Wizard CMC: Lease (to own) or Rent?

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ahohen1

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:confused: I HAVE (almost) made a final decision to get a Wizard CMC. Would it be better for me to "rent" or "lease (to own)" one? What are the advantages and or disadvantage of both? Please give me your opinion. Thanks.

(Other question: If i "lease to own" or "rent" what IS/IS NOT included in the rent or lease?)
 
If I remember correctly, if you rent the computer has a one year warranty and the Wizard unit is continually under warranty. If you lease, the warranty on the Wizard unit itself expires after a period of time.

Also talk to your accountant about this, but there are two types of leases ...fair market buyout and preset ($1.00) buyouts. They are treated differently for tax purposes. I believe a fair market buyout is a "true" lease and the payments are generally expensed during the accounting period they are paid in. A preset buyout lease is considered a capital lease and the unit must be shown as an asset and depreciated.

Of course, if you rent the rental payments are expensed out too.
 
We went through the same "indecision" when we decided to get a CMC. After a lot of thought, we decided to lease. A few of the reasons .... 1) Financially, it makes sense for us right now.... 2) Having no experience with a CMC before, it's a lot of money to shell out upfront, not knowing if it's going to ''work'' in your shop set-up ....3) there seem to be constant 'upgrades' and 'new-and-improved models' in almost every facet of equipment making the 'current' product seem out of date in no time at all.

There are plenty of good reasons for buying, also. Each shop and its circumstances, of course, are different. It's an important decision, but it's not life 'n death..
 
Compare the total lease cost to other finance options. I was going to rent a cmc for 345. a month, then I checked and with a home equity line at 8% I can pay in 345 a month on my equity line and the machine will be paid for in 3 years. Find out what the lease cost in terms of %, not price per month.

Good Luck
G
 
I have been renting my CMC for about ten years now ( one upgrade to a newer machine in that time). It was originally a financial reason. The machine has two surge protectors but still in the ten year period of time power spikes have fried a major (not the computer) component of the system on three separate occasions. It would have been out of warranty had I purchased it. Due to the fact that I am renting it the $3,000 (x3) component was Fedex'd to me overnight no charge for component or shipping. Also had a faulty cutting head replaced free as well, plus some other minor parts. I imagine that mine is an unusual case that I would not have anticipated but renting has had obvious benefits for me. In essence the rental payments have equated to a sort of extended warranty.
 
I'm glad I read your post, Tim. I've stuck my big toe into the Wizard pool, and am nervous as all get out to think I would even dare have such a nice piece of equipment. I don't believe I would ever get to the point of buying one though, and am looking at the rental scene.
 
I too am weighting the need of a cmc. I have the material from Wizard and am considering the idea. It's funny but everyone on this forum says get the machine, but everyone I talk to not in this business tells me not too because I'm only part time and so small. Granted my mat numbers are small for last month. I need to check back a few months to see if they are increasing. Just this week I had to have another shop cut a difficult mat for me with their cmc, and more will follow for the job I am working on.

The cost per mat for me will be high and I am not sure at all that I can sell any novelty mats. I think I would have to add charges for some designs to cover the rental costs.
 
joe said:
The cost per mat for me will be high and I am not sure at all that I can sell any novelty mats. I think I would have to add charges for some designs to cover the rental costs.
Click to expand...


How many framing order are you doing per month. How many mats is that. What do you cut most. Single /Double/Triple and how many are multi-opening. Can you add even $10.00 per frame order, not per mat? Doing so might pay for your rental. Do the math.
 
Joe, I too am a small production shop. One man but more than full time.

I recently put in the Wizard 8000 on the jr. program but can foresee that very soon I'll need to jump into the regular unlimited corner program.

There are several reasons I made the jump:

- Even though I consider myself pretty accomplished cutting mats by hand, the CMC, properly adjusted, leaves NO overcuts ...even on reverse bevels and 8 ply mats ...and no wavy lines or curled corners.

- The speed of cutting mats with no errors or wastage of materials is fast.

- The ability to incorporate design elements tastefully and preview them on screen. You can cut mats that would be impossible to do by hand.

- The ability to save customer mat designs and replicate them with the push of a button.

- The ability to cut multi-opening mats without making a goof on the very last opening and having to start all over again. You can layout and cut a 20 opening mat in 10-15 minutes instead of an hour or two.

- The advantage of not having to clear off your fitting table to cut large (up to 40X60) mats. You can cut the mat with a CMC in the time it takes to just clear a large area in a small shop.

- Believe it or not, as far as I know, no one else in my area has a CMC. There are opportunities for me now that I just have to begin mining after the holiday rush.

- Less handling of the materials = less potential for surface marring.

With the program I signed up for it cost me initially about $ 1200.00 and two days time to get everything set up. The software at first seems a little intimidating, but I'm a week into it and feeling quite comfortable now that I can cut pretty much any design I need to. I haven't looked at Path Trace yet but have been told that it'll consume me ...not in it's difficulty, but in how much fun I'll have!

I'm sure that when you decide to take the plunge you'll be glad you did.
 
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