Quite often during our sales process a potential customer will comment, “I’ve been on the Apple Store and to buy a Mac is cheaper than leasing one for 3 years”.
Our reply is “yes, that is correct”. However, we stress that it is important to make sure that we are comparing like for like.
Comparing Apples to Apples
We have blogged before about how our offer includes more than just the standard Mac. All of our Macs come with AppleCare. This gives our customers 24/7 telephone support for macOS issues and 3 years of parts and labour hardware warranty. On a brand new 15” MacBook Pro with Touch Bar that costs £329.
On top of the AppleCare we also provide a temporary loan machine service. This means that if your Mac ever has to go away for a repair we will provide you with a temporary loan machine to use until we return yours. Having access to such a facility means that you can continue to work, to meet those deadlines, even when your primary machine has gone away for a repair.
The other advantage is that we come to you. If your machine develops a hardware fault we will advise you to contact AppleCare to ensure that it cannot be resolved on site. If it does have to go away we will arrange for the faulty unit to be collected the next business day and sent to Apple for repair. We will also drop off a temporary loan machine allowing you to continue to work.
There has been no need for you to book a Genius Bar appointment, or to find the time to make the return journey to your local Apple store to drop off and pick up your machine. We come to you. Our warranty gives you peace of mind. You will not have any nasty hardware repair bills or have to take time out of your busy schedule to deal with a faulty machine. We take all of that hassle away from you.
Cash Flow
To finance a Mac over 3 years obviously incurs a financial cost. However, last October Apple increased the cost of their Mac line up by 20%. A fully specified 27” iMac or 15” MacBook Pro with touch bar will now set you back over £4k and a top of the range Mac Pro will leave a large dent at just under £9k.
Our customers tell us that taking this level of money out of their business in one go doesn’t make sense. Leasing allows them to benefit from have full use of the latest Mac but without having to having to pay the full up front cost. This means their return on investment can be measured against a much lower monthly repayment. In addition, the remainder of the money is still in their bank account, allowing them the opportunity to utilise those funds for other purposes such as marketing.
Tax efficiency
The cost of leasing an asset is deductible as a business expense so this can reduce your overall tax bill. With a lease you are able to offset 100% of the rentals against your tax liability to maximise your tax efficiency.
Our approach
We actively encourage customers to ask questions about our leasing offer. We highlight issues such as documentation fees, end of lease terms, insurance questions during the selling process to ensure that our customers have complete clarity about what our offer involves. More importantly we believe that leasing a Mac for your business should be as much fun as buying one for your home. They are great pieces of kit that people enjoy receiving. Our processes encourage that.
So when a potential customer mentions that buying a Mac from the Apple Store is cheaper than leasing one we would be the first to agree. However, our offer includes so much more than just a standard machine. In addition to the cash flow and tax benefits you are getting a level or warranty and service that reflects the importance of your Mac within your business. Couple this to an approach which is open and transparent and we feel that leasing your Apple Macs with us is the right solution for your business.
