NATDA Magazine Mar/Apr 2015 | Page 40

Though it may seem easy for a customer who is making a purchase for their business to place a loan on the standard revolving programs or promotions that are available in the marketplace, this actually limits their ability to finance future purchases and could limit sales opportunities down the road. Here are 4 reasons why your dealership should implement a commercial finance program for your customers. 1. Won’t Hurt Your Customer’s Personal Credit When business owners place loans on personal credit they hurt themselves and their businesses over the long term. If they have personal goals to purchase a house or other large ticket items, the trailer that shows on their personal credit is calculated in their debt-to-income ratio and can adversely affect their ability to get a loan. As a dealership, this means when they come back to add that second, third or fourth unit, their credit is tapped out and you lose the sale. 2. Helps Future Expansion As their business grows, and they need to expand, other creditors will look at business credit reports such as Paynet, D&B and Experian Business. If all the company’s credit is on the owner’s bureau, there will be no credit file to make a decision. To get an approval, the customer will have to provide extensive documentation including financials, bank statements and references. This adds unnecessary time and burden on the customer that could be avoided with a strong business credit file. Also, with a strong business credit file, adding more trailers down the road can be as simple as a phone call making a much easier sale on the next unit. 40 3. No Limits on Collateral With a commercial financing program, your customers are not limited to a specific list of brands or collateral as most traditional trailer programs require. Priority One’s equipment finance program can not only finance trailers but also the trucks that tow them and the commercial equipment that goes inside them. This enables customers to purchase all the equipment they need on one note with one application. At funding, Priority One handles paying each individual vendor on the customer’s behalf, saving them valuable time and enabling you to differentiate yourself by providing a one stop finance solution the competition doesn’t offer. 4. Financial Advantages There are financial advantages to commercial leasing and lending. Each state differs in how a business can write off their payments as rental under a lease. There is no tax advantage to a personal loan; however, businesses should check with their CPA to see how a lease can benefit them. continued on page 43 NATDA Magazine www.natda.org