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CAR & ASSET FINANCE

Car and asset finance for businesses and households

Vehicles, trucks, plant and equipment, funded on the structure that suits how you actually use them. One broker, a panel of more than forty lenders, and a straight explanation of what you sign.

Talk to a broker1300 015 267
Settling the finance structure before the asset is bought, not after

  • Lender panel

    40+

  • Combined experience

    45+ years

  • Assets funded

    Cars, trucks, plant, equipment

  • Structures

    Chattel mortgage, lease, rental

Is this you?

If any of these are true, we can help.

Talk it through
  • A trading business replacing a ute or van and unsure whether to buy it or lease it
  • An owner-driver buying a first prime mover and finding the banks cautious about the age of the unit
  • A civil contractor who needs an excavator on site next month and has quotes but no structure
  • A household buying a car and being pushed toward dealer finance at the desk
  • A business with plant owned outright and a working capital gap it would rather not put against the family home
  • An employee whose workplace offers novated leasing and who wants it explained by someone not selling it

How it works

Three moves, in plain words.

  1. 01

    Tell us the asset

    Make, model, year, kilometres or hours, and where it is coming from. A tax invoice or a listing is enough to start the conversation.

  2. 02

    We read the position

    ABN, trading history, property ownership, credit file, and anything sitting on the ATO ledger. We would rather find the problem ourselves than have a lender find it for us.

  3. 03

    Structure before shopping

    We settle the structure, the term and whether there is a balloon before approaching a lender, so the deal is not being repriced halfway through.

Tell us what you are buying

Talk to a broker1300 015 267

What asset finance actually is

Asset finance is a loan tied to a specific thing: a car, a ute, a prime mover, an excavator, a CNC machine. The asset itself is the security. That is why an asset loan usually prices better than an unsecured business loan of the same size, and it is why the lender cares a great deal about what the asset is, how old it is, and who is selling it.

The structure you sign matters more than most people expect. Two businesses can buy the same ute on the same day for the same price and end up with different ownership, different accounting treatment and a different position on the last day of the term, purely because one signed a chattel mortgage and the other signed a lease.

  • Passenger cars, utes, vans and light commercials
  • Prime movers, rigids, tippers, tankers, trailers and buses
  • Earthmoving and yellow goods, from skid steers to excavators and telehandlers
  • Fixed plant, CNC machinery, forklifts and production lines
  • Fit-out, refrigeration, commercial kitchens and specialised medical equipment
Chattel
Moveable property. A ute, a machine or a trailer is a chattel. Land is not, which is where the structure gets its name.
Balloon
An amount deferred to the last day of the term on a loan. It lowers the monthly figure and leaves a lump sum owing at the end.
Residual
The same idea on a lease. Minimum residual percentages are set under ATO guidelines and step down as the term lengthens.
PPSR
The Personal Property Securities Register, where a financier records its interest in an asset. Anyone can search it, and in a private sale anyone should.
Sale and leaseback
Selling an asset the business already owns to a financier and financing it straight back. The gear stays where it is and the capital returns to the business.
Low doc
An application assessed on ABN, GST registration and declarations rather than full financials. Lighter paperwork, a narrower panel.

The detail

The structures, side by side

Most people arrive knowing they need finance and not knowing which of the six common shapes they want. This is the whole field on one page.

Structures where you end up owning it

  • Chattel mortgage and consumer car loan both leave the asset in your name
  • The last day of the term is a payout, not a handback
  • Whatever the asset is worth at the end is yours to keep, and yours to lose
  • Suits gear you intend to run well past the term

Structures built around use

  • Finance lease, rental and novated lease keep title with the financier
  • The last day of the term is a decision: pay the residual, return, extend or upgrade
  • Resale risk sits with the financier rather than with you
  • Suits fleets and equipment replaced on a set cycle
How each structure works in outline. Tax treatment is a matter for your accountant.
StructureWho holds titleTypically used byWorth knowing
Chattel mortgageYou, from settlementBusinesses buying a vehicle or plantThe financier registers security on the PPSR. GST and depreciation treatment is your accountant’s call.
Finance leaseThe financierBusinesses that want a lease on the booksYou lease the asset and there is a residual at the end. Ownership does not pass automatically.
Rental or operating leaseThe financierBusinesses that replace equipment on a cycleBuilt around use rather than ownership. Return, extend or renegotiate at the end of term.
Novated leaseThe financierEmployees whose employer agrees to itA three-way arrangement paid from salary. Fringe benefits tax applies.
Consumer car loanYou, from settlementHouseholds buying a private carA regulated consumer credit contract, with the protections that go with that.
Unsecured personal loanYouBuyers of older or unusual vehiclesNo asset security, so it generally prices higher and runs over a shorter term.

Which one is right is a question about how the asset earns, how long you intend to keep it, and what your accountant wants on the balance sheet. We set out the options and the mechanics. The tax treatment is a conversation for your accountant or a registered tax agent, and we will say so every time it comes up.

Balloon and residual payments, plainly

A balloon on a chattel mortgage, or a residual on a lease, is an amount deferred to the end of the term. It lowers the monthly figure. It raises what is owing when the term finishes. Both of those are true at once, and the second one is the part people forget.

Direction of the trade-off only. Actual figures depend on the loan, the term and the lender.
ChoiceMonthly repaymentOwing at the endWhat to watch
No balloonHighestNothingCash flow pressure across the whole term
Moderate balloonLowerA set amount at term endThe asset needs to be worth more than the balloon on that day
Large balloonLowestA large amount at term endRefinancing the balloon, or selling into a soft resale market

What is still owing, with and without a balloon

The balloon loan never finishes paying itself off. The lower monthly figure is real, and so is the $15,000 sitting against a five-year-old ute on the last day. Choose which of those you would rather carry, then set the balloon.

Modelled on a $60,000 asset over five years with the same assumed rate on both. Illustrative projection only. Not a quote and not an offer of credit.

View as a table
MonthNo balloon$15,000 balloon
0$60,000$60,000
10$51,000$52,500
20$41,500$44,500
30$31,500$36,500
40$21,500$28,000
50$11,000$21,500
60$0$15,000

What lenders look at

Asset finance credit assessment runs on a shorter list than a home loan, but the list is firm and it is applied consistently.

  • The asset: type, age, kilometres or engine hours, and how specialised the resale market is
  • The seller: licensed dealer, private sale or auction, each verified differently
  • The borrower: ABN age, GST registration, and how long the business has genuinely traded
  • Whether you own property, which many asset lenders treat as a separate risk band
  • The credit file, including repayment history for the last two years under comprehensive credit reporting
  • Existing commitments, including any tax debt and what is being done about it
The asset carries as much of the assessment as the borrower does
Lenders sort the asset before they sort the applicant. A common make with a deep second-hand market is largely assessed on the borrower. A rare or heavily specialised unit is assessed on what happens if it ever has to be sold.

Full doc and low doc

  • Full doc: financials, tax returns, BAS and bank statements. Broadest lender choice and generally the best terms available to you.
  • Low doc: ABN, GST registration, asset details and a declaration of purpose, often with a property-ownership test. Faster and lighter, with fewer lenders and terms priced for the reduced verification.

Low doc is not a shortcut around affordability. The lender still has to be satisfied the commitment is serviceable. It is a shortcut around paperwork, and it is genuinely useful when the current-year financials are not finished yet.

How the process runs

  1. 01

    Tell us the asset

    Make, model, year, kilometres or hours, and where it is coming from. A tax invoice or a listing is enough to start the conversation.

  2. 02

    We read the position

    ABN, trading history, property ownership, credit file, and anything sitting on the ATO ledger. We would rather find the problem ourselves than have a lender find it for us.

  3. 03

    Structure before shopping

    We settle the structure, the term and whether there is a balloon before approaching a lender, so the deal is not being repriced halfway through.

  4. 04

    To the right part of the panel

    We take the file to the lenders whose appetite actually matches the asset and the borrower, rather than scattering it across everybody at once.

  5. 05

    Documents and verification

    Identification, a PPSR search on a private sale, seller verification, insurance and the invoice. Private sales slow down here, so we start this early.

  6. 06

    Settlement and payout

    The financier pays the seller directly. Registration, insurance and the security registration all need to line up on the same day.

Asset
Make, model, year
Use to date
Kilometres or hours
Seller
Dealer, private, auction
Entity
ABN and GST status
Structure
Set before lodgement
Insurance
In place at settlement

A clean dealer purchase moves quickly. Private sales, older assets and files carrying credit history take longer. We will tell you which one you are at the beginning rather than at the end.

Using assets you already own to free up cash

If the business already owns plant or vehicles outright, that value is sitting still. A sale and leaseback, sometimes called an asset refinance, sells the asset to a financier and leases or finances it straight back to you. You keep using it. The cash comes back into the business.

For an owner carrying tax debt or a stack of unsecured balances, this is the option most people do not know exists. It can release working capital without a second mortgage over the family home, which is often the entire reason it is worth looking at.

What a sale and leaseback actually does

Nothing moves. The excavator stays on site and the utes stay on the road. What changes is that the value locked inside them comes back as working capital, and a repayment now sits against gear the business previously owned clear.

Illustrative example. Whether an asset can be refinanced depends on its age, its condition, clear title and the lender’s own view of value.

View as a table
InOut
Excavator, owned outrightOne asset-backed facility, capital back in the business
Two utes, owned outright
Forklift, owned outright
  • The asset is owned outright, with clean title and a clear PPSR position
  • It has a real secondary market, because that is what the lender is valuing
  • Age and hours sit inside the lender’s appetite, which is usually the limiting factor
  • There is a genuine business purpose for the funds, and it can be documented

Most lenders see a number. We look at what the business already owns, and what that can be made to do.

Where we draw the line on advice

There is a line here and we hold it. WeL’nd arranges finance. We do not provide tax, accounting, legal or insolvency advice, and asset finance is an area where the tax questions are genuinely consequential.

  • GST on the purchase price and how it is claimed: your accountant or a registered tax agent
  • Depreciation, write-off eligibility and balance sheet treatment: your accountant
  • Fringe benefits tax on a novated lease: your accountant, and your employer’s salary packaging provider
  • Whether the business should be taking on the commitment at all: an honest conversation with us, and one your accountant belongs in

Run the numbers

See it with your own figures.

Indicative only. Change anything — the defaults are starting points, not quotes.

The loan

The amount you are borrowing, after any deposit and before fees.

A starting assumption for you to change, not a rate we are quoting and not a lender product. What you are offered depends on the security, the lender and a full credit assessment.

Principal and interest across the whole term, with no interest-only period.

Worked out on the real period rate and the real number of repayments, so a fortnightly figure is not simply half a monthly one.

Paying it down faster

Optional. Leave it at zero to see the plain schedule. Anything above zero shortens the term and cuts the interest.

Monthly repayment

$4,108.44

$650,000 over 30 years at 6.50%, principal and interest.

Number of repayments
360 monthly repayments
Total repaid
$1,479,039
Total interest
$829,039
Interest as a share of the amount borrowed
127.5%

Where the money goes

Amount borrowed$650,000
Interest over the full term$829,039

A repayment figure is the easy part. Whether a lender will lend it, on what security and at what cost, is the part we handle. Bring the number you have landed on and we will tell you what is realistic.

Talk it through with a broker
Assumptions
  • The interest rate is a figure you typed. It is not a current rate, a comparison rate, or a lender product we are offering.
  • The rate is assumed to stay the same for the whole term. Variable rates move, and a single change resets every figure on this page.
  • Repayments are principal and interest, equal in size, made on time, with no interest-only period, no repayment holiday and no redraw.
  • Weekly and fortnightly figures are calculated on the true period rate — the annual rate divided by 12 — and on 360 repayments. They are not a monthly figure divided down.
  • Interest is calculated per repayment period. A lender accruing daily and charging monthly will land on a slightly different number.
  • Extra repayments are assumed to start with the first repayment and continue every period, and to reduce the balance immediately with no fee and no break cost.
  • No fees are included: no establishment, valuation, legal, settlement, discharge or ongoing fees, no lender's mortgage insurance and no broker fee.

Open the full calculator

Dave Pham, Head Broker at WeL'nd

“Tell me the number. I have almost certainly seen worse.”

Dave Pham · Head Broker

Talk to Dave1300 015 267

FAQ

Questions people actually ask

If yours is not here, ask it. We would rather answer the awkward one early than have you find out later.

1300 015 267
What is the difference between a car loan and asset finance?
In everyday use they overlap. A car loan usually means a consumer loan for a private vehicle. Asset finance is the broader family that covers business vehicles, trucks, plant and equipment, and includes structures like chattel mortgage and finance lease that are not available on a consumer contract. The correct label matters because it changes the documentation, the assessment and the protections that apply.
Do I need to own property to get asset finance?
No, but it changes the shape of the deal. Many asset lenders sort applicants into property owners and non-property owners and set their appetite accordingly. Non-property owners are funded every day; the panel is simply narrower and the terms reflect that. We work out which band you sit in before we go anywhere near a lender.
Can I finance a car or a machine bought privately?
Yes, and most lenders on the panel will consider it. A private sale needs extra verification: a PPSR search to confirm nothing is owing on the asset, confirmation of the seller’s identity and bank details, and often an inspection or valuation. It adds days to the timeline rather than blocking the deal, so start the checks early.
How old can the asset be?
Every lender sets its own limits, and they are usually expressed as the age of the asset at the end of the term rather than at settlement. Newer assets attract the widest choice. Older ones can still be funded, often on a shorter term or through a specialist lender. Trucks and earthmoving plant are the categories where age bites hardest.
Should I take a balloon payment?
It depends entirely on your plan for the end of the term. A balloon lowers the monthly repayment and increases the amount owing at the end. If you intend to keep the asset well beyond the term, a large balloon can leave you refinancing a lump sum on an ageing machine. If you replace assets on a regular cycle, it can suit the cash flow. Decide the exit first.
Can I get asset finance if the business has ATO debt?
Sometimes, and it depends on the size of the balance, whether it is disclosed, and whether there is a payment arrangement being met. Hiding it is the fastest way to lose the deal. If the tax debt is the larger problem, financing another asset on top of it may be the wrong move, and there is a whole side of our practice that deals with exactly that situation.
Does applying for asset finance affect my credit score?
A formal application generates a credit enquiry, and enquiries are visible to other lenders. That is why shotgunning applications across several lenders hurts you. A broker’s job is to place the file with the lender whose policy actually fits, so that one enquiry does the work of five.
Can I finance accessories, freight and on-road costs?
Often yes. Trays, canopies, fit-out, delivery and installation can frequently be included in the financed amount, particularly on a business deal. Policies differ by lender and by asset type, and some lenders will fund the machine but not the freight. Tell us what the full invoice includes and we will check before we lodge.
How long does asset finance take to settle?
A clean dealer purchase with a straightforward borrower can move in days. Private sales, older assets, low doc files and anything with credit history to explain take longer. The realistic answer depends on your file, and we will give you that answer at the start rather than after you have committed to a purchase.

Credentials

  • Credit Representative 554029
  • ABN 20 672 801 651
  • FBAA member
  • AFCA external dispute resolution

Related

Other ways we can help

Reading

Worth understanding first

All of car & asset finance

Where we work

Tell us what you are buying

Send through the asset details and where it is coming from. We will come back with the structures that fit, what each one means on the last day of the term, and exactly what the lender will want to see.

Or call us

1300 015 267

Monday – Friday, 09:00 to 17:30

Dave Pham, Head Broker at WeL'nd

“Tell me the number. I have almost certainly seen worse.”

Dave Pham · Head Broker

Talk to Dave1300 015 267

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