‘Rent–Try–Buy’ is a 12-month rental agreement that allows you to get the commercial kitchen equipment you need now and to pay for it in manageable, weekly amounts out of the revenue the equipment helps generate.

By saving you from having to make a large outlay up front, Rent–Try–Buy helps protect your cash flow.

Not only that, you get to try the equipment before choosing one of several options, including upgrading or buying the equipment at any time or, after 12 months, returning it if you no longer want or need it.

Read more about Rent–Try–Buy

Rent–Try–Buy is an operating lease that allows you to use the rental equipment without owning it (though you can buy the equipment at any time).

The rental payments are considered to be operating expenses. The rental equipment is not recorded on your balance sheet but rather is expensed on your income statement. 

This off-balance-sheet financing helps keep your debt-to-equity ratio low, giving you more capacity to borrow.

Among the other advantages of an operating lease are the tax deductibility of the rental payments*; and the flexibility to upgrade assets (e.g. hospitality equipment), thereby reducing the risk of obsolescence.

Rent–Try–Buy is for hospitality owners and operators seeking at least $1,000 of finance.

As Rent–Try–Buy is a rental agreement, there is no interest rate. 

However, you can use our online rental calculator to work out your weekly rental payments, and to find out how much it would cost to own the equipment if you decided to purchase it after 12 months of renting.  

As the calculator reveals, the net cost of owning the equipment could be as low as 10% (after taking into account tax deductions* and the rental rebate).

This figure reflects:

• the unrivalled flexibility our customers enjoy and which no other financier, cash or credit card can give them
• the risks we take by, for example, allowing customers to:
  • get the equipment they want without having to commit to the full purchase price
  • secure up to $100,000 of equipment finance — in most cases without providing a director’s guarantee / personal guarantee 
  • upgrade the equipment at any time without having to worry about how to dispose of the original item
  • return the equipment to us after only 12 months.

Aside from the weekly rental payments (including one week’s rent paid in advance), the fees and charges that apply are:

• a refundable security bond — paid up front and equivalent to six weeks’ rent (less than $200,000 of funding) or 12 weeks’ rent ($200,000 or more of funding)
• the cost of transporting any equipment the customer returns to us during or after the 12-month rental period (which the customer pays directly; this cost varies according to the equipment’s cubic weight and the distance it has to be transported)
• the cost for us to clean and service any equipment the customer returns to us during or after the 12-month rental period, so it can be certified and remarketed. We pass this cost on to the customer; the cost varies according to the type of equipment and its condition. See our cleaning-and-servicing fees (PDF).

At any time during the 12-month agreement you can:

• upgrade the equipment 
• buy (or ‘pay out’) the equipment.

At the end of the 12-month agreement you can:

• upgrade the equipment
• buy (or ‘pay out’) the equipment 
• return the equipment to us
• continue renting the equipment, either month-to-month under your existing agreement, or for another 12 months under a Loyalty agreement
• work towards owning the equipment over another two or three years (Easy Own agreement).

These options are available to you regardless of whether the equipment you finance is new, ‘Certified Used,’ or clearance equipment.

Shortly before the 12-month rental agreement expires, we’ll attempt to contact you to tell you what your end-of-term options are. 

If you don’t select one of the options before the rental agreement expires, it’ll automatically convert to a month-to-month agreement — you can continue renting the equipment for as long as you need to. 

Your weekly rental amount will remain the same and you’ll still be entitled to all the same end-of-term options: upgrade the equipment, buy it, return it, rent it under a fresh 12-month agreement (Loyalty), or convert to a two- or three-year ownership plan (Easy Own).   

To end a month-to-month rental, you’ll need to contact us and choose one of these options.  

No — while your rental payments will steadily reduce the equipment’s purchase price, there will still be money owing after 12 months.

To find out how much you need to pay us to buy your rental equipment, please call us for a payout quote on 1800 337 153.

You can buy, or pay out, the equipment at any time during the 12-month term (not only at the end of it).

While they do have similarities, there’s a key difference between rent try buy commercial kitchen equipment and rent to own commercial kitchen equipment. 

Rent–Try–Buy (which is exclusive to SilverChef) and Rent-to-Own (offered by other companies) are agreements in which at least a portion of the rental payments go towards building equity in the equipment being rented. 

The main difference is that, at the end of a Rent-to-Own agreement (which typically ranges from one to five years), the renter automatically owns the equipment.

In contrast, at the end of a Rent–Try–Buy agreement (which is 12 months long), the renter does not automatically own the equipment. Rather, they have the option to buy it (which they can do at any time during the agreement). 

If they buy the equipment, they get back 75% of their first year’s net rental payments and 25% of any net rental payments made thereafter — to put towards the purchase price.

Your rental payments will start as soon as the equipment is delivered to your business premises.  

If you’re doing a full fit-out or refurbishment and could experience delays — for example, due to council or construction issues — we recommend you hold off ordering the equipment until shortly before your venue is ready to start trading. 

Equipment that is in stock can usually be delivered to your venue in 1–14 business days, depending on your location. If it’s out of stock, you’ll need to allow for a longer lead time and order it sooner. Your equipment dealer will be able to help you decide when to order your equipment.

If for whatever reason your rental payments start before you commence trading, please contact us as soon as possible.  

Yes — the amount of rent you pay each week will remain the same for 12 months.

This will make your budgeting and cash flow management easier.

You can pay the weekly rent via a direct debit from your bank account or credit card.

If, for whatever reason, you miss a rental payment, your account will fall into arrears.

If that happens, we’ll attempt to reprocess the direct debit or, if that fails, give you a call to find out how we can help you get your payments back up to date.

You may be charged a late-payment fee (for more information, please see the terms and conditions of your agreement).

SilverChef owns the equipment and rents it to you.

As the owner of the equipment, we’ll record an interest in the equipment on the Personal Property Security Register (PPSR).

You can use the equipment as you see fit, provided it’s used only for business (not personal/domestic) purposes; and you don’t sell, give, assign, lend or release the equipment to a third party to use without our approval.

Also, if you move the equipment from the location you originally gave us, you must tell us immediately.

You can buy the rental equipment (own it) at any time. 

To find out how much you’d need to pay us to buy your rental equipment, please call us on 1800 337 153.

We’ll provide you with a payout quote and will be happy to answer any questions you have, including how we’ve calculated your quote.

The following table shows you what the payout amounts would be at the 12-month mark for equipment of varying costs (taking into account the fact we’d give you back 75% of the net rental payments you’d already made — to put towards the payout amount).

For your convenience, we’ve added the payout amount to the rental payments to show you what the total and net costs of ownership would be:

If your equipment cost is different to those above, please call us for a payout quote on 1800 337 153.

Don’t forget — you can buy the equipment at any time, not just at the end of your 12-month Rent–Try–Buy agreement.

When calculating the amount you need to pay to buy your rental equipment (i.e. the ‘payout amount’), we subtract your rental rebate (75% of the net rent paid you paid in the first year and 25% of any net rent paid thereafter) from the amount financed.

For more details, please use our Rent–Try–Buy calculator.

If after trying your rental equipment you decide it’s exactly what your business is after, and you have the cash, you can buy (own) the equipment at any time.

If after trying the equipment for 12 months you’d like to keep your options open or review your equipment needs further down the track, you can continue renting it month-to-month under your existing agreement; or for another 12 months under a Loyalty agreement. You’ll still have the option to buy it at any time. 

If after trying the equipment you’d like to own it, but want to preserve your working capital, you can work towards owning the equipment over another two or three years (Easy Own agreement).  At the end of the term you pay $1 and you own the equipment.

If after trying the rental equipment you decide it’s the right fit for your business and want to buy it, you’ll need to give us four weeks’ notice of your intention to purchase it.

At the end of the notice period, we’ll send you a: 

• payout quote to review (the quote clearly sets out how the payout amount has been calculated)
• payment authorisation form to fill in.  

If you buy the equipment, you’ll get back 75% of your first year’s net rental payments and 25% of any net rental payments you made thereafter — to put towards the equipment’s purchase price.

If you decide to buy the rental equipment, you’ll get back 75% of the net rent you paid in the first year and — if applicable — 25% of the net rent you paid thereafter. 

This ‘rental rebate’ is deducted from the amount financed — the rebate can’t be paid to you in cash.

‘Net rent’ is the total rent you’ve paid for the equipment minus the goods and services tax (GST) of 10%.

If, for example, you paid a total of $10,000 in rent, the net rental amount would be $9090.91 ($10,000/1.1).

If you buy the rental equipment, you’ll get back 75% of your first year’s net rental payments and 25% of any net rental payments you made thereafter — to put towards the equipment’s purchase price.

If you buy the rental equipment, we’ll remove our interest from the PPSR upon your request.

The PPSR is the official government register of security interests in personal property — debts or other obligations that are secured by personal property. 

When someone registers a security interest on the PPSR, they are letting the world know that they claim to have a security interest over personal property, including company assets like rented or leased hospitality equipment. 

A security interest is most commonly created when a secured party (such as a lender) takes an interest in personal property of a grantor (such as a borrower), as security for a loan or other obligation. 

The security interest means the secured party can take the personal property (known as collateral) if the secured obligation is not met. 

Security interests can arise only when there is agreement between the grantor and the secured party.

If you decide to upgrade the equipment you’re renting, we’ll ask you to return the equipment to us.

We’ll then ask you to sign a new 12-month rental agreement covering the upgraded equipment, which will then be delivered to you.

The new rental agreement will give you all the options you were entitled to under the original agreement.

If you upgrade the equipment, you’ll be responsible for transporting the original equipment back to us and the cost for us to clean and service the equipment so it can certified and remarketed. See our cleaning-and-servicing fees (PDF).

Also, the notional net rental rebate you accrued while renting the original piece of equipment will be cancelled out. In other words, it will not roll over to the new agreement for the upgraded equipment.

Yes — about a month before the 12-month rental agreement ends (and assuming you haven’t already upgraded or bought the equipment) we’ll attempt to contact you.

We’ll ask you how the equipment has been performing and whether it still matches your needs, and remind you what your end-of-term options are. 

This will give you time to weigh up those options before deciding which one would be best for your business.

If you sell your business while renting equipment from SilverChef, you can ask us to assign, or transfer, the Rent–Try–Buy agreement to the new business owner (with their consent).

The agreement will be assigned to the new owner if they meet our standard credit-assessment criteria. If they don’t meet these criteria, you’ll remain liable for the rental payments.

If the agreement is assigned to them, the new owner can use the rental equipment for the remainder of the agreement and is entitled to all the mid- and end-of-term options you were.

For example, they can upgrade or buy the equipment at any time or, after 12 months, return it or continue renting it. 

If the agreement is assigned to the new owner, your security bond — minus any amounts still owing, e.g. a missed rental payment — will be refunded to you within 2–4 weeks.

No — you can upgrade your equipment without giving us advance warning. When you’re ready to upgrade, please call us on 1800 337 153. We’ll be happy to help you find the equipment you’re after and prepare the relevant paperwork.

Yes — whether you terminate the rental agreement by buying the equipment or returning it to us after 12 months, we require four weeks’ notice.

You can upgrade your equipment to the same or a different type of equipment — as long as it's standard hospitality equipment with a value equal to or higher than the original equipment. 

 For example, you can upgrade a $3,000 upright freezer to a $5,000 one, or a $2,500 ice maker to a $10,000 combi oven.

We don’t fund upgrades to some types of equipment, most notably seasonal equipment (e.g. slushie machines and soft-serve ice-cream machines) and restaurant and café furniture.

To confirm whether we will fund the upgrade you have in mind, please contact us.

Yes —  the rental payments are 100% tax deductible.*

Depreciation deductions are generally available only to the legal owner of the asset, which in the case of the rental equipment is SilverChef.

However, if you buy the equipment from us you become the legal owner and thus are entitled to claim the depreciation of your equipment over the rest of its effective life.

For example, if you rented a deep fryer for 1.5 years before buying it, you could claim a deduction on its depreciation for the remaining 8.5 years of its effective life.* 

(This is unless you’re eligible to claim an immediate or accelerated deduction using a tax depreciation incentive.)

Yes — you’ll still need to make your rental payments if your equipment breaks down. 

If it breaks down, please call us on 1800 337 153 as soon as possible.

If you’re struggling to pay your weekly rent due to financial hardship, please contact us. 

We’ll ask you to complete a financial-hardship request form and send it to us with the relevant supporting information.

We’ll then consider your request, including the reasons behind your hardship, before contacting you to let you know what your options are.

The sooner you let us know about your financial difficulties, the sooner we can help you!

If after 12 months you decide to continue renting the equipment, we’ll reward your loyalty with a 10% discount on your rental payments. To receive this discount, you’ll need to sign a Loyalty agreement with us.

Alternatively, at the end of your 12-month rental agreement you can convert to a two- or three-year ownership plan (Easy Own agreement) and get a respective 15% or 30% discount on your weekly payments.

If, after trying the equipment for 12 months, you no longer want or need it, you can return it to us.

We require four weeks’ notice of your intention to return the equipment. 

If you return the equipment, you’ll be responsible for transporting the equipment back to us and the cost for us to clean and service the equipment so it can be certified and remarketed. See our cleaning-and-servicing fees (PDF).

Yes — however, you’ll be required to pay all the unpaid rental payments up to the end of the agreement term, as well as the cost of returning the equipment to us (i.e. transport, cleaning, and servicing).

The number of Rent–Try–Buy agreements a customer has is based on the equipment invoices: Who issued them to SilverChef and when. 

For example, if you selected three items from the same equipment dealer at the same time, all of them would be covered by one rental agreement.  

However, if you ordered the same equipment from two dealers (two pieces from one dealer, one from the other), they would be covered by two rental agreements.  

Likewise, if you ordered the equipment from the same dealer but at two different times (one item on one date, two items on another), they would be covered by two rental agreements.