Equipment finance for UK businesses
31 of the 38 asset finance lenders on our panel fund factory plant, 20 fund restaurant and bar kit and 25 fund computer hardware, checked September 2026. This guide puts hire purchase, leasing and a plain loan side by side, then goes equipment type by type, so you can see before you enquire how deep the field is for the machine you have in mind.
CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630772). We are a credit broker, not a lender. Finance arranged for UK limited companies, LLPs, sole traders and partnerships.
38 lenders
Asset finance panel
£1,000 to £50 million
Product limits, not offers
1 to 7 years
Typical terms, checked June 2026
No fee to you
The lender pays us
The short version
- The equipment is the security, which is why asset finance succeeds so often: 96% of applications in the SME Finance Monitor, against 60% for bank loans.
- Hire purchase puts the VAT on the full price at the start and the kit in your name at the end; a lease charges VAT on each rental and the lessor keeps the title.
- Used equipment narrows the field: 15 lenders fund machinery over ten years old, and second-hand plant sits outside full expensing, though the £1 million annual investment allowance still applies.
What equipment finance is, and who is writing it
Equipment finance is asset finance with the machine as the lender's security. The lender pays your supplier, you pay the lender monthly, and if the payments stop the lender takes the machine back. That structure changes the odds more than anything about the borrower does. The BVA BDRC SME Finance Monitor puts asset finance applications at a 96% success rate; bank loan applications across all SMEs succeed 60% of the time.
The market is large and still growing. The Finance & Leasing Association recorded £40.3bn of asset finance written for UK businesses in 2025, £24.4bn of it to SMEs, and its June 2026 release, read on 8 September 2026, showed new business 15% ahead of June 2025, with plant and machinery finance up 17% and IT equipment finance up 21%. Lenders want this business. That is worth knowing before you accept the first quote you are given.
Our asset finance panel runs to 38 lenders, part of 200+ across all products, with product limits from £1,000 to £50 million. That span describes what the products allow, not what any one business would be offered. We arrange finance for UK limited companies, LLPs, sole traders and partnerships through that panel, and each lender makes its own decision on each case.
Hire purchase, lease or loan
Three ways to pay for the same machine, and the differences sit in who owns it, when the VAT falls due and what happens at the end. HMRC treats hire purchase as a supply of goods, so VAT is due on the full value at the time of supply (VAT Notice 700, section 8.4); a lease is a continuing supply, with VAT on each rental. A loan buys the machine outright and leaves the VAT on the supplier's invoice.
| Hire purchase | Lease | Loan or advance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the kit | The lender until the final payment, then you. | The lessor, throughout. | You, from the supplier's invoice. |
| When VAT falls due | On the full price at the start; a VAT-registered business reclaims it on its next return. | On each rental as it is charged. | On the supplier's invoice, as with any purchase. |
| What secures it | The equipment itself. | The equipment, which the lessor already owns. | Nothing on the equipment; a personal guarantee or a debenture is common. |
| Payments | Fixed monthly, with an optional balloon at the end. | Fixed rentals over a primary term. | Fixed monthly, or a share of card takings on an advance. |
| At the end | The equipment is yours. | Return it, extend, or sell it on the lessor's behalf, as the agreement sets out. | Nothing to hand back. |
Regulation follows the borrower rather than the product. An agreement with a limited company or an LLP is not a regulated consumer credit agreement. An agreement with a sole trader, or with a partnership of two or three people, is regulated unless the credit exceeds £25,000 and the purpose is wholly or predominantly business (Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 189; Regulated Activities Order, article 60C). That decides the paperwork and which lenders can write it; it does not decide whether the deal can be done.
Whichever structure you land on, run the figures through the asset finance calculator first. The broader product is set out on the asset finance page, including a completed hire purchase with its real terms.
Equipment finance, type by type
Asset finance lenders specialise by class. The counts below are the distinct lenders on our panel with a live product for each, checked September 2026, out of 38 asset finance lenders; panel composition changes over time, and a narrower field means we go to the right handful first rather than to everyone.
Machinery31 lenders
Machinery is the widest field on the panel. 33 lenders fund construction plant, 32 fund agricultural machinery and 31 fund factory plant, checked September 2026. What the three classes share is a used market a lender can price, which is also why the field thins to 7 lenders for aircraft and 6 for marine kit. Diggers, dumpers and telehandlers have a guide of their own; tractors and combines sit in the farm finance guide.
CNC and manufacturing plant31 lenders
31 lenders fund factory plant, the class that covers CNC machining centres, lathes, presses and injection moulders. The lender wants the make, model, year and serial number so it can set the machine against the used market before it sets a deposit. The FLA's June 2026 release, read on 8 September 2026, put plant and machinery finance 17% ahead of June 2025, so this is a line lenders are competing for rather than rationing.
Catering and restaurant kit20 lenders
20 lenders fund restaurant and bar equipment. Ovens, refrigeration, dishwashers and coffee machines go through as hard assets with a resale value. Extraction, ductwork and anything built into the premises are a different case: a second-hand canopy fetches very little, so the lender is really underwriting the restaurant, and an advance against card takings is often the route that works for that part of the bill.
Gym equipment23 lenders
23 lenders fund gym equipment. Treadmills, rowers, rigs and plate-loaded machines are branded and serial-numbered and they resell, so a new gym's kit list is a normal asset finance case even where the company is young. Rubber flooring, mirrors and the reception desk do not resell; 22 lenders will fund a fit-out as a separate soft-asset class, usually over a shorter term.
Printing equipment31 lenders
31 lenders fund printing equipment, one of the deepest classes on the panel. Presses, guillotines, finishing lines and wide-format machines carry high tickets and a specialist used market, so the lender's valuation of the specific model drives the deposit more than the headline price does. Once a press passes ten years old the field narrows to the 15 lenders that fund older machinery.
Computer hardware25 lenders
25 lenders fund computer hardware and IT. Servers and workstations lose value quickly, which is why a lease with a short primary term is the usual shape here and why "hand it back" matters more than "own it at the end". The FLA recorded IT equipment finance up 21% in June 2026 against June 2025, the fastest-growing equipment line in that release.
Shop and office fit-out22 lenders
22 lenders fund shop and office fit-outs. Counters, lighting, partitioning and signage have no second life, so the lender is underwriting the business rather than the kit: filed accounts and bank statements carry the case, a personal guarantee is usual, and the term is shorter than on machinery. A fit-out bundled with hard assets (the coffee machine, the till system) can be split so each part goes to the lender that prices it well.
Medical and dental26 lenders
26 lenders fund medical and dental equipment: chairs, imaging, sterilisation and scanners. Practices are often partnerships, which changes the paperwork rather than the answer. A partnership of two or three people is an "individual" under section 189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, so an agreement for £25,000 of credit or less is regulated even though the equipment is for the practice; above £25,000 the business-purposes exemption in article 60C applies.
What used equipment changes
Two panel criteria narrow the field before anyone opens your accounts. 15 of the 38 asset finance lenders will fund machinery over ten years old, and 10 will fund a purchase from a private seller rather than a dealer, checked September 2026. Buy an eight-year-old press from a dealer and most of the panel is in play. Buy a twelve-year-old one from another printer and you are choosing among a handful, which is a reason to tell us the seller before you agree the price.
The tax position changes too. Full expensing, the 100% first-year deduction for companies, applies to expenditure from 1 April 2023 on plant and machinery that is “unused and not second-hand” (Capital Allowances Act 2001, section 45S). Used equipment falls back on the annual investment allowance, which gov.uk sets at £1 million a year, a figure unchanged since 1 January 2019. The AIA page excludes business cars and items you already owned for another reason; it says nothing against second-hand plant. Your accountant confirms which allowance applies to a given purchase. We arrange the finance.
Auction and dispersal-sale purchases are private-seller cases with a payment deadline the lender did not set. The plant guide covers auction buying in detail, and our answer on asset finance for used machinery sets out what a lender asks for on older kit.
What a lender asks for
Filed accounts where they exist, recent bank statements, director details and, for the equipment itself, a supplier quote showing make, model, age and serial number. A private limited company does not owe Companies House its first accounts until 21 months after incorporation, so a company under two years old may have none on file, and the lenders that take that case read the bank statements and the director's history instead. 19 lenders on the asset panel will consider a business that made a loss last year and 14 accept business adverse credit, checked September 2026, because the machine carries part of the risk that the accounts would otherwise carry alone.
Enquiring does not affect your credit score. A lender runs its own checks once you decide to proceed with it, and we tell you which lender and what it will look at before that happens.
What it costs
Terms on the panel's asset products run from one to seven years, and deposits from nothing to 20% depending on the equipment and the business, figures we checked against lender and broker product pages in June 2026. Asset finance is usually priced as a flat rate charged on the opening balance for the whole term, so the APR it implies is a good deal higher than the number on the quote. Ask for the APR and the total payable, and put both into the calculator before you sign.
VAT is the other cost that lands on day one. 25 of our asset finance lenders offer VAT deferral, funding the VAT until your return recovers it, so on a £60,000 machine that keeps £12,000 in the business for a quarter rather than on the lender's ledger.
When an advance beats asset finance
Where an asset lender loses interest is kit nobody would want back. A second-hand extraction canopy, a shopfit, a fitted bar, a bespoke sign: the resale value is close to nil, so the lender either prices it as an unsecured risk or declines it. A merchant cash advance does not care what the money buys, because it is repaid as a percentage of card takings, and for a restaurant or a salon with steady card turnover that is often the route for the part of the bill an asset lender will not touch.
Our position, and it is not one every broker shares: for a machine with a resale market, asset finance is the cheaper route on a like-for-like sum because the security lowers the lender's risk, and an advance is the tool for the soft costs around it. We arrange both, we lay out the total repayable on each, and the choice stays yours.
How it works
Tell us about the equipment
What it is, new or used, who is selling it, the price and how you trade. Two minutes on the form or a phone call.
We match it to the panel
Age, seller and asset class decide which of the lenders can write it; we put your case only to those.
You compare the terms
Deposit, term, monthly payment and total payable, side by side, with the VAT position spelled out.
The lender pays your supplier
You sign, the funder settles the invoice, and the equipment arrives.
The panel behind this page
Equipment cases go to the lenders on our asset finance panel of 38 whose asset-class criteria match the kit, part of 200+ lenders across all products. That range matters more than any single rate: the lender that suits a five-year-old limited company with clean accounts is rarely the one that suits a seasonal business or a director with a past blip, and a broker with a shallow panel has to force your case into whichever box it holds.
Names you may recognise on the panel
Examples from our panel as at September 2026, not an endorsement of any lender and not the full list. We check criteria first and put your case only to lenders whose requirements you fit. The full panel by product is in our lender directory, and how we choose is set out on our how we work page.
Equipment finance questions
What is machinery finance?▼
Asset finance with the machine as the lender's security. The lender pays the supplier, you repay monthly, and the agreement is written against the make, model and serial number. On our panel 31 of 38 asset finance lenders fund factory plant, 33 fund construction plant and 32 fund agricultural machinery, checked September 2026; panel composition changes over time.
How does equipment leasing work?▼
The lessor buys the equipment and keeps the title; you pay fixed rentals over a primary term and VAT is charged on each rental rather than on the full price at the start (HMRC VAT Notice 700, section 8.4, read 8 September 2026). At the end of the primary term the agreement sets out whether you return the kit, keep renting it for a nominal amount or sell it on the lessor's behalf. Leases are common on IT and other equipment that a business replaces every few years.
What are business equipment loan rates?▼
Asset finance is normally quoted as a flat rate rather than an APR, and lenders rarely publish it, so the honest answer is a span rather than a number. For an unsecured loan used to buy equipment, our unsecured panel's published "from" rates at £25,000 start at 4.1% and the median product "from" rate is around 19%, across 36 lenders, checked September 2026. Those are spans across panel products, not a quote, and the rate any business is offered depends on the lender's own assessment. Our asset finance calculator converts a flat rate into the APR it implies.
Who provides equipment finance in the UK?▼
High-street banks, the finance arms of manufacturers, and independent asset finance lenders that fund nothing else. Our panel carries 38 asset finance lenders with product limits from £1,000 to £50 million, part of 200+ lenders across all products. The Finance & Leasing Association counted £40.3bn of asset finance written for UK businesses in 2025, £24.4bn of it to SMEs.
Can I use a merchant cash advance to buy equipment?▼
Yes. An advance is repaid as a percentage of card takings and the provider does not restrict what the money buys, which suits kit with little resale value that an asset lender prices badly, such as a second-hand extraction canopy or a shop fit-out. It costs more than asset finance on a like-for-like sum, because there is no security behind it, so compare the total repayable before choosing the route.
Which types of equipment do lenders actually fund?▼
Nearly anything a business uses, and our asset finance panel of 38 lenders records it class by class: 33 fund construction plant, 32 agricultural machinery, 26 medical and dental equipment, 23 gym equipment and 18 EV charging installations. 25 of them offer VAT deferral on the purchase. Figures checked September 2026; panel composition changes over time.
Is equipment finance regulated by the FCA?▼
Hire purchase, leasing or a loan to a limited company or an LLP is not a regulated consumer credit agreement. To a sole trader, or to a partnership of two or three people, it is regulated unless the credit exceeds £25,000 and the agreement is wholly or predominantly for business purposes (Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 189; Regulated Activities Order article 60C, both read 8 September 2026). CapExpand Ltd (FRN 1060885) is an Appointed Representative of White Rose Finance Group Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630772). We work with UK limited companies, LLPs, sole traders and partnerships.
Sources
- HMRC, Capital allowances: annual investment allowance (gov.uk)
- Capital Allowances Act 2001, section 45S: expenditure in the period of full expensing
- HMRC, VAT guide (VAT Notice 700), section 8.4 on hire purchase and conditional sale
- Finance & Leasing Association, asset finance statistics, June 2026 release
- Companies House, accounts filing deadlines for a private limited company
- Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, article 60C
- Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 189: the definition of "individual"
- BVA BDRC, SME Finance Monitor
Government, legislation and FLA pages were read on 8 September 2026 and change without notice. Panel counts cover available products only, and name no lender as an endorsement.
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Tell us about the equipment
What it is, new or used, who is selling it and the price. We come back with the lenders whose asset-class criteria fit. A named person calls you back within one working day, usually within a couple of hours. Free to use.
Important information
Asset-class counts, VAT treatment and capital allowance rules are general descriptions; each lender applies its own limits and your accountant confirms the tax position on a specific purchase.