As a small business owner, transport is an important aspect of your financial success. You need to be able to drive to and from meetings so that you arrive on time, as well as have the ability to transport your products to customers and to your store.
You will need to purchase a car for your small business to make life easier and more efficient. Once you have used a car repayments calculator in South Africa, you will need to gather all the necessary documents together in order to make a purchase. Not sure what those documents are? Read on below for some tips on all the documents you need to get a car as a small business owner.
A business plan
A business plan is necessary for the financial institution as it will show them how your business is doing financially and whether or not you will be able to repay them on time and in full. Your business plan should be detailed and provide a financial breakdown of your business at its current point in time.
Having a business plan will also show the financial institution that you are serious about your commitment to repaying your car loan. Being transparent with them will work in your favour and allow them to see the progression of your business with the use of your new vehicle. You will need to carefully outline how you will repay the car and what you will do if you are unable to make the repayments.
Ownership
One of the most important documents you will need to provide the lender with is proof that you are the owner or part-owner of the business. You will need to turn in the correct documents that correlate to your business, such as a partnership agreement, limited liability company documents or a business licence.
In some cases, you can simply provide your lender with your personal information and the information of your business. You will need to provide the tax identification number of your business too. The ownership documents are important, as they differentiate the purchase from being a personal one to being one for a business.
Be sure to have these documents ready, and make copies in case you should misplace anything.
Personal information
You will need to provide the lender will all the necessary personal information. This includes a copy of your identity document, the most recent three month’s worth of bank statements for your business as proof of your ability to repay the debt, as well as proof of business and residential address.
If you are the sole proprietor, the financial institution or lender will need these documents because you and your business are seen as one in the same. This means that they need to look at the income from your business and both your business and personal expenses when calculating your affordability. You can use a car repayments calculator in South Africa to do the legwork and figure out your affordability before the financial institution does but their results might differ.
Driver’s licence of the regular driver
If you are going to be driving the car regularly, then you will need to provide the financial institution or lender with a copy of your driver’s licence. However, if you will be allowing your staff to use the company car, then you will need to provide both a copy of your licence and theirs, in order to add them to the insurance as a regular driver.
Providing a copy of the driver’s licence of everyone who will be driving the company car will allow your insurance company to add them as regular drivers. It is also important for your financial institution to know how and how often the car will be used, as this will influence their approval decision. Be sure that whoever you list as a regular driver is trustworthy and will drive responsibly in order to limit the amount of wear and tear on your business vehicle.
Proof of insurance
Once you have settled on the perfect car for your needs, before the car can be delivered you will need to provide the lender with proof of insurance. This is necessary as the financial institution or lender needs to be assured that the car will be insured against anything that might happen to it while en route to your business.
You should look for car insurance that offers affordable premiums and that is tailored to company cars rather than cars for personal use. The proof of insurance should have the details of all regular drivers listed, so that your lender has a comprehensive list of everyone who will be using the car, and should clearly state what is and is not covered. Be sure to make a few copies of this document for the drivers to keep for themselves in case they have any queries or need to make a claim at some point.
