How to finance an aerial work platform in Portugal: leasing, bank loan, renting or cash (2026)

In short: there are six ways to pay for an aerial work platform in Portugal: cash, a bank loan, financial leasing (locação financeira), renting, manufacturer finance or simply carrying on renting. For a VAT-registered company, leasing is almost always the lightest way to buy: no stamp duty, VAT is paid rent by rent instead of up front, and the machine itself is the collateral. On a new JLG 450AJ (16 m diesel articulated boom, around €65,000 + VAT), a 5-year lease costs about €1,035 + VAT a month and needs about €12,300 on day one, against about €25,600 with a bank loan and €79,950 in cash. But the earlier question is whether buying pays at all: an 8 m electric scissor lift pays for itself from about 60 working days a year; a new 16 m boom only from about 120 days, or almost the whole year on monthly rental.

The six options side by side

How you pay changes four things: how much cash leaves on day one, who owns the machine, which taxes you pay along the way and how the company looks to the bank the following year. The table sums up the differences; the sections below explain each one.

Financial leasing: the usual way to buy machines

In a lease, the bank (the lessor) buys the platform the company chose from the seller the company chose, and lets the company use it in exchange for rents. At the end the company can buy it for the residual value, usually between €1 and 6% of the price. The regime is Decree-Law 149/95: during the contract the bank owns the machine, but insurance, maintenance, repairs and the risk of breakdown or theft are the company's (articles 10, 14 and 15). Defects are claimed from the seller, not the bank (articles 12 and 13).

Why it is the most common option for equipment:

• No stamp duty. Neither on the capital nor on the interest, because the rents pay VAT and the Stamp Duty Code excludes operations subject to VAT. On €55,000 over 5 years this saves about €650.
• VAT is spread out. Instead of paying 23% of the price on the day of purchase, you pay VAT on each rent (capital and interest) and on the residual value, and deduct it in the periodic return. On a €65,000 machine, that is €14,950 of VAT that does not leave your cash in the first month.
• The machine is the collateral. Because the bank owns it, approval is easier and financing can reach 100%. Even so, almost every bank asks for a promissory note signed by the company and guaranteed by the partners (some also ask for the spouses' guarantee).
• For tax purposes it is as if it were yours. The company depreciates the machine and deducts the interest, just as if it had bought it with a loan (Regulatory Decree 25/2009, article 13).

What to know before signing:

• You cannot sell the machine without the bank's consent until you exercise the purchase option. You can, however, transfer the contract to another company, and the bank can only object if the new lessee's guarantees are insufficient (article 11).
• Insuring the machine is mandatory and the bank is the beneficiary. See what to cover in the guide Insurance for construction machines.
• Leaving early costs money. At Caixa Geral de Depósitos, early repayment costs 3% of the capital repaid plus a "broken funding" charge when the contract rate is above the market rate, with 30 days' notice. Ask for this cost in writing.
• The residual value is negotiable. A high residual (10 to 25%) lowers the rent but leaves a large payment at the end; €1 to 2% is the most common.

Bank loan: yours at once, but with stamp duty and VAT up front

With a medium or long-term loan, the company buys the machine in its own name and owes the bank. The advantage is freedom: the platform is yours from day one, you can sell it, trade it in or pledge it without asking, and one loan can finance several machines, a used one bought from a private seller or one imported from Spain. The cost is higher than the interest rate suggests:

The machine's VAT is paid to the seller on the day of purchase and only comes back through the periodic VAT return: if deductible VAT exceeds VAT due, the credit can be refunded from €3,000, and the Tax Authority has until the end of the second month after the request to pay (or 30 days under the monthly refund regime). In practice, on a €65,000 purchase the company advances €14,950 of VAT for one to three months. Some banks finance that VAT with a separate short-term line, at its own cost.

Collateral: a promissory note guaranteed by the partners is the minimum; for larger amounts banks may ask for a pledge on the machine or a mortgage. Always ask for the APR (TAE) and the payment plan with all charges included.

Renting: a fixed rent with maintenance, without keeping the machine

In renting (long-term operating lease), the finance company buys the machine and rents it to you for 3 to 5 years, for a rent that can include maintenance, insurance and a replacement machine if it breaks down. There is no purchase option: at the end you return the machine or extend the contract. The rent is lower than a lease rent because it only pays for the part of the machine's life you use, but the finance company charges for the resale risk and the services included.

• For tax, the rent is a company expense and VAT is deducted on each rent. The rule limiting the deduction of rents only applies to cars, not machines.
• For accounting, under SNC it stays off the balance sheet, which improves the equity ratio banks and Portugal 2030 calls look at. Note that NCRF 9 classifies by substance, not by name: a 5-year "renting" contract with no meaningful resale value may have to be booked as a finance lease.
• On supply, renting of machines in Portugal is much less common than car renting. It is offered mainly by finance companies that work with manufacturers and dealers, such as BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions (which has a construction line), DLL and Grenke, from €500 + VAT.

Manufacturer or dealer finance

JLG has a finance arm, JLG Financial Solutions (part of Oshkosh Capital), which works with a network of funders and advertises 100% financing on JLG machines, with lease options for end customers. In Europe these programmes run through partner funders and in occasional campaigns. The product is always one of the above (leasing, a loan or renting) under another brand: compare it on APR, residual value and fees, just as you compare your bank's offer. When you request a quote from Trapézio de Prismas, ask whether a finance campaign is running.

Paying cash: no interest, but not free

Paying with your own money is the cheapest option on paper and avoids guarantees, fees and paperwork. The cost is elsewhere:

• Opportunity cost. The €65,000 of a new boom, plus €14,950 of VAT for a month or two, are no longer available. If that money earned 3% a year, or bought materials for a job, owning the machine outright has a real cost: about €7,300 over 5 years at 3%.
• Cash flow. Construction gets paid late. Running out of room for wages and suppliers because a machine was paid in cash is the most expensive mistake on this list.
• Unused credit line. Paying cash keeps your borrowing capacity at the bank free, which can be useful for a big job.

Example: buying a new JLG 450AJ five ways

To compare with real numbers, we take a specific machine: the JLG 450AJ, a diesel articulated boom with about 16 m of working height, one of the most rented machines on construction sites. We use a reference price of €65,000 + VAT (equivalent new machines sell in Europe for €60,000 to €75,000 + VAT in 2026, depending on configuration), a 15% deposit and 5 years.

For comparison, carrying on renting the same machine costs €1,098 + VAT a month (€1,350 incl. VAT), only in the months it works, with a deposit of about €4,000: about €65,900 over 5 years if you use it every month and about €33,000 if you use it six months a year, plus transport for each hire.

What the table shows:

• Leasing and a loan cost almost the same in interest; the difference is stamp duty (about €650 in favour of leasing) and, above all, cash flow: the loan needs about €13,000 more on day one, because the VAT is paid up front.
• Renting costs about €10,000 more over 5 years than leasing, but leaves no machine to sell, includes maintenance and insurance and removes the risk of the machine being worth less than expected. It is a choice for predictability, not price.
• Taxes barely change the ranking. In every option the costs are deductible: depreciation and interest in leasing and loans, rent in renting and hire. The difference is timing. With corporate tax and municipal surcharge around 20%, the roughly €58,800 of the lease costs about €47,000 after tax; the same discount applies to the other options.
• The big decision is not how to pay but whether buying pays. Owning the new 450AJ costs about €11,800 a year, the equivalent of almost 11 months of monthly rental. If the machine does not work practically all year, renting is cheaper.

Buy or keep renting: the numbers for three machines

The break-even point varies a lot from machine to machine. We ran the same sum (annual cost of owning the machine, financed by leasing, against the published rental price) for a new electric scissor (the JLG 1930ES), a used boom and a new boom.

Three conclusions:

• The small scissor pays for itself quickly. From about 60 working days a year, just over one day a week, buying an 8 m scissor is cheaper than renting it. Add the transport of each rental (€100 to €250 per trip) and the break-even drops further. That is why painters, electricians and industrial maintenance teams usually buy the scissor and rent the big machines.
• A used boom is the middle ground. At less than half the price of a new one, it pays from about 90 working days a year on daily hire, or eight months in a row on monthly hire. Before buying, follow the checklist for buying a used platform.
• A new boom only pays for those who use it almost all the time. In Portugal and Spain rental rates are low relative to machine prices: according to IPAF's 2023 rental market report, a Spanish rental company takes 6 years and 8 months to pay back a platform, against 3.4 years in France. For anyone who is not a rental company, buying a new boom is justified by near-continuous use, by work in places where renting is hard, or when having the machine on the right day is worth more than the price difference.

For rental prices by type and height, see the guide How much does it cost to rent an aerial work platform.

What money costs in October 2026

Equipment finance rates are almost always variable: Euribor plus a spread, reset every 3, 6 or 12 months. Euribor rose through 2026: on 15 October it stood at 2.636% (3 months), 2.954% (6 months) and 3.217% (12 months), against about 2.1% in December 2025. In August 2026 the average rate on new loans to companies up to €1 million was 4.33%, according to Banco de Portugal. Each extra percentage point costs about €1,500 of interest on €55,000 over 5 years.

Ask for a fixed rate as an alternative. It usually costs a little more at the start, but protects you from further rises over the 5 years of the contract.

Taxes: what changes and what does not

Depreciation

Regulatory Decree 25/2009 has no specific line for aerial work platforms. For a construction company, the closest is material handling and storage equipment in the construction sector (code 1185, 14.28% a year, useful life of 7 to 14 years). For companies in other sectors and rental companies, the generic table applies, where the usual choice is "unspecified machines" (code 2295, 12.5% a year). New machines can use declining-balance depreciation, which brings the deduction forward; for used machines the rate is based on the remaining useful life. Confirm the classification with your accountant or, if the amount justifies it, with a binding ruling request to the Tax Authority.

Who deducts what

• Cash, loan and leasing: the company depreciates the machine and deducts the interest. In leasing it is the lessee, not the bank, who depreciates.
• Renting and hire: the rent is deducted.
• Sole traders under the simplified regime: cannot deduct depreciation or interest, because income is calculated by coefficients. For them, the financing choice only changes cash flow and total cost.

VAT

A platform sold by a dealer carries normal VAT (23% on the mainland, 22% in Madeira, 16% in the Azores). The construction reverse charge does not apply to selling machines, nor to plain hire: only to construction services by licensed contractors (Circular 25117/2026). VAT on the purchase is deductible for anyone with VAT-taxable activity; the article 21 exclusion in the VAT Code covers passenger cars, not machines. Those exempt under article 53 (turnover up to €15,000) cannot deduct VAT: for them VAT is a cost in every option, and leasing at least spreads it over the rents.

Investment tax incentives

• RFAI (investment tax support regime): not available to most platform buyers. It covers only the activities in Portaria 282/2014, which excludes construction (CAE 41 to 43) and construction machinery rental (CAE 77320). It does work, for example, for a manufacturer buying a new platform for its plant: a deduction of 30% of the investment from corporate tax in the North, Centre, Alentejo, Azores and Madeira, provided jobs are created and kept.
• DLRR (retained and reinvested profits deduction): repealed in 2023. Those who deducted 2022 profits have until the end of the 2026 tax period to reinvest them.
• ICE (company capitalisation incentive): rewards increases in equity, not equipment purchases. If the partners put money into the company to pay for the machine instead of financing it, that increase can give a deduction from taxable profit.

Public support and guarantees

• BPF InvestEU line (Banco Português de Fomento): bank financing for SME investment with a 50% public guarantee, up to €5 million, terms up to 12 years and up to 3 years' grace, until the end of 2028. The guarantee fee is 0.40 to 1.15% a year. Construction (CAE 41 to 43) and machinery rental (77320) are eligible. You apply through your bank.
• Impulsar Portugal line: explicitly includes equipment leasing, with a 70% guarantee (up to €25 million) or 80% under New Businesses, for micro companies up to 4 years old with at least 15% equity (up to €1 million).
• Note: both lines exclude used assets. For a used platform, count on ordinary leasing or a loan.
• Mutual guarantee: the former Lisgarante, Norgarante, Garval and Agrogarante merged in December 2025 into SGM, Sociedade de Garantia Mútua. The guarantee lowers the bank's risk and the personal guarantees asked of the partners; the company pays a fee and becomes an SGM shareholder. You apply through the bank or an SGM office.
• Portugal 2030: the incentive schemes fund machinery, but require investment projects (at least €300,000 of eligible spending in SICE Productive Innovation), do not accept purchases made before applying and are almost always limited to industry and exporting activities. For a construction company that wants one platform it is rarely a realistic route.
• Those creating their own job: the MICROINVEST (up to €20,000) and INVEST+ (up to €100,000) programmes, with mutual guarantee and IEFP support, and Empreende XXI, for new companies on the mainland, can fund a starter's first machine.

Used machines: what changes in financing

• Leasing used machines exists, but not every bank does it. Caixa Geral de Depósitos finances "equipment, new or used" and charges for the valuation; Abanca adjusts the term and amount to the machine's age and market value.
• The term gets shorter. Expect 3 to 4 years for a machine that is 6 to 10 years old, and a slightly higher spread.
• The seller must invoice. Leasing needs an invoice to the bank. Buying from a private seller or a foreign company without a Portuguese invoice pushes you towards a bank loan.
• Lines with public guarantees do not apply (InvestEU and Impulsar exclude used assets), and RFAI requires new assets.
• Inspect before signing. In a lease, the bank pays the seller and the company keeps the machine and the risk. Ask for the maintenance history and the latest periodic inspection report.

How to choose

• You have steady work, are VAT-registered and want a new machine: a 4 or 5-year lease with a low residual. Also ask your bank about the InvestEU line.
• You are buying a used machine from a private seller or abroad, or several machines at once: a bank loan, budgeting for stamp duty and VAT up front.
• You want a fixed monthly cost and do not want to deal with resale or the workshop: renting, if you find someone who offers it for platforms; compare the total cost with leasing plus a maintenance contract.
• You have idle cash and the machine will work a lot: cash, without leaving the company short.
• You are starting out or have little equity: leasing with a mutual guarantee or Impulsar New Businesses; if you are creating your own job, MICROINVEST or INVEST+.
• You use the machine less than 60 to 120 days a year (depending on the type): keep renting. The directory of aerial platform rental companies lists contacts by district.

Before going to the bank: documents and questions

1. Ask for the quote or pro-forma invoice with make, model, year, hours and serial number. In leasing, the final invoice is issued to the bank, which pays the seller directly.
2. Gather the company documents: IES or accounts for the last two years, a recent trial balance, tax and social security clearance certificates, and the list of loans you already have (the bank sees them in Banco de Portugal's credit register).
3. Explain what the machine is for: planned jobs, clients, how many days a year it will work. A simple plan helps approval and spread negotiation.
4. Ask two or three banks for offers on the same terms (amount, deposit, term, residual) and compare on APR and total cost, not on the rent.
5. Ask what is not in the rate: arrangement, management and closing fees; the purchase option cost; mandatory insurance and whether you can use your own insurer; the early repayment cost; collateral (promissory note, partners' guarantee, spouses' guarantee).
6. Choose between variable and fixed rate and confirm how often the Euribor resets.
7. Check with your accountant the depreciation rate, the balance-sheet effect and, if relevant, eligibility for RFAI or the guaranteed lines.
8. Add up the costs of owning: insurance, annual periodic inspection, preventive maintenance, transport and operator training.

Where Trapézio de Prismas comes in

We are the JLG and Power Curbers dealer in Portugal and sell new JLG platforms and used machines of several brands. We are not a credit institution and do not provide finance, but we issue the quote and pro-forma invoice the bank or lessor asks for and invoice the lessor directly when the purchase is made by leasing. After the purchase, we handle service, maintenance and the mandatory periodic inspections. If the numbers in this guide point to buying, request a quote and tell us which kind of financing you are considering.