A steel shipping container is about as close to a perfect funding asset as construction gets: indestructible, identifiable and sellable anywhere.
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Yes, and containers are one of the simplest assets in this sector to fund. Every box carries a unique container number, the steel lasts decades, and there is a worldwide trade in used units, so a funder’s recovery position is unusually strong. Hire purchase is standard, and containers are typically funded in batches on a single schedule. Funders will ask whether you are buying one-trip units or used stock, whether they are being converted or fitted out, and whether the boxes are going into your own yard or out on hire.
Used kit: Yes — used containers are the norm rather than the exception, and funders will support boxes twenty years old and beyond where the floor and doors are sound.
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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).
Containers are the one asset here where funders barely worry about the asset at all. The box is standard, the number is stamped into the steel, and second-hand pricing is published and internationally referenced, so valuation is easy and disputes are rare. Attention shifts instead to what you are doing with them. Plain boxes on your own land are a simple lend. Units heavily converted into offices, workshops or accommodation are less standard and worth less at resale than the conversion cost implies, so funders discount the fit-out. Container parks built as self-storage are assessed more like a hire fleet, with occupancy and rental income examined alongside the accounts.
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 |
|---|---|
| Mobile Mini Secure Store | Steel container with security locking |
| Mobile Mini Ten Foot Store | Compact steel site store container |
| Wernick Steel Store | Steel store unit for tools and plant |
| Wernick Container Conversion | Container converted to workshop or office |
| Elliott Storage Container | Steel storage container for sites |
| Portakabin Secure Store | Steel clad secure storage unit |
| Boss Cabins Container Store | Steel store with anti vandal shutters |
| Thurston Storage Unit | Steel framed site storage container |
| Garic Site Storage Container | Site store container for compounds |
| Algeco Storage Module | Modular steel storage container |
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Builders wanting a secure store on site, self-storage operators building out container parks, and container hire firms restocking. Farms and estates buy them too. The usual trigger is a theft or a lease-end: tools go missing from a timber shed, or a business loses its unit and finds that a row of containers on its own yard costs less than renting a warehouse bay.
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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.
By the container number stamped and painted on the unit, which is unique and internationally issued. It goes on the finance schedule in the same way a chassis number would on a vehicle. That traceability is one of the main reasons containers underwrite so easily compared with other site assets.
One-trip units look far better and command a premium, which matters if you are hiring them out or putting them on a customer-facing site. Used cargo-worthy boxes cost less and do the same job for storage. Funders are comfortable with either, so the choice is commercial rather than a funding constraint.
Yes, although the funder may look at the conversion and the box separately. A heavily specified conversion rarely returns its cost at resale, so some funders will fund the container generously and the fit-out more cautiously. Keeping the conversion to recognised, resellable specifications helps considerably.
Yes, and it is a well-established use of this finance. The assessment leans on occupancy levels, average rental per unit and the planning position of the site, because repayment comes from storage income rather than from trading elsewhere. Operators with an existing site to point at find it much easier.
Under almost every agreement, yes. The units are your security and funders restrict their export. Ironically containers are the easiest asset to move abroad, so this is one of the few clauses funders in this sector police actively. Tell your broker up front if any cross-border movement is intended.
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Not an offer of finance. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 07581 364281 · serving Leeds, York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Selby, Tadcaster & across North & West Yorkshire.