How long equipment loans last, and when to reach out

The UCC filing gives you the start date of an equipment loan but not its term. To time outreach, you need to know what terms are normal for each kind of equipment, and when in the term owners start thinking about what's next.

Typical terms by equipment

• Construction equipment (excavators, loaders, dozers): 36 to 60 months, often 48 or 60. Captive deals at subsidized rates cluster at 36 to 48.
• Trucks and trailers: 36 to 60 months for new tractors, shorter for used. Many owner-operators trade at 3 to 4 years before major warranty expiry.
• Agriculture: 36 to 84 months, often with annual payments timed to harvest.
• Medical and IT: 36 to 60 months, with technology refreshes driving replacement at 3 to 5 years.
• Restaurant and small-ticket: 24 to 48 months.

The outreach window

Owners start planning six to nine months before the last payment. Reach them before they've talked to the dealer, and you're part of the decision. For a 48-month loan that means months 39 to 48; for a 36-month loan, months 27 to 36. Because the term is unknown, the safe approach is to work filings at each of the 36, 48 and 60 month marks.

That's the basis of the “likely ending in the next 6 months” figure on every UCC Scout data page: active filings where a 36, 48 or 60 month term from the filing date ends within six months. In Colorado today that's 30,128 loans. The lapse date calculator shows all three dates for any filing.

Signals that the term is shorter or longer

• A termination 36 to 40 months after filing: it was a 36-month deal.
• A continuation at year five: longer than 60 months, or not a single-machine loan.
• A new filing for similar equipment with the same lender: probably a trade-in, and the cycle restarts.

See the timing for your market on the construction, trucks and agriculture pages.