Optician Equipment Finance & Funding

When your patient’s eyesight – and the future of your business – could be at risk, you can't afford to use anything less than the best.

Unfortunately, the best optician's equipment can be eye-wateringly expensive and put off many potential buyers. 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.

Asset finance is a great way to spread the cost of a purchase out across a term, allowing you to purchase the assets you need to get ahead without hamstringing your capital reserves or eating too heavily into your cashflow. 

Here at Rangewell, we are experts in financing the opticians sector and can help you devise the right finance type for your needs, strenghten your business plan and then negotiate a loan on your behalf - all at no cost to you. 

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
• Pachymeter
• Pupillometer
• Refractor Head
• Retinal Imaging Equipment
• Retinoscope
• Slit Lamp
• Tonometer
• Topograph
• Volk Lens

In addition to specialist equipment, you can also raise asset finance for other valuable machinery or equipment that helps with other areas of your business. For example, if you have a retail area to sell glasses, you may need a stock or inventory sorting machine to help improve efficiency. Asset finance can be used against any asset that carries value and can be re-sold in the event of you defaulting on your loan. 

Setting up a new practice?

If you're setting up a brand new practice, you'll need to fund many of the machines we've mentioned before you can open your doors. Unlike an existing practice, where you can use previous financial performance to justify business loans and attract better offers, new practices need to plan their purchases carefully and approach lenders with the right knowledge. 

Not only can Rangewell arrange for asset finance to help a new practice get the technology it needs, but we can also help advise on other forms of finance that may be suitable for a new business. Options such as commercial mortgages to help you afford a premises may be ideal. 

Get in touch with our team to find out more or read this guide to setting up a new opticians practice. 

Can your optical equipment supplier help?

Don't lose out by defaulting to your existing supplier. Here's why...

Many of your existing suppliers will offer their own asset finance arrangements - but choosing these is rarely the best option. They are often providing finance through a third-party, meaning they profit from the arrangement of finance and from the equipment itself. 

They may even offer 0% finance to close the sale. While a 0% finance offer looks as cheap as buying with cash and can be tempting, there is a catch to the agreement.

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 their 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.