Metro Magazine

AUG 2014

Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904

Issue link: https://metromag.epubxp.com/i/374944

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 86 of 93

AUGUST 2014 BUS OPS A9 BUSINESS TIPS B uyer's remorse is a term that should not be in an operator's vocabulary. While making a sound deci- sion on which vehicle to purchase is huge for an operation, the process of fnancing that vehicle can be incredibly stressful for the operator. METRO Magazine gathered a few fnancing tips to consider from two of the industry's leaders. 1 / Choose a lender familiar with the industry. It might be natural for some people to think they should sim- ply deal with the local bank where they have their personal checking or savings accounts, but fnancing a shuttle bus or other mid-sized vehicle may not be the type of business banks typically deal in. For this reason, it is best to select a lender, such as Advantage Funding or TCF Equipment Finance, that is familiar with your industry. "There is no widely known Blue Book on buses, so banks don't know their value. Therefore, banks may walk an operator through a lot of unnecessary hoops and questions," explains Dan Boie, fnance manager/assistant VP, at TCF. "On the fip- side, you can come to a lender like TCF or others familiar with the business and get a half-million dollar deal done in a day with one-tenth of the questions." Boie adds because a bank is not familiar with the equip- ment being purchased, many times operators may not receive a favorable interest rate, or get offered such short terms that the fnancing of the vehicle is unaffordable. "Anything the bank doesn't understand they become very conservative on, so the speed in which they need to move is challenged at best," adds Don Coolbaugh, VP, sales, at Advan- tage Funding. "Many times their conservative approach will lead to them to not be able to give an operator the structure, the type of funding, and/or the service they need because they just don't want to fund to the collateral." A lenders familiarity with the vehicles and the industry also allows them to be able to sit down with an operator and dis- cuss such things as lifecycle costs versus fnancing terms, and for larger operators, develop a feet purchasing plan. "If you are running 50, 60 or 70 pieces of equipment, you really need to have a thoughtful approach to how you repur- chase or purchase new or replacement equipment and how that gets fnanced and put on your books, in terms of fnanc- ing, cash fow, taxing and overall exposure, so you don't get caught up getting to the top line of your banks' lending limits," adds Coolbaugh. Aside from experience and knowledge, another key to se- lecting a lender with knowledge of the industry is developing a partnership that will make the purchase of your next vehicle that much simpler. 2 / Know your credit score and history… and be honest. As with any loan process, it is important to know how good or bad your own credit is as well as the credit history of any partner(s) you may have. "If you are going to partner with somebody know their credit history," says Boie. "Many times, I've seen that people will partner, go through the legwork of forming a corporation and even secure contracts, only to come in to purchase their frst bus and fnd out their partner has horrible credit. It may be a diffcult conversation to approach, but if you have good credit and you partner with someone with bad credit, you will never get your business off the ground." At www.annualcreditreport.com you can attain your credit scores from all three of the major credit bureaus — Experian, TransUnion and Equifax — free of charge. Once you know your credit standing, as well as your partners, another tip is to be straightforward with your lender. Both Boie and Coolbaugh say if you or your partner has had issues in the past, such as a bankruptcy, a foreclosure or tax liens, it is best to be honest with your lender and explain the situation and what you are doing to get back on track. "You can't just hope that those things will mysteriously not show up when we pull credit," says Boie. "It is always best to just be upfront and honest about who and what you are." 3 / Know what you'll need to provide and prepare a clean package. Each lender will differ slightly, but typically if an established operation is looking to borrow up to around $200,000 to $250,000 they will need to provide a credit application and three months of business bank statements. As that amount goes up, so does the information an operation will need to pro- vide. It is important at that point to be organized and present a nice, clean package to the lender. "The completeness and neatness of your package is so im- portant," says Coolbaugh. "The bank is going to take about as much care of your application as you did." Both Boie and Coolbaugh also add that as the amount an operator is hoping to fnance goes up, having the additional in- formation you'll need on hand could go a long way in the lender deciding to fnance the vehicle or not. "Having good fnancials available and being able to provide that information in a timely manner is all important," Boie says. "Not having fled the previous year's tax return, for exam- ple, could limit you when you get into the high dollar amounts." Says Coolbaugh: "As you get into the larger dollars, having updated fnancials and being able to provide those records to the bank is a clear sign to the lender that they have a repu- table company on their hands that they will want to get deeper in bed with. For the operator, of course, that means they have a lender or banker on their hands that's willing to give them money to purchase equipment." What You Need to Know Before Financing aVehicle By Alex Roman, Managing Editor

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Metro Magazine - AUG 2014