A hearing clinic is a room full of instruments plus a booth, and the booth is the bit that behaves least like equipment.
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Yes. Diagnostic audiometers, tympanometers, real ear measurement systems, otoacoustic emission units and video otoscopes are all fundable, and are usually written as one schedule when a clinic is being equipped. Used instruments are fundable through dealers where calibration is current. The awkward item is the sound booth: a modular booth is technically movable but dismantling and relocating one is expensive, and a booth built into the fabric of a room is a fixture with almost no recovery value, so funders treat it closer to a fit-out cost than an instrument.
Used kit: Yes — used audiometers and tympanometers are fundable where a dealer supplies them with a current calibration certificate, typically up to around eight years old.
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Business asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what this shows — with the equivalent APR underneath, because the two are not the same number. A quick guide only; your actual rate depends on the asset, term, deposit and lender.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 6.0% flat rate (equivalent to 11.5% APR representative), you would repay around £646 a month; total amount repayable approximately £31,000, of which £6,000 is the cost of finance. This calculator is for illustration only — it is not a quote or an offer of finance, and the rate and repayments you are offered will depend on the asset, term, deposit and your circumstances. CW Asset Finance is a credit broker, not a lender, and may receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval. CW Asset Finance is an Appointed Representative of Rural Finance Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 630701).
Hearing care is a hybrid in a funder’s eyes: HCPC registration gives professional standing, but the business model is substantially retail, since most income comes from hearing aid sales rather than diagnostic fees. Underwriters therefore look at supplier relationships and margin as much as clinical credentials, and a clinic tied to a single manufacturer can prompt questions about what happens if that relationship ends. Instruments are good security — compact, identifiable, saleable with valid calibration — while booths are not. Calibration matters more here than in most sectors, because an instrument out of calibration is neither usable nor worth much. Applications tend to fail on brand new businesses with no trading history and no guarantor, and on schedules where the booth and room works dwarf the instrument value.
Examples of the machines we are asked to fund. This is not an exhaustive list — if what you are buying is not here, it does not mean we cannot fund it. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.
| Machine | What it is |
|---|---|
| Interacoustics Affinity Compact | Hearing instrument fitting and measurement unit |
| Interacoustics AC40 | Two-channel clinical audiometer for test rooms |
| Interacoustics Titan | Middle ear and otoacoustic emission platform |
| Natus Aurical FreeFit | Real-ear measurement system for fitting |
| Natus Otometrics Madsen Astera2 | Clinical audiometer for test rooms |
| Natus Otoscan | Three-dimensional ear scanning unit |
| Amplivox Otowave 102 | Handheld tympanometer for clinics |
| Amplivox Otosure | Automated screening audiometer for clinic rooms |
| Grason-Stadler AudioStar Pro | Two-channel clinical audiometer for test rooms |
| IAC Acoustics audiometric booths | Sound-treated test rooms for clinics |
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Independent audiologists and hearing aid dispensers setting up their own clinic after leaving a multiple, established clinics adding a second test room or replacing instruments that have become uneconomic to calibrate, and ENT practices adding diagnostic testing in house. Mobile and domiciliary hearing care providers buying portable diagnostic kit are a distinct group with their own considerations. Care home and community hearing services buying portable kit sit in the same category.
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Bought on hire purchase, business plant and machinery normally qualifies for capital allowances on the full cost even though you pay for it monthly, which is a large part of why hire purchase is the common structure. On a finance lease you generally set the rentals against profit instead. The rules change between budgets and your position depends on how you trade, so treat this as the direction of travel and get your accountant to confirm the detail before you commit.
It can be listed, but funders treat it more like a fit-out cost than an instrument because relocating one is expensive and a built-in booth cannot be recovered at all. Modular booths fare better than fixed constructions. Pairing it with instruments on the same schedule helps.
Yes, significantly. An instrument without a current calibration certificate is neither clinically usable nor saleable, so funders want to see one on any second-hand purchase. A dealer supplying calibrated, warranted equipment makes the application considerably smoother than a private sale. Keep the certificates with your records, as funders sometimes ask for them at drawdown.
It is a common route and often fundable, usually with a personal guarantee. Your HCPC registration, your employment history and a secured premises all count. Have a clear picture of your supplier arrangements, because funders will ask how you are sourcing hearing aids. A signed lease on the clinic premises will also move the application along.
No. Hearing aids are stock for resale, not capital equipment, so they belong in working capital rather than an asset agreement. Funders will only capitalise the diagnostic and fitting equipment. If stock funding is the real need, that is a different product entirely. We can look at both alongside each other, but they will not sit on the same agreement.
Yes, and portable diagnostic kit is decent security because it can be recovered. Funders will ask where it is kept and want it insured while in a vehicle. A home-based business with no clinic premises will face more questions than one with a fixed site.
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Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
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