The age old question that gets asked, without doubt, every day of the week.

Whether it’s a vehicle or a piece of equipment the answer is “YES”.

Now obviously there are certain advantages and disadvantages in purchasing the item privately with the main two below:

• PRICE - this is generally the number one reason you will be buying the item privately. 9 times out of 10 the amount you pay on any item bought privately is going to be less than purchasing the item from a dealer or supplier.

• STATE OF THE GOODS - The main disadvantage buying privately is obviously unless you know the vehicle or piece of equipment then you have no idea as to how it has been used previously. There are however many companies you can use to have the items checked over prior to purchasing that can put you at ease with this issue.

This leads me into the differences we face when it comes to financing a private sale. The biggest of which is that an inspection needs to be arranged over the goods. Due to the financier’s having been defrauded in the past when it comes to private sales they are more than ever insisting in an independent inspection company to site the vehicle.  BUT, these inspections do not check the mechanical condition of the item, they are merely a “finance inspection” to make sure the identifiers match with what we have on the documents. Depending on who we are financing with, the inspection will be organised internally and the cost will be charged to the client directly, as an upfront fee.

The other thing to note when buying privately is that if you are purchasing a piece of equipment, truck, trailers etc then it is more than likely we will require financials in order to get the approval in place. The exception to this is if you are buying a motor vehicle that is no older than 5 years, you are a home buyer and have good credit then we have access to financiers that will approve this through their Matrix.

Once you have decided to go ahead with the purchase, it is our job to get in contact with the vendor and organise to have them sign the Tax Invoice or Invoice depending on their situation. We also need to obtain the following:

1. Copy of REGO Paper.
2. Copy of payout letter if the item is under finance.
3. Copy of the original invoice from when the item was originally purchased (this is to show flow of title).
4. Confirmation of the account they would like the funds to be deposited into.

This all may sound complicated but we do this all the time and are happy to run through it with you.

So when you are next looking to purchase a business asset, feel free to contact Laurentide and know that buying privately might just be the best way to proceed. We are happy to help, and the best bit is you leave the running around to us.