Conn-Selmer Lease / Purchase Plan

Frequently Asked Questions about Leasing and Purchasing Instruments

Leasing and purchasing instruments doesn't have to be intimidating. Let this guide help you figure out whether buying instruments outright, leasing, or lease/purchasing is right for your school or organization. Here we provide you with answers to many of our frequently asked questions. Our Educational Support Managers (ESM) are ready to help guide you through this process towards determing the best option to suit your educational needs.

• My school is more likely to get a new furnace before they let me lease musical instruments!
• What Do You Mean by Lease/Purchasing?
• Leasing or Lease/Purchasing. What's the Difference?
• So, Why Doesn't The School Just Pay Cash?
• I've Heard That My School Cannot Pay Interest
• What Other Costs Can I Expect?
• Why Should My School Lease from Conn-Selmer?
• It's Easy to See What A Conn-Selmer Lease/Purchase Can Do For Your Program

My school is more likely to get a new furnace before they let me lease musical instruments!

Actually, your school probably does lease heating and air-conditioning systems, as well as school buses, copy machines, or computers. Many school corporations, which once balked at the idea of "leasing", are now realizing that today's lease / purchasing programs are a practical and economical way to cope with increasingly tight budgets.

What Do You Mean by Lease/Purchasing?

When schools consider leasing almost any kind of equipment, they are generally talking about lease/purchasing. Lease/purchasing, unlike traditional leases, are more like installment sales. With each payment, the lessee (the school) builds equity in the instruments and, at the end of the lease, owns the instruments without any additional "balloon" payment. Conn-Selmer's Lease/Purchasing (or lease/financing) program also includes special termination provisions designed to comply with state laws. Generally, they provide that the school can terminate the lease if it is unexpectedly unable to come up with the funds to continue the lease.

Leasing or Lease / Purchasing. What's the Difference?

Traditional leasing is a rental agreement. With a traditional lease, the lessee (the school) would not accrue any ownership in the equipment. Lease/purchasing makes better sense because the school system will end up owning high-quality instruments which will continue to perform long after the last lease payment is made.

So, Why Doesn't The School Just Pay Cash?

Paying for the instruments all at once can make more sense. However, in today's "cash crunch", savvy school business managers have many reasons to recommend lease/purchasing, including...

• Preventing Budget Strain
  • Needed instruments can be obtained immediately, but your budget does not have to absorb the entire cost at one time.
• Protecting Against Cost Increases
  • Yearly purchases of instruments must take into account annual price increases. While a lease/purchasing program is renewable each year, there can be NO PRICE INCREASE for any item on the lease.
• Expanding the Program Without Expanding the Budget
  • Your program can continue to grow with assurance that your carefully planned budget will remain intact.

I've Heard That My School Cannot Pay Interest

Nearly all school systems pay interest on leased or financed buses, major data systems, climate and other control systems or other major equipment and systems. Ask your business manager for the straight scoop.

Anything purchased over time is done so on borrowed money. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise. With lease purchasing, the cost of the instruments is fixed; it will not go up with inflation. Some school administrators prefer to lease/purchase rather than absorb annual instrument price increases. Many schools actually save enough to offset the leasing expense!

Leasing instrument is not for everyone. For a large school with a large budget, $20,000 is not an unreasonable amount to be spent on instruments in one fiscal year. But, for a small school with a tight budget, coming up with the fund necessary to make a cash purchase might be almost impossible. In fact, leasing can actually be more economical than waiting several years to purchase the needed instruments.

What Other Costs Can I Expect?

With Conn-Selmer's lease/purchasing program, the only financial cost is the annual lease payment. No shipping charges, no administration fee, or other costs. Just one payment at the beginning of each fiscal year. The cost NOT leasing can be much higher...including the costs to your students of not having the quality instruments they need to realize their potentials.

Why Should My School Lease from Conn-Selmer?

The number of schools leasing from Conn-Selmer continues to increase. Many schools have leased from Conn-Selmer more than once, as well! The reasons are many, but most schools include these:

• One Stop Leasing
  • Working with Conn-Selmer eliminates the hassle of working with different organizations. Your local Conn-Selmer dealer can handle all of the leasing arrangements for you - including helping you decide whether a three, four, or five year lease is best for your school.
• One Payment Per Year
  • Your school will receive one payment notice each fiscal year. The first notice is sent upon complete delivery of all items on the lease. Subsequent notices are sent at the beginning of each fiscal year until the leasing period ends. There are no residual payments at the end of the lease. There are discounts available for prepayment as well.
• A Wider Choice of Product
  • In addition to the wide range of products available from your Conn-Selmer dealer, your Conn-Selmer lease can include Manhasset music stands, the most popular school stand in America.
• Flexibility
  • Every school band or orchestra has special circumstances. Conn-Selmer is well known for its flexibility in structuring a lease to accommodate your needs. Your lease payments can be structured to fit even the tightest of budgets over a wide range of leasing terms.
• Immediate Use and Benefit of Instruments
  • Your music program can satisfy all of its instrument needs at one time, enabling all ensembles to afford full instrumentation.
• Ownership
  • With lease/purchasing the school owns the instruments at the end of the leasing period.
• Full Instrument Warranties Together with Local Service
  • All Conn-Selmer instruments in your leasing program will carry full instrument warranties from Conn-Selmer. Along with one of the finest warranty programs available for musical instruments, your Conn-Selmer retailer can provide proper servicing to keep your instruments in top condition.
• Legal Compliance
  • Conn-Selmer lease documentation is designed with public schools in mind and accommodates the legal requirements for most school systems. Of course, Conn-Selmer also leases to many private and parochial schools, as well as to incorporated booster organizations.

It's Easy to See What a Conn-Selmer Lease/Purchase Can Do For Your Program

Conn-Selmer offers our Instrument Wish List tool which allows you to create and submit your list of needed items. A lease proposal costs nothing and could just be the single, most important program for the growth of your band and orchestra.