On a lease, the residual is where the profit is.
Residual Desk is residual value research for specialty and tech equipment: AGVs and AMRs, warehouse robotics, drones, automated trains and people movers, and CNC machines on discontinued controls.
Here is why the residual matters, on one deal worked through. The figures are an illustration, not a forecast for any asset. Forklifts are used only because the arithmetic is easy to follow.
A lessor buys 25 forklifts at $40,000 each: $1,000,000.
The customer pays $750,000 over 36 months.
The lessor books a 30% residual: $300,000 expected back when the lease ends.
| Resale at lease end | Recovered | Lessor's result |
|---|---|---|
| 30% | $300,000 | +$50,000 |
| 25% | $250,000 | $0 |
| 20% | $200,000 | -$50,000 |
Every residual point on this deal is worth $10,000. A 5-point miss is the whole profit.
Why specialty and tech equipment
For forklifts, trucks, and construction and farm equipment, a lessor can look up years of resale history. For specialty and tech equipment the record is thin. Value at lease end can turn on things a used-equipment price guide does not track: whether the software license transfers to a second owner, and how long the maker will support the controls.
That is the gap Residual Desk is built for. See our coverage.
Who it is for
- Lessors pricing a lease on equipment with little resale history.
- Lessees deciding whether an end-of-lease buyout price is fair. Request a buyout check.
- Brokers who want a second view on the residual before a deal closes.
What you will get
Ranges, not a single number: low, expected and high at 36, 48 and 60 months, with the comps and sources behind them. How ranges are built.
Residual Desk is in development. Join the list and we will send the first report when it publishes. See its structure.