Asset finance for forestry and arb equipment dealers
Forestry and arboriculture kit is expensive, specialised and poorly understood by mainstream lenders. We work with dealers who need a finance route that does not fall over at the first unfamiliar asset. Subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
- Chippers, stump grinders, harvesters, forwarders and cranes
- Small arb contractors and owner-operator businesses
- A second look at deals the bank has declined
- Sector-aware funders, not generic scoring models
CW Asset Finance is an asset finance broker based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, working with forestry and arboriculture equipment dealers across the UK. We are a credit broker and not a lender. We do not lend our own money; we put a proposal to funders who do, and every agreement is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Forestry is a genuinely awkward sector to fund, and most brokers avoid it. The assets are high in value, low in volume and narrow in application. A tracked harvester with a measuring head, a forwarder, a mobile chipper on a demanding duty cycle, a grapple crane and timber trailer, a firewood processor, a mulcher, a specialist tracked chipper for restricted access work — these are not assets a generic credit team can price from a lookup table. When a lender cannot easily picture who else would buy the machine if things went wrong, the default answer tends to be no.
Arboriculture has a second problem layered on top. A very large proportion of arb businesses are small: a few crews, a chipper, a tipper, a climber or two and an owner who is also the estimator, the operator and the bookkeeper. Their accounts are modest by design and their trading history is often short. That profile is exactly what an automated credit score is worst at reading, even when the business is busy, profitable and holding a healthy order book.
We are an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 630701, and members of the NACFB.
Why forestry and arb assets trip up mainstream lenders
Asset finance decisions rest on two things: the customer and the machine. In forestry, it is very often the machine that causes the problem, and that catches dealers out because the customer looks perfectly reasonable.
A mainstream funder assessing a piece of kit wants to know what it would fetch if they had to recover and sell it. For a van or a mid-range excavator that is a simple question with a well-evidenced answer. For a six-wheel forwarder, a purpose-built firewood processor or a tracked chipper built for restricted access, the resale market is thin, geographically scattered and slow. Fewer buyers, longer selling periods, more specialist handling. A credit team without sector experience sees uncertainty and declines, even where the machine is well built, in demand among the people who actually use it, and holding its value perfectly well within the trade.
Assets we regularly see dealers needing funded include:
- Wood chippers, from towed road-tow units to large tracked and crane-fed machines
- Stump grinders and mulchers
- Harvesters, harvesting heads, forwarders and skidders
- Timber cranes, grapples, timber trailers and forestry-spec tractors and guarding
- Firewood processors, splitters, saw benches and screening kit
- Chip tippers, arb tippers, low-loaders and plant trailers
- MEWPs and tracked access platforms used by arb crews
- Winches, rigging equipment and workshop kit purchased alongside a main asset
The point is not that these assets are unfundable. It is that they need to reach a funder who understands them. Placing them with the right desk, and presenting the asset properly rather than leaving the credit team to guess, is most of the work.
Small arb businesses and short trading histories
The typical arb customer standing in your showroom is a limited company two or three years old, or a sole trader who has been climbing for fifteen years and only recently started buying serious kit. They are busy. They turn work away. Their filed accounts are abbreviated and show a modest profit because the owner takes a sensible salary and reinvests the rest. Their bank looks at the file and sees thin history, low retained profit and a specialist asset, and the score comes back short.
What that assessment misses is everything that makes the business good: repeat work with local authorities or utilities, established subcontracting relationships with tree surgery and land management firms, storm and reactive work, and an owner who has been doing this competently for years before incorporating. A funder that engages with the sector can weigh those things. An automated model cannot.
Circumstances we are comfortable looking at, always subject to status and lender approval, include:
- Newly incorporated businesses where the owner has a long trading history behind them
- Sole traders and partnerships as well as limited companies
- Businesses with limited filed accounts but demonstrable current work
- Customers wanting to fund a first significant machine rather than continue hiring
- Owners with some historic credit difficulty who are trading soundly now
We will not tell you that any of this is straightforward or that every case succeeds, because it is not and they do not. We will tell you that these cases are worth putting forward rather than assuming they are hopeless.
Rescuing a deal after a bank decline
Here is the situation every forestry and arb dealer recognises. A contractor has specified a machine, agreed a price and gone to their bank. A week or two later the enthusiasm has drained out of the conversation. The bank has declined, or offered an overdraft extension instead of a proper facility, or come back with a term that makes no sense against the working life of the machine. The customer is embarrassed, stops returning calls, and the sale quietly disappears.
Placing deals for customers who have been declined by their bank is central to what we do. A decline from a high-street lender is very often a comment on the model, not the business. Common triggers are exactly the things that describe a healthy arb or forestry operation: a short incorporated history, seasonal revenue swings between winter felling and quieter summer months, an asset the credit team cannot value, or a customer whose personal and business finances are closely intertwined as they are in most owner-operator businesses.
For your dealership, working with a broker who takes declined cases means:
- A machine that would otherwise go back into stock stays sold
- Your customer gets a second, properly considered assessment rather than a flat no
- You get a clear answer quickly, so you are not holding a unit indefinitely on a maybe
- Where a deal genuinely cannot be placed, we say so plainly and explain why
To be explicit, because this is a financial promotion and it matters: we cannot promise that a declined deal will be placed, and nothing on this page should be read as suggesting finance is certain or that any customer will be accepted. Every proposal is subject to status, affordability, the asset and lender approval. The realistic claim is simply that a bank decline is not the same as an unfundable customer, and it costs nothing to find out which one you are dealing with.
Working with us as a dealer
How we work with a dealership depends on what suits you. Some dealers pass on our contact details and step back. Some want to introduce customers formally as part of the sales process. Some want a finance option discussed at the demo stage so that price is never the reason a conversation stops.
We need to be straight with you about the regulatory side. Where a dealer introduces customers to a broker or lender for credit, that introduction can itself be a regulated activity, and depending on the customer and the type of agreement your business may need to be appointed as an Introducer Appointed Representative under an authorised principal. It is not simply a case of passing over referrals in exchange for a payment, and any arrangement has to be set up properly.
The practical step is a conversation. Tell us how you would like finance to fit into the way you sell, and we will talk you through what an arrangement would involve, including any FCA appointment required and where responsibilities would sit. If a formal arrangement is not right for your business, we will say so, and we can still help your customers directly.
What we can do for your dealership in the meantime:
- Speak to a customer while they are still on site, before enthusiasm cools
- Give you an early, honest read on whether a case is likely to be workable
- Present the asset properly to funders, rather than leaving a credit team to guess at a niche machine
- Deal with the funder paperwork so your staff can get back to selling
- Look at refinance on machines a customer already owns, where they need working capital alongside a purchase
CW Asset Finance is a trading name of Conor Hull, an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701). We act as a credit broker and not a lender, and we may receive a commission from the lender for arranging finance. Details of any commission arrangement are available on request.
Common questions
Do lenders actually understand forestry machinery?
Some do and most do not. That is the whole reason a broker is useful in this sector. A generic credit team assessing a forwarder or a large tracked chipper has no reliable way to judge what the machine is worth or how quickly it would sell, so uncertainty pushes them towards a decline. Funders with genuine plant and forestry experience assess the same asset very differently. Our job is to get the proposal to a desk that recognises the machine and to present the asset properly rather than leaving it to guesswork. Approval always remains subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Can you finance a used harvester, forwarder or specialist chipper?
We can look at it, subject to status, the asset and lender approval. Used forestry kit is harder than used agricultural or construction equipment because the resale market is thinner and slower, so funder appetite varies a lot by machine type, age, hours and manufacturer. Machines from well-known makes with an established following are considerably easier than one-off or heavily bespoke builds. Send us the specification, hours, age and asking price early and we will give you a realistic read on whether it is placeable before your customer gets their hopes up.
My customer is a small arb business with two years of accounts. Is that a problem?
It is a common profile rather than an automatic barrier. Most arb businesses are small, owner-operated and reinvest rather than showing large retained profits, which is precisely what an automated credit score handles badly. What helps is context: how long the owner was trading before incorporating, the nature of their work, whether they hold repeat contracts with councils, utilities or larger tree firms, and what the current order book looks like. We would rather have that conversation than have you assume the case is not worth submitting. As always, the outcome depends on status, affordability and lender approval.
What happens when the bank declines a chipper or tipper purchase?
Send it to us before you release the unit back into stock. Bank declines in this sector are frequently driven by things that do not reflect the health of the business: a short incorporated history, seasonal revenue swings between winter and summer work, an asset the credit team cannot value, or the close mix of personal and business finances normal in an owner-operator company. A specialist funder will weigh the machine as security and look at the trading picture properly. We cannot promise a placement and no outcome is certain, but a bank decline is not the same thing as an unfundable customer.
How would a dealer introducer arrangement work in practice?
That depends on how involved you want to be and on your own regulatory position. Introducing customers for credit can be a regulated activity in its own right, and depending on the customer and the type of agreement your dealership may need to be appointed as an Introducer Appointed Representative under an authorised principal. It is not simply a matter of passing over names. The right starting point is a conversation about how you would like finance to sit within your sales process, after which we will talk you through what an arrangement would involve, including any FCA appointment required and where the responsibilities would sit.
Other sectors
Start a conversation
Tell us what you sell and the kind of deals you struggle to place. We will come back on whether we are a useful partner — and say so plainly if we are not.
Talk to us about a partnership
One reply, from Conor himself, usually the same working day.
CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds an agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. Nothing on this page is a quote or an offer of finance, and no outcome on any application is implied or promised. Any introducer arrangement is subject to the appropriate regulatory permissions being in place, which we will discuss with you before it begins. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).