Your customer does not reject your equipment. They reject the price tag, the approval chain and the capital it ties up. Change the figure they see, and you change the decision, whether you sell in the UK or across Europe.
Purchase: capex request · board approval · cash out today. Lease: 60 months · fixed for the term · paid from operating budget.
Illustrative examples over 60 monthly rentals, shown exclusive of VAT or local sales tax. Actual rentals depend on asset, term, currency, country and credit approval.
No sales talk. No jargon. Just straight experience.
A £250,000 or €250,000 purchase waits for the next capex round, a business case and a board meeting. A rental of £4,978 or €4,865 a month is an operating decision. Deals that would stall for a quarter close in weeks, and your sales cycle shortens with them.
Most organisations set sign-off limits by amount. A monthly rental often sits within the authority of the plant manager, department head or operations director who actually wants the equipment. Your salesperson stays in the room with the decision-maker rather than waiting on a committee they never meet.
Instead of £250,000 or €250,000 leaving the bank account, the customer typically pays the first rental in advance. Cash and credit lines stay free for wages, stock and growth, and the equipment starts earning before it is paid for.
A lease rental is fixed for the term. With inflation rising, every later payment is worth less in real terms. The equipment's cost falls each year while the revenue it generates rises with prices.
Fewer approvals, a lower sign-off limit and no capital tied up: the monthly figure keeps the deal moving. Illustrative.
| Comparison | Outright purchase | Lease via Oak Leasing |
|---|---|---|
| Figure the customer approves | £250,000 €250,000 | £4,978.37 per month + VAT €4,865.18 per month + VAT |
| Cash out on day one | Full price | First rental |
| Who signs it off | Board or finance committee | Budget holder, in many cases |
| Time to decision | Next capex cycle | Days |
| Effect of inflation | None – price paid in today's money | Real cost falls every year |
| Payment matched to use | No | Yes – paid as the asset earns |
Inflation is back above target in the UK and the eurozone. In September 2026 the European Central Bank raised rates for the second time this year and the Bank of England warned a rise was becoming more likely.
For a customer on a fixed lease, that is good news. The rental agreed today stays the same for the whole term, while wages, prices and the customer's own revenues move upwards. At 3% inflation, by year five:
That is a real reduction of about 14%, before the rental has changed by a penny. Choose a currency and move the slider to see the effect at different inflation rates.
Illustrative. Each monthly rental discounted at the assumed annual inflation rate.
Put a lease option on every quote and the conversation moves from "can we afford it?" to "when can you deliver?"
The most effective vendor leasing programmes quote the monthly rental alongside, or instead of, the purchase price. For more than three decades, Oak Leasing has built those programmes for manufacturers selling across the UK and Europe. We have structured vendor finance through rising and falling rate cycles since 1992, and the principle has never changed: make the equipment easy to say yes to.
Oak Leasing is a bespoke pan-European funding facilitator for equipment finance across the UK and Europe, established in 1992. Learn more about our European vendor leasing programmes.
Finance arranged through Oak Leasing
Illustrative quote, using the UK example at the top of this page.
Leasing changes the figure the customer has to approve. In the UK, a £250,000 purchase becomes a monthly rental of £4,978.37 plus VAT; across Europe, €250,000 becomes €4,865.18 plus VAT. That figure can usually be signed off from an operating budget by a lower level of authority, with little or no capital outlay. Decisions are faster, fewer deals stall at board level and the vendor closes more sales.
A lease rental is fixed for the term. When inflation is rising, each later payment is worth less in today's money. At 3% inflation, a fixed £4,978.37 monthly rental is worth about £4,294 in today's money by year five, and a fixed €4,865.18 rental about €4,197: a real reduction of around 14%.
Typically only the first rental in advance, rather than the full equipment price. The capital expenditure requirement is close to zero and the customer's cash and credit lines remain available for the rest of the business.
No. Oak Leasing is a bespoke pan-European funding facilitator for equipment finance, established in 1992, with over three decades of experience in vendor leasing. It structures vendor leasing programmes and transactions with a panel of over 40 funders across more than 30 countries.
Tell us what you sell and where you sell it. We will show you what your best-selling equipment looks like as a monthly rental, and how a vendor leasing programme could work for your sales team. No sales talk, no jargon: just over three decades of straight vendor finance experience, since 1992.
Talk to Oak Leasing© Oak Leasing Ltd 2026. All rights reserved. Registered in England and Wales, company number 02737411. Registered office: Lynx House, Ferndown, Northwood Hills, Middlesex HA6 1PQ. ICO registration Z5638866. Oak Leasing is a funding facilitator, not a direct lender.