Funding my first chipper

[PeteB]

My first was an Arboreater back in the late 80's/early 90's. It cost £10,500 + vat and you can get a better machine, new, for less than that amount! I would sell you a new GreenMech 130 for £10,350 - Platts at Darley Dale are not far from you either.....

[Matthew Storrs]

Also if buying used you may be able to find a decent example which has no VAT, which if your not registered means a fair saving in itself. Currently looking at buying a new 1.8ton digger. Initial cost is £17k ex vat but With the VAT and finance interest I will be paying approx an additional £5500 is ‘dead’ money which I will never see back come resale. The idea of waiting untill a tidy used example with no vat will make a considerable saving to me.

That said the new machinery I have bought in the past has been hassle free due to no downtime and repairs

tough call!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Is it urgent?

 

If yes, you'll have to make a decision and go with your best intuition...

 

If no, what about getting some lease / hire quotes maybe at 50, 70, 90%, look at the payback rates per month and set yourself a target over the next 6 months to see, if you save hard, where about in the scale you'd be.  Added bonus, after 6 months of 'seeing what the pain is like' (but with no commitments) you'd have a bigger lump of deposit to throw down.

 

HP / lease hire - those payment commitments will be there wether the work is coming in or not, that some pressure.

 

The VAT point is a good one - 1000's potentially to be saved there.  Don't forget, even if you are not VAT reg now, if you think you might be in the following 5 years, capital purchases can be reclaimed for VAT (if you still own them.)

 

Finally, simply from my own perspective, I don't "do" spanners so I prefer new, look after it, and keep it for as long as it keeps working...  and I don't like finance which will always be a weight of worry to you should you stop work for any reason.

 

That's an attractive offer from Pete at GreenMech!

 

 

[AHPP]

Generally, I’m coming round to Mike Hill’s way of thinking (was credit averse, now less so) but do bear in mind that a lot of people are predicting financial armageddon pretty soon. You just need to be honest with yourself about whether you can keep up payments if things are thrice as bad as you think they might be.

Also consider where you get counsel on these matters from. I don’t rely on financial advice from anyone who doesn’t have professional indemnity insurance or a yacht.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

38 minutes ago, AHPP said:

Also consider where you get counsel on these matters from. I don’t rely on financial advice from anyone who doesn’t have professional indemnity insurance or a yacht.

There’s some merit in what you say there Alex (except that, the yacht will have been paid for off the back of commission from our hard earned tut!)

[AHPP]

There’s some merit in what you say there Alex (except that, the yacht will have been paid for off the back of commission from our hard earned tut!)

I don’t begrudge professional service providers making good money. As long as their service saves me money and I can engage (or not engage) them in a free market, they can name their boat ‘My Cunt Clients Paid For This’ and sail it past my deckchair.

 

P.S. In fairness, your advice seems pretty good whether you have a yacht or not. I just like my yacht line.

P.P.S. I have a yacht.

[openspaceman]

36 minutes ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

There’s some merit in what you say there Alex (except that, the yacht will have been paid for off the back of commission from our hard earned tut!)

...and the PI just offsets their cost should you choose to sue for the negligent advice in the unlikely case you can prove it.

[AHPP]

...and the PI just offsets their cost should you choose to sue for the negligent advice in the unlikely case you can prove it.

An area of law I don’t know about particularly. I’m aware of the reputation but bear in mind lawyers probably want ordinary scumbags to believe they (among others) are unsuable. Have you got any experience of it?

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, AHPP said:

Have you got any experience of it?

Not of suing anyone with PI for negligence but a bit where an insurance company defended a claim, and lost, at great expence.

[AHPP]

Not of suing anyone with PI for negligence but a bit where an insurance company defended a claim, and lost, at great expence.

Surely in the case of a negligent service provider successfully suing their insurers (who presumably didn’t pay out where requested), that’s an argument FOR consumers relying on the advice of insured service providers (though obviously not to the extent of being contrib)?