Why you should consider long-term tractor hire
15th March 2024
Thinking about long-term tractor hire? Weighing up the pros and cons of renting vs buying? Or never even considered hiring a tractor for your farm? Ashbrook Tractor Hire explains why more farming businesses are turning to tractor hire to keep their fleet productive.
With tractor purchase prices ever increasing, and cash flow management always a challenge, tractor hire could be the perfect middle ground – supporting your finances and giving you access to the machinery you need.
Benefits of hire
You don’t need to break the bank or empty your bank account: If you want the latest and greatest tractor to supercharge your productivity, you’ll need a hefty chunk of cash in your account.
That’s probably going to mean emptying your account for the deposit, or maybe even taking out a loan to support your cashflow. It’s a very expensive proposition, particularly with the cost of borrowing by so high.
But long-term tractor hire dramatically reduces those initial costs. For a small monthly fee, you get a new tractor and get to keep your investment in your account.
Doing this means that the money can be utilised in more productive ways, such as taking advantage of government grant schemes, to invest in permanent structures and items which support productivity.
A further advantage of tractor hire is that you don’t need to carry a deprecating asset on your book. In addition, the full hire cost is a business expense and is therefore tax deductible each year.
Nigel Harper of N D Harper Ltd, an agricultural contractor based in the Northwest, hires multiple tractors per year and sees the cash flow benefits first hand. In fact, Nigel comments: “It’s a real benefit not having to carry the asset on our books throughout the year, meaning we don’t need to worry about insurance and finance costs in quieter periods.”
You get to try out all the newest technology: There are always new makes and models of tractors. You could spend all your cash on the newest model today, but in a couple of months there will be a newer version, with smart features and extra comfort, making jobs even quicker to complete.
If you’ve invested in buying a tractor, you’re stuck with what you have. If you hire your tractor though, and you fancy trying out that new technology to see how it could make your life easier, you can.
Having access to the latest fuel efficiencies year after year, means that considerable savings in money and farm emissions can be made.
In fact, Nigel was over the moon when he switched from one brand to Case IH, saying: “We achieved significant fuel savings with our new Case IH tractors versus our previous preferred brand, and in a time of escalating fuel costs this was particularly welcome.”
Speak to Ashbrook directly for help getting the newest tractor with all the latest mod cons.
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