Chances are you already are aware of many of the advantages of business equipment leasing over purchasing your equipment outright. Not only does it keep your outgoing cash down, allowing you to use your cash flow for other things, but it also offers you significant tax advantages. Namely, you are able to write off the entire expense of business equipment leasing, rather than only being able to write off the loss of value if you owned the equipment outright.In today’s fast paced business world, leasing simply makes more sense in many situations than buying business equipment. After all, why purchase computer systems that are going to obsolete before you’re done paying for them? Leasing keeps your operating costs down while also allowing you to upgrade your equipment more frequently.What many may not know about equipment leasing, however, is that the market is highly competitive. Even in economic conditions that make it difficult to receive bank loans, business equipment leasing companies are more than happy to compete for your business.Regardless of what type of equipment you’re looking for, chances are the company that sells the equipment has a leasing company that they work with directly. What many people don’t know is that the company selling the equipment is not directly tied to the leasing company. They are separate entities.The Equipment Leasing ProcessBusiness equipment leasing works like this: The equipment is actually purchased by the leasing company. They then lease it to you for the agreed upon term, after which you may, generally speaking, opt to purchase the equipment, extend your lease, or give the equipment back to the leasing company.The company that actually makes and sells the equipment gets their share regardless of what happens after you have leased the equipment. Therefore, they don’t really care which leasing company you use. The main reason they offer to broker a lease for you in the first place is because the convenience of having on site leasing helps them to get the sale while you’re still there.Convenient as it is, though, you shouldn’t take the first lease offer until you have shopped around a little. Just like you would shop banks for the best rate on a mortgage or car loan, you can shop leasing companies for the best rates and most favorable terms for your business equipment leasing needs.Your Options Are NumerousEquipment leasing is a huge business and it’s not exactly one size fits all. Make sure you review all the terms of any lease you are considering, as some leases offer better terms than others. While the interest rate and payment terms are certainly important, they’re not the only thing you need to consider. You will want to compare the buyout options, upgrade or technology refresh options, and end of term options.Which options are important to you depends on what type of equipment you are leasing, how long you plan on using the equipment, and how often the equipment should be upgraded. For example, if you are leasing dump trucks, chances are that there won’t be many major upgrades in dump truck technology in the immediate future, so you may want to consider a lease which has a longer term or favorable buyout options. On the other hand, if you’re leasing state of the art computer systems (which will be out of date by the time your staff figures out how to use them properly) you may be more concerned about the technology refresh options.The bottom line is this: there are many business equipment leasing companies, and most companies have no trouble finding someone who is willing to lease equipment to them. So, like any other financial transaction, when equipment leasing makes sense for your business, it also makes sense to take your time, shop around, and get the most favorable rates and terms which best suit your particular needs.