Excavator hire vs buy
If your excavator hire never really ends, price owning the machine instead, up to $500,000
Long-term hire often costs more per week than repayments on a machine you own. One application across 40+ lenders, typical approvals in 24 to 48 hours, and a straight answer if hire still suits your job.
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The honest comparison
Hire is priced for flexibility. Are you still using it?
Hire rates carry the depot's costs: maintenance, downtime, availability risk and the machine itself. For a short one-off job, that premium is a fair trade. If the excavator sits on your site most weeks, you are paying it over and over for flexibility you no longer use.
We will not invent hire rates to make finance look good. Pull your last few hire invoices, get a repayment quote from us, and put the two numbers side by side. The answer is usually obvious within five minutes.
What you can use it for
Put the facility to work however your business needs it.
Short one-off jobs: hire wins
A two-week dig on a single project rarely justifies ownership. Hire the machine, hand it back and keep your capital for the work.
Regular weekly use: buying pulls ahead
When the machine works most weeks, finance repayments often come in under the hire bill. And repayments end. Hire invoices never do.
You keep rebooking the same machine
If the same excavator is on near-permanent hire, you are already running it like you own it. That is the signal to price a purchase.
Availability on your terms
An owned machine is on your yard when the job starts. No depot queue, no cross-hire scramble when the busy season hits.
Maintenance risk stays with hire
Hire usually includes servicing and a swap-out when a machine goes down. Own it and you carry the maintenance, so put that in your comparison honestly.
Equity instead of receipts
Every repayment builds towards an asset you can work, sell or trade. Hire payments buy you nothing once the machine goes back.
Why businesses choose Ventas
One application, 40+ lenders
You apply once and we take the deal to the lenders most likely to say yes at the best rate, instead of you chasing banks between site visits.
Low-doc and no-doc options
Plenty of excavator deals settle without full financials. For established ABNs with a clean history, we can often arrange finance on minimal paperwork.
A straight answer either way
We are not here to force a purchase. If hire genuinely suits your job, we will say so, and pricing the buy side costs nothing and has no impact on your credit score.
Run your numbers before the next hire invoice lands
Take your current weekly hire rate, get a repayment quote on the machine you would actually buy, and compare the two. The estimator on this page gives you a starting point, and a quick call gets you a firm figure quoted across the panel. There is nothing to pay and no impact on your credit score.
Free repayment estimator
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Estimate only and not an offer of finance. Actual rates, terms and repayments depend on the asset, the lender and your circumstances. Get a free rate quote for real numbers.
Get my real numbersExcavator finance for operators across
We arrange excavator and earthmoving finance for civil contractors, landscapers, plumbers, demolition crews and owner-operators right across the country. Wherever you dig, the application is the same and most approvals land within 24 to 48 hours.
Common questions
Excavator Hire vs Buy, explained
How many days a month do I need the excavator before buying beats hire?
There is no single magic number, because hire rates and machine prices vary too much between regions and size classes. As a rule of thumb, occasional short jobs favour hire, while a machine that works most weeks usually favours ownership. The honest test is your own paperwork: put your last few months of hire invoices next to a repayment quote and see which is bigger.
Can I finance a used excavator?
Yes. We arrange finance for new and used excavators, including purchases from dealers, auctions and private sellers, depending on the lender and the asset. Used and private-sale deals are common in earthmoving, and several lenders on our panel handle them routinely.
Do I need a deposit to buy an excavator on finance?
Not always. There are no-deposit options on our panel depending on your trading history and the asset, so putting money down is a choice rather than a requirement for many deals. If you would rather keep cash in the business, tell us and we will quote it that way.
Will getting a quote affect my credit score?
No. Getting a quote has no impact on your credit score, so you can price the buy side of the comparison with nothing at stake. You only move forward if the numbers beat your hire bill.
What about the tax treatment of hiring versus buying?
Hire charges and finance repayments are treated differently for tax, and the right structure depends on your business. We arrange the finance, we do not give tax advice, so talk to your accountant before you decide. We are happy to work alongside them on the numbers.
If I decide to buy, how fast can it happen?
Most equipment approvals come back within 24 to 48 hours. That matters with used machines, which sell quickly when they are priced well. One application covers our panel of 40 plus lenders and there are no upfront fees.