece of equipment will give more than five years of service, you might want to consider a Hire Purchase option, which will mean there are no further costs after the arrangement is paid off.  

The alternative is to use lease agreements to avoid all capital expenditure. This may be more suitable for technology items which will quickly become obsolete, and which will need to be replaced when an alternative becomes available.

However, there are many Asset Funding providers in the market, and the difference between the lowest and highest rates offered can be substantial. 

Getting the right Asset Finance deal for the equipment a practice depends on can be vital to keep costs down. 

Looking to purchase new equipment for your practice? Needing to keep up with your competitors? Find out how Asset Finance can help support independent opticians in more detail

The challenge

An optician with a practice in South Wales recently approached us to refinance £250,000 worth of Asset Funding. He was concerned that the deal he had been given might not be as competitive as it had first appeared.

He realised that shaving a few percentage points off the rates required for a Hire Purchase agreement would mean savings for his practice each month - and that it might be worth shopping around. As a professional with a thriving practice, he knew that many lenders would be happy to lend  - but he also knew that finding the most competitive deal across the entire market takes time and contacts which he did not have.

He turned to us at Rangewell, as experts in business funding, to help him find the deal he was looking for - a deal which might save him money compared with his current Asset Finance provider. 

Saving the practice money

He was astonished to find that we could arrange the Asset Finance he needed at rates a full 2% less than his current provider - ensuring that his business could save hundreds of pounds over the course of a year.

The savings were very worthwhile, and came as a very pleasant surprise to the optician. 

We were able to show him what was possible by spreading the net wider and how, by using our expertise to negotiate, we could get him a better deal for the funding required.

At Rangewell, our expertise works for you. We know the lenders who really understand the profession and who can offer the most competitive rates for all types of finance - including Asset Finance solutions.

Coming to Rangewell means getting the experts working for you and your practice to find the financial answers you need. It means we can help you get the equipment that will provide your practice with a competitive advantage - while reducing the costs you pay. 

Find out more about Asset Finance solutions for optician - or call our Specialist Opticians Practice Finance team. Whatever the challenge your opticians' practice faces, we know all the financial solutions that will cost you less.