Rent, Lease, or Buy: How to Decide
Think about buying when you’re going to need the machine for most of the year. If you’d pay more in rent over a year than the machine would cost to own, buy it. Rent when the job is short or you only need the machine once in a while. A lease is a way to pay for a machine you’d otherwise buy: a set payment through a finance company instead of a purchase price, and the machine is yours to run for the term. If you’re not sure, rent it first. Every machine we rent has a rent-to-purchase option.
Rent
Rent when the job is short, or when it calls for a machine you don’t use often. You rent by the day, the week, or four weeks, take the type and size the work needs, and send it back when the work is done. You’re not paying for a machine that sits between jobs, or storing it through the off season. Our guide to how renting works covers the hours, the tanks, and the insurance.
Buy
Buying makes sense once the machine is working most of the year. Figure out what you’d pay in rent over the year, using our 2026 rental rate guide, and put it next to what a year of payments, insurance, and upkeep would run you. If the rent comes out higher, buy. We sell new Hitachi/Landcros, Takeuchi, Link-Belt, and New Holland machines at all three locations, and used machines that our certified technicians have inspected. Our guide to new, used, or rental purchase covers that choice, and once the machine is yours, our Best Practices article on lowering operating costs has ways to keep the running cost down.
Financing for a machine goes through one of four programs on our Finance page: ZAXIS Finance for Hitachi/Landcros machines, Link-Belt Excavator Financial Services, Takeuchi Financial Services, and Falcon Leasing. Each has its own application there, and our credit manager will walk you through it.
Lease
A lease runs through the same programs that finance a purchase, and the machine stays on your jobs for the term like one you own. The end of the lease works differently from program to program, so ask before you sign. The choice between a lease and a purchase usually comes down to how long you plan to keep the machine and how your accountant wants it on the books, so talk to your accountant first, then to us.
Rent to purchase
Rent the machine first, then buy it later. You find out whether it has the size, the power, and the fuel economy you need to get the job done. Your operators also get to experience what it is like working with it. Every machine we rent has the rent-to-purchase option. Reach out to our sales department to learn more.
Talk to a location near you
Call or text, or send us the question through our contact page.