A finance partner for plant and construction equipment dealers
We work alongside plant dealers and machinery suppliers so their customers have a funding route at the point of sale — including the deals a high-street bank has already turned down. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
- One named contact, not a call centre queue
- Single machines through to multi-unit hire fleet orders
- Declined-by-the-bank deals assessed properly, not dismissed
- Credit broker, not a lender — 60+ funders searched
Most plant dealers lose a proportion of otherwise sound orders to funding rather than to price or specification. The customer wants the machine, has agreed the deal, and then the finance falls over — either because their bank declines, because the decision takes three weeks that the customer does not have, or because nobody in the transaction knows which lenders will actually look at a twelve-year-old excavator bought at auction.
CW Asset Finance is an independent, whole-of-market credit broker based in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire. We are a credit broker, not a lender, and we are an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited (FCA FRN 630701). We arrange hire purchase, lease and refinance facilities for businesses buying plant and construction equipment, and we work with dealers who want a consistent funding route to offer customers rather than a different broker on every deal.
What that looks like in practice is unglamorous and useful: a named person who answers the phone, an honest read on whether a deal is placeable before anything is submitted, and a straight answer when it is not. No finance outcome is ever certain — every facility is subject to status, affordability and lender approval — but a dealer knowing early which way a deal is likely to go is worth more than optimism.
A contractor buying one machine is not a hire firm buying ten
Plant dealers sell into two quite different customers, and lenders read them differently. Treating both as “a plant deal” is where funding tends to come unstuck.
- The contractor buying one machine. Typically a groundworks or civils firm replacing a machine or adding capacity for a specific job. The lender is assessing a trading business, its filed accounts and its ability to service one agreement. The questions are about affordability, trading history and whether the machine supports the work the business already has.
- The hire company buying a fleet. A hire firm ordering six or ten units is a fundamentally different underwrite. The lender is looking at aggregate exposure across the fleet, existing facilities with other funders, utilisation rates, and how the business is capitalised. Some lenders have a hard ceiling on total exposure to one customer; others are comfortable with fleet-scale lending but want to see the hire desk numbers behind it.
Hire fleet buyers also think in terms the finance market has to accommodate. Their revenue is driven by utilisation, and CPA contract terms mean the hirer carries certain obligations while the machine sits on site. A fleet buyer will want the repayment profile to sit sensibly against the revenue the units are expected to produce, and will often want the flexibility to add units to an existing facility rather than start again each time. Getting the structure right at the outset is usually more valuable to them than shaving a small amount off the monthly figure.
Seasonality matters too. Groundworks and external civils work is weather-exposed, and cash tends to be tighter through the winter months than it is in a dry summer. Where a lender will allow it, structuring around that — for example with a deposit and term that reflect the customer’s actual trading pattern rather than a flat assumption of even monthly income — makes the agreement more likely to run cleanly to the end. Available structures vary by lender and by customer, and are subject to approval.
Residual value, brand depth and the used market
Asset finance is secured against the machine, so the lender’s view of what the asset is worth if it has to be recovered and sold does real work in the decision. This is where plant behaves differently from most other business assets, and where a dealer’s knowledge is genuinely useful to the funder.
Mainstream excavator, telehandler, dumper and roller brands with a deep UK used market are straightforward for lenders to value. There is auction evidence, there are trade guides, and there are buyers. That depth is why a lender can sometimes take a view on a customer whose credit profile is imperfect: the security is liquid, and liquidity offsets risk. Older machines, low-volume brands, grey imports and heavily bespoke attachments are harder — not because they are bad machines, but because the funder has less evidence of what they would fetch.
- Age and hours. Most lenders work to a maximum age at the end of the agreement rather than at the start, which is what determines the term available on a used machine.
- Provenance. Auction and trade purchases are fundable, but the paperwork trail matters more, and some funders will not lend on private sales at all.
- Attachments and ancillaries. Buckets, breakers, hitches and telematics can often be included in the facility, though treatment varies by lender.
- Specification. A well-specified mainstream machine holds value more predictably than an unusual configuration, which affects both appetite and the deposit a lender wants.
If you can tell us the make, model, year, hours and where the machine is coming from at the point of enquiry, we can usually tell you quickly whether it sits inside normal lender appetite or whether it needs placing with a specialist funder.
When your customer’s bank says no
This is where a broker earns their place in a dealer’s process. A customer who has been declined by their own bank has usually already decided they cannot have the machine, and the dealer has usually already written the order off. In a meaningful number of cases that conclusion is wrong.
High-street banks assess business finance largely through automated credit scorecards tuned to a narrow profile: three years of filed accounts, even monthly turnover, a clean credit file, a familiar asset. A groundworks contractor with two years of trading, lumpy seasonal income, a settled CCJ from 2023 and a used machine bought at auction can fail that filter on four separate counts while being a perfectly sound business. The decline reflects the bank’s scorecard, not the market’s appetite.
Specialist asset finance lenders assess the same deal differently. Many underwrite by hand, give weight to the machine’s resale market, take a view on the customer’s sector experience, and read context that a scorecard cannot. That is why an application declined in one place can be placed in another. It is not certain, and we will not pretend otherwise — every case remains subject to status, affordability and lender approval — but for a dealer it means a declined deal is worth one phone call before it is written off.
Two practical points worth passing to any customer who has been declined. First, they should stop applying: each full application typically leaves a hard search on the credit file, and a cluster of searches in a short period is itself read as a risk signal by the next lender. Two or three speculative applications can turn a placeable deal into an unplaceable one. Second, they should find out the actual reason for the decline, because the reason determines which funders are worth approaching. We would rather have that conversation before anything is submitted than clean up afterwards.
What working together would involve
Every dealer runs their sales floor differently, so we would rather agree an arrangement that fits yours than push a standard template at you. In practice, most dealer relationships sit somewhere between two ends of a spectrum.
- A named broker you point customers towards. The simplest arrangement. When a customer needs funding, or when their bank has declined them, you pass on our details or make an introduction, and we deal directly with the customer from there. You stay informed on progress so you know where the order stands.
- A closer point-of-sale arrangement. Where you want finance presented as part of the sale rather than as an afterthought, the arrangement is more involved — and so are the regulatory requirements attached to it.
That second point needs stating plainly rather than glossed over. Depending on how the introductions are made, what is said to the customer, and whether the customer’s finance is regulated, a dealer introducing customers for credit may need to be appointed as an Introducer Appointed Representative under an FCA-authorised principal. That appointment carries obligations on both sides — on what may be said to customers, on record keeping, and on how introductions are handled.
We will talk you through what an arrangement would involve, including any FCA appointment required, before anything is set up, and we will be clear about how we are paid and about the commission disclosure obligations that come with it. If a formal appointment is not appropriate for your business, a straightforward referral relationship may be. Either way, you should know exactly what you are entering into first.
Common questions
Can a broker help when my customer’s bank has declined their machine finance?
Often, yes. Banks assess business finance largely by automated scorecard, while many specialist asset finance lenders underwrite manually and give real weight to the machine’s resale value and the customer’s sector experience. A decline from one lender reflects that lender’s appetite rather than the whole market’s. We search 60+ funders and will give you a straight read on whether the deal is placeable, usually before anything is formally submitted. No outcome is certain — all finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval — but a declined order is worth a call before you write it off.
Do you fund used and auction-bought plant?
Yes, subject to lender appetite. Used plant is a normal part of this market and mainstream excavators, telehandlers, dumpers and rollers with a deep UK resale market are straightforward for most funders to value. Age is usually assessed at the end of the agreement rather than the start, which is what determines the term available. Auction and trade purchases are fundable, though the paperwork trail matters more and some lenders will not lend on private sales. Tell us make, model, year, hours and source at enquiry and we can usually place it quickly.
How do you handle a hire company buying several machines at once?
Differently from a single-machine deal, because the underwrite is different. A fleet order means the lender is assessing aggregate exposure to one customer, existing facilities with other funders, how the business is capitalised and what its utilisation looks like. Some lenders cap total exposure to a single customer; others are comfortable at fleet scale but want to see the numbers behind the hire desk. We would look at whether the order is best placed with one funder or split, and at whether the repayment profile sits sensibly against expected utilisation. Subject to status and lender approval.
How quickly can a plant finance decision come back?
It depends on the customer, the asset and the lender. A limited company with filed accounts, a clean credit profile and a mainstream machine can move quickly. A more complex case — adverse credit, thin trading history, an unusual asset, or a fleet-scale exposure — needs manual underwriting and takes longer, because someone is genuinely reading it. We will tell you at the outset which of those two your deal looks like, so you can manage the customer’s expectations rather than guess at them.
What would a dealer introducer arrangement with CW Asset Finance involve?
That depends on how closely you want finance tied into your sales process. At the simplest end, you introduce customers to us and we deal with them directly. A closer point-of-sale arrangement brings regulatory requirements with it: depending on how introductions are made and whether the customer’s finance is regulated, a dealer may need to be appointed as an Introducer Appointed Representative under an FCA-authorised principal. We will talk you through what an arrangement would involve, including any FCA appointment required, and how we are paid, before anything is agreed.
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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.
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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).