Hi Barbara,
I'm in a Genomics Core and we have leased 3 sequencers over the years (two NextSeq 500s and an NextSeq 2000) through CSI Leasing (as required by the institution). From a financial perspective it is not ideal because the 36-month leases were essentially 36 payments of 1/36 of the purchase price of the machine, but it allowed us to use our chargeback revenue to cover the cost vs waiting for potentially years for a capital purchase to be approved. In many cases, we extended the lease another year or more, and in one case we purchased the machine outright ($28K for an NS500) after 4 years or so of leasing it.
Our rates were not calculated any differently. i.e., we did not add a fraction of our payment to the service fees, or we would not have been competitive. We absorbed these fees as part of our operational expense.
We always carry service contracts on our sequencers and continued to do so with the leased units, but it may have been required by the leasing company, regardless.
One hidden cost for us what that we had to pay a tax on the unit each year. This was thousands of dollars and unexpected at first. Another was the thousands of dollars it cost to have our FSE lock down the units to prepare for shipping back to leasing company at lease-end.
Overall, purchasing is likely better, but in our case, and Moffitt is no longer encouraging/improving leases, but it enabled us to acquire the latest equipment in a timely manner, and especially in the case of the NS2000, to return it after a couple of years once we finally got our NovaSeq 6000.
Sean Yoder, M.S.
Molecular Genomics Core Facility Manager
Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL
------------------------------
Sean Yoder
Molecular Genomics Core Facility Manager
Moffitt Cancer Center
Tampa FL
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-24-2024 12:15
From: Barbara Fransway
Subject: Leasing equipment from 3rd party
Good morning- I'm interested to hear if any core labs have experience leasing capital equipment instead of purchasing outright- particularly if leasing with a 3rd party rather than OEM. Specifically Im curious about how this arrangement works with rates, service contract/warranty, and end-of-lease options for trade-in/buy out etc. For reference, we are at a state institution and this would be in genomics core- but any applicable experience to be shared would be appreciated. Thanks for any input.
Barbara
------------------------------
Barbara Fransway
Manager Genomic Research Services
University of Arizona
------------------------------