Not always but usually. Sometimes a copier lease is padded with a lot of overpriced service and toner on a used copier. The best way to prevent that is ask to look at the service/toner agreement separately as well as included in the lease. A quick comparison will usually reveal whether you are being gouged.
Assuming you are dealing with a reputable copier dealer and most copier companies are, you will save money with a used or refurbished copier. However, there’s a two tiered market here. For example, if you’re talking to a dealer focused on new copiers they will quote a new one for $10,000 and a refurbished one for $5,000. Seems like a dramatic savings.
However, if you’re talking to a copier company focused on the used market you’re likely to get the same coper for $4,000. Why? They don’t have the luxury of comparing it to a higher priced new one. Plus, they are usually a smaller company with less overhead and can pass on the savings. There are exceptions of course. Some people will charge whatever the traffic will bear. If your intuition senses that just tell the sales rep you want to get a few competitive quotes before making a decision.
One of the false claims made by copier companies focused on new is that tax deductions are only available on the new ones and that makes them cheaper. I checked with my CPA and he assured me the same tax deduction for office copiers is available for used as well.
Some companies focused on selling new will offer a very low service rate for the first year or two. Usually, this is irrelevant unless you are very high volume and the saving of 3 mills per copy or print will erase the equipment cost difference of thousands dollars between new and used.
In summary, the larger and faster the copier; the more dramatic the savings between new and used. However, it’s a different story on the smaller MFPs. The new small copiers such as the A4 copiers from Kyocera are actually a better deal than the equivalent used model. When that happens we quote one of the small new ones from our other company; A4copersaustin.com. Manufacturers such as Kyocera are offering quite a lot of features as standard equipment on these new small ones which is how they get the price advantage.
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