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Crash Cushion Finance

Crash cushions and impact attenuators cost from around £4,000 for a low-speed trailer unit to £60,000+ for a fleet package, bought overwhelmingly by traffic management hire companies rather than the contractors they protect.

Can you finance a crash cushion?

Yes, crash cushions are financed as a standard asset purchase, usually on hire purchase or a lease, with the machine itself acting as the security. UK prices typically run £4,000 to £60,000, and most deals are written over 24-84 months with a deposit of around 10-20%. Decisions typically take 24–48 hours. Used machines are financeable too, usually with a shorter term.

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Typical Cost

£4k – £60k

Approval Speed

24–48 hours

Faster on drawdowns against an existing fleet facility

Rates From

5.2% APR

What would a crash cushion cost per month?

£15,000
10%
60 months
9%
£0

Your estimate

Indicative only. Not a quote and not an offer of finance.

Pre-filled with a typical crash cushion price. Indicative only, not a quote.

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Finance options

Hire Purchase (HP)

Rate
5.5% - 10% per annum
Term
24-84 months
Deposit
10-20%
Ownership
Yours at the end
Best for
Hire companies building owned fleet stock rather than paying rental or repeated hire charges themselves

Finance Lease

Rate
5.2% - 9.4% per annum
Term
24-84 months
Deposit
None required
Ownership
Return or buy (balloon payment)
Best for
Fleet operators wanting a large stock purchase kept off a single capital outlay

Multi-Drawdown Asset Finance Facility

Rate
5.5% - 9.9% per annum
Term
Facility agreed annually; each drawdown runs 24-60 months
Deposit
Varies by drawdown
Ownership
Yours at the end of each drawdown
Best for
Hire fleet operators who buy crash cushions stock repeatedly through the year across many jobs rather than in one single order

Representative example

On a purchase price of £15,000: a 10% deposit of £1,500, then 48 monthly payments of £316 at 5.9% APR representative (fixed). Total amount payable £16,668, including the deposit. The rate you are offered depends on your business and the asset.

What buyers actually specify

Guide prices for sizing a finance agreement, not quotes. Manufacturers in this market mostly price on application, so where a current UK list price could not be confirmed the row describes a specification class rather than naming a model. Your supplier quote is what the agreement is written against.

Machine or specification Guide price Type
Trailer-Mounted Impact Attenuator (Low Speed) £4,000 - £9,000 Low-Speed Attenuator
Trailer-Mounted Impact Attenuator (High Speed) £10,000 - £20,000 High-Speed Attenuator
Truck-Mounted Attenuator (TMA) System £15,000 - £35,000 Truck-Mounted System
Fleet Package (5+ units) £30,000 - £60,000 Fleet Stock Package

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Tax benefits

A crash cushion bought by a hire company is treated as plant and machinery, so it qualifies for the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA), letting the business deduct the cost from taxable profits in the year each unit is bought, up to the current £1,000,000 annual limit across the whole business. Where a fleet is bought through a facility with several drawdowns spread across a financial year, each drawdown is treated as a purchase in its own right for allowance purposes, so a facility structure does not reduce what a growing fleet can claim. Under a Finance Lease you do not own the asset, so payments are instead deducted as a business expense rather than claimed as an allowance. Always confirm the treatment with your accountant before agreeing a facility structure.

Market context

Crash cushions and impact attenuators, used to protect work crews and road users at roadworks and highway maintenance sites, are bought almost entirely by traffic management hire companies rather than the contractors whose sites they protect. A hire operator's credit case rests on how many units are deployed across its region at any one time, since demand tracks scheduled highways and utility work rather than any single client's contract. Because attenuators are safety-critical equipment bought in growing or refreshed batches rather than singly, lenders in this sector commonly structure a facility that funds repeated purchases across the year rather than treating each unit as a separate application. Replacement is driven by damage sustained in genuine impacts, which write off a unit outright, and by wear to the trailer chassis and lighting from constant deployment and recovery, rather than by a fixed service life.

Bad credit?

Several of our 200+ lenders specialise in businesses with imperfect credit histories. You may need a larger deposit or personal guarantee, but options exist. Checking your options here does not affect your credit score, because we do not run a credit search to match you. A lender will run their own checks only if you decide to apply.

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Frequently asked questions

Why are crash cushions financed by hire companies rather than the road contractors who use them?
A road or utility contractor sets up a work zone for one job and relies on a traffic management specialist to supply and position the safety equipment, including crash cushions, as part of that service. The hire company's fleet is what is actually financed, because it is the business whose crash cushions are working across many different client sites at once, not any single contractor's project.
What happens to a crash cushion after a genuine impact?
A crash cushion that absorbs a genuine impact has done its job, but it is usually written off in the process and cannot simply be repaired and redeployed. Fleet operators budget for this as an ongoing cost of running the fleet, and it is one reason hire companies buy attenuators in batches and replace them on a rolling basis rather than expecting a fixed unit to last a set number of years.
Can a fleet of crash cushions be financed through one facility?
Yes. Many lenders serving traffic management hire companies will agree a facility and release drawdowns as new units are bought, whether growing the fleet to cover more concurrent work zones or replacing units lost to genuine impacts. This suits an operator whose buying is driven by ongoing safety requirements and contract wins rather than a single planned purchase. Discussing your expected buying volume for the year ahead with your broker at the outset generally gets a facility sized correctly the first time, rather than needing to renegotiate it a few months in once buying patterns become clearer.
What deposit is needed for crash cushion finance?
Hire Purchase typically asks for a 10-20% deposit, while a Finance Lease or a drawdown against an existing facility usually requires none. Because attenuators are safety-critical and bought in batches, an established traffic management operator with a trading history can often negotiate favourable terms across a whole fleet purchase. Your broker can confirm the exact figure a specific lender will ask for once they know the crash cushion's age, condition and your business's trading history, since these are the main factors that move the deposit up or down from the typical range quoted here.
How quickly can crash cushion finance be approved?
Straightforward applications are usually approved within 24 to 48 hours, and drawdowns against an existing fleet facility are typically faster still. A new facility for a traffic management business entering the sector, or a large fleet package, will generally take a little longer while the lender reviews the operator's trading history and highways contracts. Having your last set of accounts, bank statements and a clear supplier quote ready before you apply is the single biggest thing you can do to keep a crash cushion application moving at that pace, since most delays come from a lender waiting on paperwork rather than from the credit decision itself.

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