Assets for opticians

You can’t afford to use anything less when your patient’s eyesight – and the future of your business – could be at risk.

But buying the best can, in itself, mean an eye-watering investment. A keratometer could cost £7,000, and an OCT system could start at £20,000, with costs that keep on going up with every option you add. Even a sales display with lighting and a discreet security system might cost more than £4,000.

Those types of cost might be affordable propositions for the large chains, but if you are an independent operator with a single shop, you will probably not have the kind of cash resources you need. But not having access to enough cash to buy top-of-the-range equipment outright does not mean that you need to try and work without it.

There are ways to provide the equipment you need and spread the cost.

Asset Finance for opticians

Asset Finance can be an effective answer to your need for optical and business equipment. It can be the most effective way to finance new assets and equipment that you need for your shop, consulting room or office – or anywhere else in your practice - and spread the cost.

Asset Finance is a broad term that covers a range of funding solutions. They provide access to all kinds of assets - diagnostic equipment like state of the art OCT, IT or even the straightforward shopfittings you need in your frame display area - without making impossible demands on your cashflow.

Hire Purchase

Hire Purchase lets you acquire an asset right away and spread the costs in instalments over an agreed time, often up to 5 years or more. At the end of this term, you own the asset outright. Hire Purchase is often used for items which have a high cost and a relatively long life. An ophthalmoscope might be ideal for hire purchase.

Leasing

Leasing works much like a rental agreement and lets you use the equipment you need without having to buy it outright -you pay the finance company each month for using the asset. If you are using a technical piece of equipment which could go out of date quickly, a leasing agreement can be ideal as it can be easy to update it when a better model becomes available.

As it is a relatively new technology, a digital fundus camera might be ideal for leasing.

Optician equipment suitable for Asset Finance can include:

• Burton Lamp
• Colour Vision Test
• Digital Dispensing/Measuring Device
• Digital Fundus Camera
• Facial Gauge
• Field Screener
• Focimeter
• Frame Heater
• Keratometer
• Ophthalmoscope
• Pachymeterope
• Pupillometer
• Refractor Head
• Retinal Imaging Equipment
• Retinoscope
• Slit Lamp
• Tonometer
• Topograph
• Volk Lens

Can your optical equipment supplier help?

Most suppliers will be only too pleased to help you afford the equipment you want with their own Asset Finance arrangements but beware. In many cases, they will be making a handsome profit from providing the finance as well as on the equipment itself.

They may even offer 0% finance to close the sale. It looks as cheap as buying with cash, and it can be tempting to take up a 0% offer. But there is a catch.

As a borrower, you won’t pay any interest on the sum you borrow. So, if you finance a £20,000 imaging system for your practice with an interest-free agreement from the supplier, you’ll repay just £20,000, even if you take a year or two to do so.

With a 0% deal, the dealer pays the funding company the cost of the interest which they would otherwise take from you - but they will recover the cost from you, the customer. You won’t pay interest, but the supplier may add the interest cost into his sale price.

Arranging your own finance with help from the Rangewell team could mean a more competitive rate that might leave you better off.

You can find the most appropriate and competitive funding by talking to us at Rangewell. We are experts in all types of finance for opticians. The chances are we can help you find an Asset Funding solution or any other type of funding - from start-up finance for opticians to more straightforward loans for opticians - that save you money, even compared with 0% finance.

You can see what we can do for you here.