This
post is sponsored by Flexirent
So you’re in the market for a new laptop! Your faithful old machine is starting to slow
down, it takes ages to boot and you’re getting sick of waiting five minutes
before you see your emails. Or maybe you
or your child is starting university next month and a laptop is needed to take
to lectures? Those shiny new models in
the catalogues are looking very attractive, except for the price!
It's great to have the latest tech gadget, but it can be expensive and often
your budget just can't stretch to such a large amount at once. There is another
option - renting. Rather than paying the entire amount for your new laptop
up front, you can rent it and pay a monthly amount instead.
Flexirent is a market leader in flexible and secure rental options for technology
customers in Australia and New Zealand, and they work with some of the major
technology retailers.
How does renting your new tech work?
Your first step is to go shopping – either online or at one of the
retailers Flexirent works with (like Harvey Norman, Domayne, and Apple premium
resellers). You choose the brand and
model you want, which means you can take advantage of any special deals available
at the time.
Once you've made your choice you give Flexirent a call for preapproval
of the amount you need (you can even do that at the store). You'll be
asked some questions to check your credit rating and given approval to buy.
Once that’s done you can pick up your lovely new laptop and bring it home
that day. All the paperwork is finalised
at the store.
One of the decisions you need to make is how long you want the rental
agreement to last – 12, 24, or 36 months, and that will determine the monthly
amount you pay. If there’s other equipment you need it can all be bundled
together. You might get approval to
spend $2000, but that could be $1000 for your laptop, $300 for a printer, $500
for an iPad and $200 for software.
Yes, renting is going to cost you more than buying the laptop outright,
and it definitely won’t suit everyone’s circumstances - but there are benefits
to renting that you might not have considered:
Because you rent, rather than own, your laptop, if something goes wrong
it’s Flexirent that takes care of it – not you. If your laptop needs repairing you’ll be given
the loan of another laptop until yours is fixed - delivered to you the next
business day. If your laptop is lost, stolen or
accidentally damaged it will be replaced.
That’s especially
important if the laptop is going to school or university every day. Of course, the main benefit of a laptop is portability, so there’s no restriction on where you take your
laptop – as long as it’s within Australia.
At the end of your rental period you have the option of swapping your
laptop for the latest model, continuing your agreement, returning or even
buying your laptop.
Flexirent also offers their customers up to 50% discount on mobile
broadband plans with Blink.
You need to consider your individual circumstances when deciding whether
renting is a viable option for you. Those
that benefit the most from renting are those who need a laptop for work, or
have their own business. If your laptop
is even partly for business use it is tax deductible – 100% if it is solely for
work. If you wanted a laptop worth $900
your monthly rental payment would be around $60 on a 24 month agreement, but if
that laptop is for work, depending on your tax bracket, it could work out to be
around $36 (or less) a month.
If you’re a business owner your monthly rental payments are classed as an
operating expense that you run through your profit and loss statement, rather
than a depreciable asset. It doesn't
appear on your balance sheet as a debt or loan.
As with any financial undertaking, make sure you read all the terms and conditions first and understand the agreement before you commit to it.
As with any financial undertaking, make sure you read all the terms and conditions first and understand the agreement before you commit to it.
You can find out more about renting with Flexirent here.
