Forklift & Warehouse Equipment Finance
Forklifts, racking, shelving and mezzanines — fund the full internal fit-out as one facility rather than piece by piece.
- Whole-of-market — 60+ lenders searched
- All credit histories considered
- Decisions in as little as 24 hours
Whole-of-market — 60+ lenders searched, including
Forklift finance and warehouse equipment finance let you fit out or expand a facility without the whole cost landing in one quarter. From a single truck to a complete racking and handling installation, we search 60+ UK lenders and structure the funding around when the space starts earning.
What you can fund
Every asset has its own page: how lenders treat it, what buyers specify, the questions people ask, and what we have actually funded.
| Asset | What it covers | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Counterbalance forklift | The workhorse of most UK warehouses, and one of the most straightforward machines in the building… | Read the guide |
| Electric forklift | Clean, quiet and cheap to run, but on an electric truck the battery is half the… | Read the guide |
| Diesel forklift | The truck of choice wherever the work happens outside, on rough ground, in the rain, and… | Read the guide |
| Gas and LPG forklift | Cheaper to buy than an electric, cleaner than a diesel indoors, and a popular middle option… | Read the guide |
| Reach truck | The truck that makes tall racking pay for itself, reaching into aisles far too narrow for… | Read the guide |
| Manual pallet truck | The cheapest lifting device in the building, and the one item most often bought on the… | Read the guide |
| Powered pallet truck | The first powered machine most warehouses buy, and the one that quietly does more pallet movements… | Read the guide |
| Stacker truck | A compact answer for sites that need to stack two or three pallets high without the… | Read the guide |
| Very narrow aisle truck | Turret and man-up trucks turn a building’s height into usable pallet positions, working aisles barely wider… | Read the guide |
| Order picker | Built for picking cases rather than moving pallets, these trucks earn their keep on lines per… | Read the guide |
| Industrial telehandler | Reach forward as well as up, which turns one machine into a loader, a forklift and… | Read the guide |
| Container handler | The heavy end of materials handling, stacking boxes several high in port yards and inland depots… | Read the guide |
| Side loader | Purpose-built for long loads, carrying timber, steel and pipe lengthways down an aisle that a conventional… | Read the guide |
| Tow tractor | Where a site moves the same route hundreds of times a day, a tug and a… | Read the guide |
| Pallet racking | Racking pays for itself in pallet positions, but once it is bolted to the floor a… | Read the guide |
| Cantilever racking | Armed columns with no front uprights, built for timber, tube and board that would never sit… | Read the guide |
| Mezzanine floor | The cheapest way to double usable floor area without moving building, and the hardest single item… | Read the guide |
| Warehouse shelving | Boltless bays and small-parts storage cost little individually but add up fast when you are fitting… | Read the guide |
| Conveyor system | Once goods move themselves between pick, pack and despatch, labour stops being the thing that limits… | Read the guide |
| Sortation system | Cross-belt, tilt-tray and sliding shoe sorters route many thousands of items an hour to the right… | Read the guide |
| Automated storage and retrieval | Goods-to-person storage that takes the walking out of picking, from a single vertical lift module to… | Read the guide |
| AGV and autonomous mobile robot | Driverless tuggers, pallet movers and picking robots that run the same route all night without a… | Read the guide |
| Pallet wrapper | Turntable and rotary arm wrappers pay back in film savings and load stability long before anyone… | Read the guide |
| Strapping machine | Banding cartons, bundles and pallets faster and tighter than hand tools, with a consistent tension a… | Read the guide |
| Weighing equipment | From a bench scale to a full vehicle weighbridge, an accurate weight underpins despatch records, carrier… | Read the guide |
| Dock leveller | The bridge between trailer and warehouse floor, and the difference between loading a lorry in twenty… | Read the guide |
| Industrial door | Sectional and high-speed doors cut heat loss, speed up traffic flow and keep the weather out… | Read the guide |
| Floor scrubber | A clean warehouse floor is a safety measure as much as a housekeeping one, and a… | Read the guide |
Forklift finance
Forklift finance is the most common warehouse request we see, and one of the easiest to place. A forklift truck holds its value, has a deep resale market and acts as strong security, so lenders are comfortable with it — new or used, counterbalance or reach.
New, used and short-term
Forklift truck finance works on hire purchase if you want to own the machine, or on lease and contract hire if you would rather hand it back and upgrade. Businesses with seasonal peaks often mix the two: owned trucks for baseline work, leased for the busy months.
Racking, shelving and mezzanines
Racking and shelving are fixed installations with limited resale value, so they are usually funded on the strength of the business rather than the asset. Bundling them with a forklift or handling equipment into one facility often improves the terms available on the whole package.
What lenders assess on forklifts
Forklift finance is among the easiest asset classes to place because the security is excellent. Lenders look at make, hours, capacity and mast type. Linde, Toyota, Hyster and Jungheinrich all have deep resale markets. Electric trucks with documented battery condition fund particularly well, since the battery is often the most expensive component.
Electric, gas or diesel
Worth deciding before you fund rather than after. Electric suits indoor work and has lower running costs but needs charging infrastructure, which can also be funded. Gas and diesel suit yard work and multi-shift operation. Battery age is the single biggest variable in a used electric truck’s value.
Handling equipment beyond forklifts
Reach trucks, VNA trucks, pallet trucks, powered pedestrian stackers, order pickers and tow tractors all fund on the same basis. If you are equipping a new facility, funding the handling fleet as one facility is simpler than a series of agreements maturing at different times.
Refinancing handling equipment you own
If capital rather than equipment is the constraint, forklifts owned outright can be refinanced to release cash. Because they hold value and are easy to identify by serial number, they are among the more straightforward assets to raise against.
Funding a full warehouse fit-out
Warehouse equipment finance can cover the entire internal fit-out — racking, mezzanine, conveyors, handling equipment, lighting and safety systems. One facility, one monthly payment, timed so it begins when the space is operational rather than when the contractor invoices.
What to send us
Send us the truck details, or the fit-out specification, and we will come back with which lenders will fund it and over what term. If you already own handling equipment outright, tell us and we will check whether refinancing it releases what you need more cheaply. No credit check to enquire.
How it works
Tell us what you need
One quick conversation about the asset and how the repayments need to work.
We search 60+ lenders
As an independent broker we find the right structure and rate — not one lender’s products.
You get funded
Indicative decisions in as little as 24 hours, then we manage it through to payout.
Estimate your repayments
Asset finance is quoted on a flat rate, so that is what the buttons show, with the equivalent APR beside it. Your exact rate depends on the asset, the term, the deposit and the lender.
Prime is an established, profitable business with clean credit. Specialist covers newer businesses and credit that needs explaining — the asset itself carries part of the risk, which is why finance is often available where an unsecured loan is not.
Representative example: on Hire Purchase, borrowing £25,000 over 48 months at a 5.15% flat rate (equivalent to 9.9% APR representative), you would repay around £628 a month; total amount repayable approximately £30,150, of which £5,150 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 will receive a commission from the lender that funds your agreement. All finance is subject to status, affordability and lender approval.
Rates shown are indicative flat rates with the equivalent APR alongside — the two are not the same number. Indicative only and does not constitute a quote or an offer of finance. Subject to status and lender approval.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get forklift finance on a used truck?
Should I buy or lease a forklift?
Can racking and shelving be financed?
Can a full warehouse fit-out be funded as one agreement?
Do you cover my area?
Get your quote
Tell us what you’re looking to fund and Conor will come back to you personally — usually the same day.
Prefer to talk? Call 0333 772 4864 · serving Leeds, York, Harrogate, Wakefield, Selby, Tadcaster & across North & West Yorkshire.