Asset finance for Northern Ireland machinery and equipment dealers

Starting on a forecourt, and why it matters to you

Conor’s first job was at Sammy Mellon’s Hyundai of Bangor. That is not a line of biography for the sake of it — it changes what it is like to deal with us.

Anyone who has worked in a dealership knows the specific shape of the problem. A customer who is keen on Tuesday is lukewarm by Friday. A unit sitting on the yard is costing money every week it does not move. A finance company that takes ten days to answer has effectively declined the deal whatever it eventually says. Sales staff do not want to become finance administrators, and they should not have to be.

So the things we try to get right are the things that were frustrating from the other side of the desk:

• Answer the phone. Not a portal, a ticket number and a callback window.
• Say no quickly when it is a no. A fast decline is worth more to a dealer than a slow maybe, because it frees the unit and the salesperson.
• Speak to the customer while they are still with you. The deal is never more likely to close than at that moment.
• Keep the sales team out of the paperwork. The funder conversation is our job, not theirs.

None of that makes finance certain. Everything remains subject to status, affordability and lender approval. It just means the process is run by someone who has seen what a badly handled finance case does to a dealership’s month.

Small family farms, machine size and the local manufacturing base

Farming in Northern Ireland is dominated by family businesses, and holdings are typically smaller in acreage than the GB average. That has a direct effect on what your customers buy. Machines tend to be specified for smaller fields, tighter yards and steeper or wetter ground, and the average ticket size is correspondingly lower than a broker used to large arable units in the east of England might expect. That is not a weakness in the market, but it does mean the funder needs to be one that is happy writing sensible mid-sized agreements efficiently rather than only chasing large deals.

Farm income in Northern Ireland is also concentrated in livestock and dairy, which produces a very different cash flow shape from a combinable crops business. Milk cheques, weanling and store sales, factory prices and input costs all move on their own timetable, and a flat monthly payment profile written in January can be genuinely awkward later in the year. Depending on the funder and the customer’s circumstances, we can ask for seasonal or annual profiles, deferred first payments while a machine starts earning, balloon structures on assets with predictable resale value, or a term matched to the realistic working life of the machine. None of that is automatic. It is a request we put to a funder on the customer’s behalf, and the funder decides.

Northern Ireland also has a genuine agricultural engineering and manufacturing base of its own, including a well-known cluster of trailer and machinery manufacturers. Dealers there often sell locally built kit alongside imported mainstream brands, and that is worth flagging to a funder rather than leaving them to work it out. Assets we regularly look at for Northern Ireland dealers include:

• Tractors, loaders and telehandlers, new and used
• Silage and grassland kit, mowers, rakes, balers and wrappers
• Slurry tankers, umbilical systems, spreaders and low-emission application equipment
• Livestock handling, feeding, bedding and diet feeders
• Trailers of all kinds, including locally manufactured units
• Excavators, dumpers and site machinery sold into agricultural and civils customers
• Vans and pick-ups bought alongside a main machine
• Refinance of machinery a customer already owns outright, where working capital is the need

Everything remains subject to status, affordability, the asset and lender approval, and not every proposal will be placed.

Working with your dealership, and where the FCA line sits

Dealers work with us in different ways. Some simply pass on our details and step back. Some want to introduce customers formally so that finance is part of the sales conversation from the first demo. Some want us to speak to a customer while they are still on the premises, which is almost always when a deal is most likely to close.

There is a regulatory point here that deserves a straight explanation rather than a shrug. Most business asset finance written for limited companies is unregulated lending, so for a great many dealers the permission question simply does not arise. Where it does arise is with regulated agreements, which in practice means certain sole traders, partnerships and individuals rather than corporate customers. If your dealership wants to introduce those customers for regulated credit, the introducing business may need to be appointed as an Introducer Appointed Representative. The appointment is made by the authorised principal, so a dealer would become an Introducer Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, introduced through CW Asset Finance. It is not an appointment we could make ourselves, and it is not a matter of passing over names in exchange for a payment.

Where that is the route you want, we set you up with Rural and then deal with the enquiries ourselves once you introduce them. You are not taking on a finance department.

The sensible first step is a conversation, and if the timing suits it can be a conversation in person on the next monthly visit rather than over the phone. In the meantime, what we can do for a Northern Ireland dealership:

• Speak to your customer the same day, by phone, while the enthusiasm is still there
• Give you an early view on whether a case looks straightforward, difficult or unlikely
• Take a second look at customers whose own bank has already declined them
• Present the asset properly to funders, rather than leaving a credit team guessing at unfamiliar kit
• Handle the funder paperwork and e-signature process so your sales staff are not chasing lenders

We should be clear about what we are not saying. We do not promise that any customer will be accepted, and no outcome is certain. Every proposal is subject to status, affordability, the asset and lender approval. 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.