Refurbished Copier Lease: Is It Worth It?
If the new machine quotes are stretching your budget, a refurbished copier lease is the obvious next question. A quality refurbished unit can cut your monthly payment 30 to 50 percent versus new, and for a lot of offices it is the smarter buy. But refurbished covers everything from a barely-used lease return to a tired machine with 800,000 pages on it. Here is how to tell the good deal from the risk.
What refurbished really means
A properly refurbished copier is an off-lease machine that has been inspected, worn parts replaced, cleaned, tested, and reset. The best of these are lease returns with low page counts that come back after 36 months barely used. A certified refurbished unit from a real dealer usually comes with a warranty and a service contract, which is what separates it from a random used machine off a marketplace. Learn the difference in our guide to what a certified refurbished copier lease is.
The real savings
A refurbished color multifunction that leased new at $300 a month often leases refurbished at $150 to $210 a month on a 24 to 48 month term. Black and white units drop from $120 new to $70 to $90 refurbished. The service and per-page rates are usually the same as new, around $0.011 black and $0.07 color, since those cover toner and labor, not the machine. So your savings come entirely off the hardware portion of the payment. Over a 48-month term, that can be $3,000 to $5,000 saved.
When refurbished makes sense
Refurbished is a strong play for steady, moderate volume offices: law and accounting firms, nonprofits, schools, and any business printing under about 8,000 pages a month. If you are watching cash and the machine just needs to work reliably, refurbished is often the better value than new. It is also smart for a second or backup machine. Compare it against buying outright in our copier lease vs buy breakdown.
What most guides miss
The number that tells you whether a refurbished copier is a good deal is the meter reading, and dealers rarely volunteer it. Every copier has a rated lifetime, often in the range of 1 to 3 million pages for a commercial unit. A refurbished machine with 200,000 pages on it has most of its life left. One with 900,000 pages is closer to the end and will need more service. Always ask for the current meter count and the machine model year before you sign. A cheap refurbished lease on a worn-out machine is not a deal, it is a stream of service calls. A refurbished machine with low miles and a real warranty is one of the best values in the market. See whether leasing a used copier is a good deal for your situation.
Watch the term against the machine's age
The term length on a refurbished lease matters more than on a new one, because you are starting with a machine that already has miles on it. Signing a 48 or 60-month lease on a unit that is already a few years old means you could be running an eight or nine-year-old copier by the end of the term. That is usually past the point where parts get harder to find and service calls climb. For refurbished, a 24 to 36-month term is often the smarter play. It keeps the payment low, matches the remaining life of the machine, and lets you step into a newer unit before the old one becomes a headache.
Also confirm the buyout terms. Many refurbished leases are dollar buyout, meaning you own the machine at the end for a dollar. That can be fine, but owning a high-mileage copier outright is only worth it if you can service it cheaply afterward. If the machine already has significant miles, a shorter term with a fresh upgrade at the end usually beats owning a worn-out unit. Compare the total cost against buying new in our copier lease vs buy breakdown.
How to buy refurbished the right way
Only lease refurbished from a dealer who provides a warranty and a service contract. Ask for the meter reading and model year, confirm the per-page rate matches new-machine rates, keep the term to 24 to 36 months so it matches the machine's remaining life, and get the same guaranteed service response time you would demand on a new unit. Do that and a refurbished copier lease gives you most of the performance for a fraction of the cost. If you print heavy color or need the newest scanning software, new may still be worth it, but for most offices refurbished wins on value.
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