Equipment Finance

What we finance

Earthmoving (excavators, bobcats, skid steers, loaders), tippers and trucks, trade tools and plant, agricultural machinery, forklifts and materials handling, commercial kitchen and hospitality fit-outs, medical and dental equipment, and IT and office fit-outs.

Why buy it outright when the cash is worth more in the business

The argument for financing equipment isn't that you can't afford it. It's that a $90,000 machine paid in cash is $90,000 not available for wages, materials or the next job.

Financed over its working life, the machine pays for itself out of the revenue it generates while your cash stays liquid. That's the whole case, and for most growing businesses it holds.

Chattel mortgage, lease, or rental

Three common structures, and which one suits depends on your accountant more than on us:

Low doc for ABN holders

Plenty of equipment deals get written without full financials — on bank statements, BAS, or on the strength of the asset itself where there's a deposit or existing equity. ABNs under two years are workable, particularly with industry experience behind them.

ABN holder finance in full →

From quote to on site: how an equipment deal runs

From there the structure you chose earlier — chattel mortgage, lease or rental — does its work, and your accountant handles the tax side. Our job is getting the machine on site while the job that pays for it is still there.

One paperwork detail that saves days: the supplier's invoice has to be made out to the borrowing entity — the company or trust, not you personally. Get that right when you order and settlement doesn't stall waiting on a re-issued invoice.

• Send the supplier's quote or the listing — dealer, private seller or auction house.
• Tell us the work story: what the machine will do, what it earns, and the ABN behind it.
• We assess low doc where it fits — bank statements or BAS, and a credit check that won't affect your credit score.
• Conditional approval, typically 24 to 72 hours.
• Attachments and extras go on the same submission if they're part of the buy.
• Documents signed electronically, supplier paid directly, delivery booked.

Hours matter more than years

Machinery is bought on hours the way cars are bought on kilometres, and the meter only tells half the story. A 6,000-hour excavator with a full service file is a better machine — and an easier finance write — than a 3,000-hour unit with no history and slop in the pins.

What to look at on used gear: the service records first, then the wear points — pins and bushes, tracks or tyres, and whether the hours on the meter match the condition in front of you. A machine that's been greased on schedule announces itself.

On tracked machines, price the undercarriage separately in your head. Tracks, rollers and idlers are a big slice of the machine's value, and a worn undercarriage turns a cheap excavator into an expensive one within a year. Get a percentage-worn figure from whoever inspects it.

Lenders read age and hours together, and every lender draws the line differently. High-hour gear isn't unfinanceable; it just narrows the field, sometimes shortens the term, and occasionally wants a deposit. Send the listing before you commit and we'll tell you which lenders are still in.

Buying at auction

Auctions are where ex-fleet, ex-government and insolvency-sale machinery goes, and there's genuine value in it — gear that was serviced on schedule because someone's job depended on the logbook.

The rules are unforgiving: no cooling-off, a buyer's premium on top of the hammer price, and settlement expected within days. That makes approval-before-bidding non-negotiable. Bid without finance arranged and you're gambling with the deposit.

Our end: approval sorted before auction day, and we pay the auction house directly once you've won. Your end: use the inspection days. Machines at auction sell as-is, and the time to find the cracked boom is before the bidding, not after.

Two numbers to check before you set your limit: whether the hammer price includes GST or has it added on top, and what the buyer's premium runs to. Both vary between auction houses, both come out of your budget, and plenty of first-time bidders find out at the invoice. The big timed online auctions work the same way — the deadline discipline just moves to your screen.

The gear around the machine

The machine is rarely the whole spend. Buckets, tilt hitches, augers, rippers — and on serious earthmoving gear, GPS machine control that can cost as much as a small machine on its own. Then the trailer or float to move it all.

All of it can go into the one facility with the base machine. What we see too often is the machine financed and the attachments paid cash — which drains the exact working capital the finance was meant to protect. Quote the whole setup, finance the whole setup, and keep the float for the job.

Second-hand attachments count too. A used tilt hitch or a set of buckets from another operator can go into the deal alongside a new base machine — mixed new-and-used facilities are routine, as long as each item is invoiced properly to the borrowing entity.

Pulling working capital out of gear you already own

An unencumbered machine sitting in the yard is capital you can borrow against. Raising funds against owned gear is a standard way to put a deposit on the next machine, carry the cost of a big job before progress payments land, or smooth a slow quarter — without touching the operating account.

The same review works on gear you're still paying off. Equipment loans written a few years ago are worth re-pricing, especially anything signed quickly to catch a job. We compare 60+ lenders and will beat your current offer.

Bring the full picture — what's owned, what's owing, what's coming up — and we'll look at the structure across the lot rather than one machine at a time. It's the same low doc assessment as a purchase — bank statements or BAS, a credit check that won't affect your credit score, and an answer typically inside 24 to 72 hours.

EOFY and timing the purchase

June is the crush. Suppliers run out of stock, popular machines go to whoever ordered earliest, and lender settlement queues stretch as everyone tries to land delivery before the 30th. If year-end timing matters to your purchase, start weeks out, not days.

One detail that catches people: what counts for a given tax year can turn on delivery and installation, not just the invoice date — and whether the instant asset write-off helps you depends on the rules in force and your circumstances. Your accountant is the call to make before you commit to timing. Our job is making sure the finance isn't the thing that misses the date.

The quiet months have their own advantage: suppliers negotiate harder and settlements move faster when the whole industry isn't buying at once.

What customers say

Questions we get asked