Leasing vs. hire purchase
Leasing
Leasing is an alternative to buying. You don’t have to pay the purchase price of your street food vending car immediately, but pay a monthly instalment over a fixed period. After the period has expired, you can buy the sales trailer at its residual value or return it to the leasing partner. A clear advantage of leasing is that the instalments are manageable and your liquidity is protected.
Hire purchase
Unlike leasing, with hire purchase you pay not only for the use of the sales vehicle. After you have paid the last instalment, the street food car is yours. A final payment is not due. Compared to leasing, the monthly instalments are somewhat higher and/or the term is longer. In addition, value-added tax (VAT) on the purchase price is due right at the beginning, but this is usually not a problem for traders as a transit item.
Sample calculation
Example food trailer
• Net purchase price: 41.400,00 € plus VAT
Leasing offer A
• Term: 48 months
• Monthly net leasing rate: 703,30 € plus VAT
• Residual value: 12.420,00 € plus VAT
Leasing offer B
• Term: 60 months
• Monthly net leasing rate: 673,34 € plus VAT
• Residual value: 6.210,00 € plus VAT
Hire-purchase offer
• Term: 72 months
• Monthly net hire-purchase instalment: 651,72 €
• The VAT (on the total of all hire-purchase payments) to be refunded with the first hire-purchase instalment amounts to: 8.915,53 €