How to Add Leasing and Rent-to-Own Options to Your Quotes in Canada

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When you show a customer one big price, you push them into a yes/no decision. When you show them affordable monthly options on the same quote, you invite a different question: “Which structure works best for my cash flow?”

This guide walks Canadian dealers and vendors through how to bake leasing and rent-to-own options directly into your quotes—without becoming a bank, a tax expert, or an underwriter.

We’ll focus on equipment-heavy industries (construction, transport, forestry, agriculture, hospitality, medical, IT and more) where capital purchases hit cash flow hard.

Why Your Quotes Need Leasing and Rent-to-Own Options

Your quote should do more than show a price — it should show a path to owning or using the equipment without choking cash flow. Adding leasing and rent-to-own options lets more customers say “yes” sooner, with less friction.

Across Canada, almost half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) requested external financing in 2023.(Statistics Canada) That includes debt, lease financing, trade credit and government programs. In earlier surveys, lease financing made up about 5–6% of SMEs’ total financing requests, and that share tends to be higher in equipment-heavy sectors like construction, transport and manufacturing.(Statistics Canada)

At the same time, the asset-based finance and leasing industry is now the second-largest provider of debt financing in Canada after traditional lenders, according to the Canadian Finance & Leasing Association (CFLA).(equipmentfa.com)

In plain language:

• Many of your customers expect to finance.
• A meaningful slice of them prefer leases or rent-to-own over traditional loans.
• If your quote doesn’t clearly show those options, someone else’s will.

On top of that:

• Buying is usually cheaper over the full life of the asset, but it ties up more cash upfront.
• Leasing and structured rent-to-own deals usually require far less cash at signing and create predictable monthly payments—often a better fit for Canadian SMEs’ cash flow.(BDC.ca)

Contrarian take: “Financing available” buried at the bottom of your quote isn’t enough. Modern B2B buyers want payment options embedded in the numbers, not a vague line that forces them to call and ask.

Leasing vs Rent-to-Own in Canada: What You’re Actually Offering

Before you can price and present options, you need to be crystal clear on what each structure means for you and your customer.

What is an equipment lease?

At a high level, an equipment lease for a business customer is:

• A fixed-term rental of equipment (often 36–84 months).
• With regular payments (monthly, semi-monthly, etc.).
• And some form of end-of-term option (buy, renew, upgrade, or return).

In Canada, lease payments are typically deductible as operating expenses, meaning your customer may be able to expense the payment instead of capitalizing and depreciating the asset.(CWB National Leasing) (They should always confirm this with their accountant.)

Common structures you’ll see with a partner like Mehmi:

• Operating lease / FMV lease – Lower payments, customer decides at the end if they’ll buy, return or upgrade.
• Capital / $10 buyout lease – Looks and feels similar to a financed purchase; customer is almost certainly buying at the end for a nominal amount.
• Seasonal or step payment leases – Payments that adjust to the customer’s busy/slow seasons.

You can see how these show up in practice on Mehmi’s equipment leases and broader equipment financing pages.

What is rent-to-own (or “rent-try-buy”) in B2B?

Rent-to-own is essentially shorter-term rental with a built-in path to ownership. In the commercial world, it often looks like:

• A rental contract with a minimum term.
• A portion of rent credited toward the eventual purchase price.
• A defined buyout option if the customer decides to keep the equipment.

This structure is particularly common in hospitality and foodservice, where operators want to test a location or concept before fully committing. Mehmi’s Rent Try Buy hospitality program is a good example of how this can be packaged.

For your quote, the big difference vs a traditional lease is the story you tell:

• Lease: “Use this asset for X years, then decide what you want to do.”
• Rent-to-own: “Rent it like you normally would, but if it works, you can own it with a known path and no surprises.”

Step-by-Step: How to Add Leasing & Rent-to-Own to Your Quotes

This is where most dealers get stuck. The good news: you don’t need to build a bank in-house. You just need a repeatable process and a good partner.

1. Decide which equipment will have financing baked in

Not every item on your price list needs options. Focus first on:

• Ticket size: anything over, say, $10,000–$15,000.
• Revenue-critical assets: trucks, trailers, heavy equipment, production machinery, medical / aesthetic devices, commercial kitchen equipment, IT servers, etc.

Most of these will be eligible under standard leasing guidelines. You can quickly sanity check categories against Mehmi’s eligible equipment list.

2. Choose a small menu of structures (don’t overwhelm buyers)

A simple, high-performing setup for most Canadian dealers:

• Option 1 – Standard lease (e.g., 60 months, $10 buyout).
• Option 2 – Lower payment lease (e.g., 72–84 months, FMV or higher residual).
• Option 3 – Rent-to-own for select segments (hospitality, seasonal, test projects).

You can rely on your finance partner (e.g., Mehmi) to actually structure the residuals, but for quoting you just need typical terms. That’s where tools like Mehmi’s equipment financing calculator come in handy for early payment estimates.

For certain sectors, keep specialized programs in your back pocket:

• Trucking & transport: use truck and trailer financing and, for repairs, truck repair financing.
• Heavy construction & mining: lean on heavy equipment financing.
• Hospitality & restaurants: consider a rent-to-own style rent try buy hospitality option.

3. Create a simple payment matrix for your sales team

Your reps don’t need to calculate interest rates. They need ballpark payments they can trust.

Work with your finance partner to build a quick matrix such as:

• For every $10,000 of equipment cost, show approximate payments at common terms (36 / 48 / 60 / 72 months).
• Include an internal cheat sheet for prime customers vs tougher credits (you can adjust on the fly as approvals come in).

For example (illustrative only):

Per $10,000 financed (good credit, standard lease, OAC)
36 months  ≈  $320–$340/month
60 months  ≈  $210–$230/month
72 months  ≈  $180–$200/month


Your team can then quickly turn a $75,000 quote into payments:

• 60-month lease: ≈ 7.5 × $220 = ~$1,650/month + tax.
• 72-month lease: ≈ 7.5 × $190 = ~$1,425/month + tax.

Your finance partner can then firm up those numbers at application time.

4. Decide what you’ll do with soft costs

Customers rarely just buy “bare metal.” They also need:

• Installation, rigging, shipping
• Training and commissioning
• First-year maintenance or extended warranties

A well-designed equipment lease can often roll many of these soft costs in, subject to credit and lender rules.(BDC.ca)

Agree internally on your policy:

• Which soft costs can be financed in the lease?
• Which ones must be paid upfront?
• When would you use a working capital product instead (e.g. Mehmi’s working capital loan or line of credit)?

5. Align your quoting template with your vendor finance partner

If you want this to be seamless, don’t DIY everything. A partner like Mehmi will often:

• Set you up with a vendor program and approval tiers. See: Vendor Program.
• Help you standardize terms (e.g., default lengths, residuals by asset type).
• Provide co-branded finance one-pagers to attach to quotes.

This is also where you confirm how and when you get paid when your customer finances—dealers commonly ask this, and you can point them to Mehmi’s equipment leases and asset-based lending pages for deeper context.

How to Show Leasing & Rent-to-Own on an Actual Quote

The goal is simple: one quote, three clear ways to say yes.

Use a “good / better / best” layout

Here’s a structure that works well for Canadian dealers:

1. Pay in full – “Total investment: $125,000 + tax”
2. Lease to own – “From $2,450/month for 60 months, $10 buyout (OAC)”
3. Rent-to-own – “From $3,100/month for 24 months rent-to-own, then pre-agreed buyout (OAC)”

Keep your language simple and compliant

A few practical tips:

• Always add “OAC” (on approved credit) beside payment estimates.
• Avoid quoting a rate on your quote; stick to estimated payments and term and let your finance partner confirm the exact structure.
• Make it clear payments are subject to credit approval, taxes, and fees and may change slightly once the deal is underwritten.
• Include a soft call-to-action:
  • “Prefer a different term or structure? Ask us for a custom payment option.”

Put finance options where eyes actually go

On a typical quote or proposal:

• Show payment options on the first page, near the total price, not buried at the back.
• If you send digital proposals, consider a small callout like:
  • “Turn this $185,000 purchase into as low as $3,200/month with Mehmi-approved financing.”

Link back to explainer content on your site—your blog or equipment financing overview—so the buyer can self-educate before they talk to a bank.

Credit, Risk and Documentation: What You Need to Tell Customers

You don’t need to become a credit analyst, but you should understand the basics so you can set expectations.

What lenders look at

Canadian equipment lessors and finance companies will typically look at:

• Time in business and industry experience.
• Financial strength (financial statements or bank statements, especially on larger or weaker credits).
• Existing debt load and payment history.
• The asset itself (age, hours, mileage, resale market).

Industry research shows that default rates on asset-based finance have risen modestly in recent years but remain low relative to other business financing options, which helps explain why leasing remains attractive for SMEs.(Canadian Finance & Leasing Association)

You can point customers with questions to Mehmi’s FAQ, which breaks down typical credit criteria and structures.

What you should explain (without giving legal or tax advice)

Stick to a few practical, true statements:

• Leasing is often used to preserve cash flow and keep bank lines free for working capital, not just to “make it cheaper.”(BDC.ca)
• In many cases, lease payments are treated as deductible operating expenses, but the customer must confirm with their own accountant.(Virtus Group)
• A rent-to-own structure typically means they’re committed for a shorter core term, then decide whether to exercise the purchase option.
• If they fall behind on payments, it’s usually easier for a lessor to repossess leased equipment than for a bank to enforce against owned assets. That’s part of why lease approvals can sometimes be more flexible than traditional loans.(BDC.ca)

You can also reassure them that independent financing companies like Mehmi exist specifically to make equipment upgrades easier for Canadian businesses, not to compete with their main bank for everyday operations.(Canadian Finance & Leasing Association)

Implementing This With a Finance Partner Like Mehmi

If you try to handle credit, documentation and funding with a different lender for every deal, you’ll burn out your sales team. The goal is to standardize with one primary partner and a clear playbook.

A typical vendor program rollout with Mehmi might look like:

1. Discovery & design
   • You review your industry, average ticket size, equipment mix and regions.
   • Mehmi maps your needs to the right mix of equipment leases, asset-based lending and, where needed, working capital products. See: asset-based lending and business loans overview.
2. Payment quoting toolkit
   • You get payment grids, sample quotes, and (when needed) access to online calculators.
   • Your sales team gets short training on how to talk about: “cash vs lease vs rent-to-own.”
3. Simple application workflow
   • You collect a short application and a quote from the customer, then hand off to Mehmi.
   • Mehmi handles underwriting, approvals and funding, while you focus on closing and delivering equipment.
4. Ongoing optimization
   • As you see patterns (e.g., a lot of deals at 84 months in trucking, or seasonal leases in agriculture), Mehmi can tweak your program.

If you’re not sure where to start, you can always start with one segment—say transportation, where Mehmi has dedicated transportation expertise—and add other sectors later.

When you’re ready, a simple first step is to reach out via Contact Us and share a sample quote you’d like to “finance-enable.”

Anonymous Case Study: Ontario Dealer Adds Leasing to Quotes and Lifts Close Rate

Background
A mid-sized Ontario construction equipment dealer was selling compact loaders, excavators and attachments in the $60,000–$180,000 range.

They technically “offered financing,” but it was limited to:

• A small line at their main bank, and
• A tiny note at the bottom of their PDF quote: “Financing available, ask us.”

Close rates were stuck around 28%, and sales reps complained that “everyone says it’s too expensive this year.”

What changed

The dealer set up a formal vendor program with an independent finance partner (similar to Mehmi):

1. Quotes were redesigned so that every major equipment line showed:
   • Cash price,
   • 60-month lease-to-own payment, and
   • 72-month lower-payment lease option.
2. For restaurant and event clients renting generators and light towers, they added a rent-to-own option, modelled after a rent try buy structure.
3. Reps got a one-page script:
   • “Here’s your total investment if you want to pay cash.”
   • “Here’s how most of our customers spread that out over 60 or 72 months.”
4. The finance partner handled all credit approvals and documentation, so reps weren’t stuck chasing bank managers.

Results over 12 months (rounded)

• Close rate on quoted deals increased from ~28% to 36%.
• Average ticket size rose by about 15%, as customers upsized to more capable equipment once they saw the marginal payment difference.
• The proportion of deals using leasing rose from under 10% to roughly 40%, consistent with national trends where asset-based finance is a major funding source for SMEs.(equipmentfa.com)
• The dealer’s pipeline became more predictable, because customers saw a clear path to saying yes even when cash was tight.

The interesting part: list prices didn’t change. Only the way quotes framed the decision changed.

FAQ: Leasing & Rent-to-Own on Quotes in Canada

1. Do I need a special licence to offer leasing on my quotes in Canada?

In most provinces, commercial equipment dealers can present third-party lease and rent-to-own options without a special lending licence, as long as:

• The financing is provided by a licensed lender or finance company, and
• You’re not holding yourself out as the lender or giving regulated investment advice.

Consumer-facing finance (e.g., personal vehicle leases, consumer rent-to-own) can have stricter rules, so if you also sell to individuals, you should confirm provincial requirements with your legal advisor. A vendor program with a partner like Mehmi helps ensure your documents and disclosures are properly handled on the lender side.

2. What’s the real difference between leasing and rent-to-own for my customers?

The core differences:

• Leasing is usually structured as a longer-term rental (e.g., 48–84 months) with options at the end: buy, renew, return or upgrade. Payments are generally lower and can often be considered operating expenses for tax purposes.(CWB National Leasing)
• Rent-to-own is a shorter-term rental where a portion of rent is credited toward a defined buyout. It’s popular when customers want to test equipment, a location or a concept before fully committing.

From your perspective as a dealer, both are ways to convert one big price into a monthly payment and get paid quickly while a finance partner funds the transaction.

3. Can my dealership earn money from offering leasing, or is it just a convenience?

Most vendor programs in Canada are designed so that:

• You get paid in full by the finance company shortly after delivery (subject to funding conditions).
• You may also receive a referral fee, volume bonus or participation from the finance provider, depending on the program and compliance rules.

What matters most is that your customer receives competitive terms. Research from CFLA and government sources shows that asset-based finance is a mainstream tool for SMEs, not a fringe product with exotic pricing.(equipmentfa.com)

A partner like Mehmi will review how any dealer compensation is structured so it’s transparent, compliant, and aligned with long-term relationships.

4. How do taxes work for my customer when they lease instead of buying?

Generally (for Canadian businesses):

• Lease payments are often deductible as operating expenses in the year they’re paid, which can simplify budgeting and tax planning.(Virtus Group)
• Buying usually means capitalizing the asset and claiming Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) over time. This can deliver strong long-term tax savings but is more complex and slower.(BDC.ca)

You should never give firm tax advice as a dealer. The safe approach is:

“Leasing can have tax advantages compared to buying, but it depends on your situation. Talk with your accountant—we can structure the deal either way.”

Then lean on your finance partner to align structures with the accountant’s recommendation.

5. What kind of credit profile do my customers need to qualify?

There’s no single cutoff, but in practice:

• Stronger, established businesses with clean bank statements and reasonable debt loads can usually access longer terms and better rates.
• Startups or rougher credits may still qualify using:
  • Shorter terms
  • Higher deposits
  • Additional security or asset-based lending solutions

Independent equipment finance providers exist because traditional bank loans don’t always fit the profile or timing of equipment purchases. Research from Statistics Canada and other federal sources shows that a significant minority of SMEs are turned down or discouraged from applying for traditional debt, which is why they turn to leasing, trade credit and other instruments instead.(Statistics Canada)

If a deal doesn’t fit strict leasing criteria, Mehmi can sometimes pivot to asset-based lending or a secured loan, depending on the asset and file.

6. How does Mehmi actually help me implement all of this?

Practically, a partner like Mehmi:

• Sets up a vendor finance program tailored to your industry and region.
• Provides sample quotes, payment matrices and training so your team can confidently present leasing and rent-to-own options.
• Handles credit, underwriting, documentation and funding, so your internal admin doesn’t explode.
• Offers complementary tools—like equipment line of credit, refinancing or sale-leaseback and invoice or freight factoring—for customers who need more holistic solutions.

When you’re ready to redesign your quotes around payments instead of price, you can start with a quick conversation via Contact Us and a review of a few recent deals.

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