The rate is the small decision. The structure is the big one.

Most people shop asset finance on the rate and sign whatever structure is put in front of them. That is backwards. Whether it is a chattel mortgage or a lease changes your GST, your depreciation and who owns the thing — and that is usually worth more than a point of rate.

Send a brief → Run the Smart System first

Free. You are never invoiced. Specialist. This lane only goes to brokers who write it weekly.

If any of this is your week

Asset finance is often available when nothing else is — because the lender can sell what you are buying.

“The dealer offered finance and I have no idea if it is any good.”Dealer finance is convenient and sometimes competitive. Those are two different questions.

“It is a private sale and everyone went quiet.”Private sales, older assets and unusual gear narrow the field fast — but they do not close it.

“There is a balloon at the end and I have not thought about it.”That lump is still owing on the last day. Pay it, refinance it, or sell the asset.

The deciding factor in this lane

The deciding factor is what the asset is, and how old it will be at the end of the term.

Financiers do not price you nearly as much as they price the thing, its age, and what it will be worth when the term ends. Two identical businesses buying a two-year-old truck and a fifteen-year-old one get very different answers.

How old is the asset, and how old at the end of the term?Many financiers cap the asset’s age at end of term, not at purchase. That single rule decides more asset deals than credit does.

Dealer, auction, or private sale?Private sales need extra verification and some financiers will not do them at all. Worth knowing before you commit to the seller.

Is it a “soft” asset?Fit-out, IT, signage and anything that cannot easily be resold is priced completely differently to a truck or an excavator.

Do you report GST on a cash or accruals basis?This decides whether a chattel mortgage lets you claim the whole GST credit in your next BAS — often thousands, on day one.

Tool 01 in the Smart System asks these directly, so the answers are already in your brief before a broker rings. That is most of the difference between a first call that goes somewhere and one that starts from scratch.

One conversation with your accountant is worth more than a better rate

A chattel mortgage — the standard structure for most Australian businesses — puts the asset on your balance sheet, and if you report GST on an accruals basis you can generally claim the whole GST credit on the purchase price in your next BAS.

A lease or rental spreads that GST across the rentals instead, and the financier owns the asset until the residual is paid. Which is better depends on your GST basis, your depreciation position and whether you intend to keep the asset at the end.

Ask your accountant which structure suits before you sign a quote. It is a five-minute question with a four-figure answer.

Get these together first

What a lender in this lane will ask for

Having these ready is worth more than a better pitch. It is also the difference between an answer this week and an answer next month.

What the asset isMake, model, year, hours or kilometres.

The invoice or quoteFrom the dealer, or the private seller’s details.

Whether it is replacing somethingAnd whether that one is being traded or sold.

Your GST basisCash or accruals — ask your bookkeeper if you are unsure.

Existing asset financeWhat else is financed, with whom, and what is still owing.

Property ownershipBeing a property owner changes the tier you are priced in, even on asset finance.

Who this lane goes to

Usually a Asset Specialist.

Matched from the Advance Network when your brief is a equipment file. See what the five kinds of broker actually do →

Chattel mortgage Finance lease Balloon and residual structures Private sale Older and specialised assets Low-doc asset finance Fleet

What we hold them to: they write files like yours every week, not occasionally. They read your brief before the first call. They will tell you “not yet” and say what would change it. And no lender has paid to be on their panel or in our Network — there is nothing to buy.

Send a equipment & vehicles brief

Tell us the situation in your own words.

A few lines is enough to start. Nothing goes to a lender and no credit check is run from this form — sending it starts a conversation, not an application.

Keep learning

Finance Field Guide

See how this product sits on the lending ladder, what a credit assessor is actually testing, and how the answer changes by business type. Open the field guide →