Leasing companies in Toronto

[andrewr]

I'm thinking about making some equipment purchases this year and I'm looking into leasing as an option. The only leasing company in the Toronto area that I'm familiar with is Equilease, but I was wondering if anybody here could recommend anyone else. Any general comments regarding leasing, good or bad, are also welcome.

Cheers,

Andrew

[Alastair]

I leased the V96C back I am now shooting with. *I decided to lease for a number of reasons, but mostly because for tax reasons. *I can't believe I actually said that - makes it sound like tax planning is something I have to do a lot of. Hardly. However,*it was nice to be able to write the back off sooner, rather than later, using the payments as fully tax-deductible expenses, rather than taking the CCA on the equipment. *The other clincher for me was the 10% buyout at the end of the lease. *It meant that after two years (I wasn't going to lease a piece of digital equipment for any longer) I would be able to purchase the equipment for 10% of its original purchase price. *It works out well that way. *I wouldn't consider leasing if it was like buying a car, where you have this huge payment at the end of the lease in order to take delivery of the car.
Insurance was an issue, as were a couple of other things. *However, all in all I'm happy I didn't have to tie up all that capital - I'll tie it up other ways.

I used Lease Quest for the equipment (to answer your question, Andrew). *My CSR was Andrew Parker, and the number is toll-free 866-696-1221. *I was calling a local 604 number, but I seem to recall that they were based in Winnipeg. *Not sure why...
They do leasing with Beau Photo in Vancouver. *I don't know if they do leasing elsewhere. *Worth giving them a call.
My experience with them was fine. *They were easy to deal with and there were no hidden fees or surprises. (No, I didn't ask for the rust-protector on the camera...)

FWIW.

-Alastair.

[DW Dorken]

Andrew:
I've used Equilease in the past 416.299.6200 and just got some more gear through Blue Chip Leasing 416.481.4525 (signed with Equilease, but they transferred the business to Blue Chip for some unknown reason).

Both have been great to deal with.