The short version
- Excavator finance is business asset finance for earthmoving and construction equipment. It's usually written as a chattel mortgage, with the machine itself as security.
- Indicative rates in August 2026 are 7 to 12% p.a. for new equipment from the mainstream brands and 9 to 14% for older machines or the newer import brands.
- The brand affects the deal more than most borrowers expect. Nearly every lender on the panel writes a Caterpillar or Komatsu. A Chinese import has fewer lenders, needs a deposit, and sometimes gets a shorter term.
- Clean deals get approved in 24 to 48 hours with the specialist lenders and settle in three to seven business days, which matters when the machine has a job waiting for it.
Most excavator purchases come with a contract attached. You're buying the machine because a job starts in three weeks, a tender came through, or the hired unit on site costs more each month than a repayment would. That time pressure shapes everything. You need to decide the structure quickly, use a lender that moves just as fast, and get pre-approval before you bid at auction. This guide covers what the finance looks like, what it costs, how lenders split by brand, and when hiring beats owning. It's written for the civil contractors, earthmovers and trades businesses that buy this equipment.
What construction equipment finance covers
Excavator prices alone cover a wide range. Mini and midi excavators from 1.7 to 8 tonnes cost roughly $35K to $140K new. General-purpose diggers in the 12 to 25 tonne class cost between $180K and $400K. The 30 to 50 tonne machines on bulk earthworks and quarries cost well beyond that.
The same finance covers the rest of the yard: wheel loaders, skid steers and track loaders, dozers, graders, rollers and compaction gear, articulated dumpers, and road plant such as profilers and pavers. Attachments (buckets, augers, hydraulic hammers, tilt hitches) can go on the same contract as the machine, which is usually simpler than paying cash for them separately. New equipment is sold through dealers. Used equipment comes through dealers, auction houses and private sales, and you can finance all three.
How the deals are structured
The chattel mortgage is the default, as it is across asset finance generally. The business owns the machine from settlement. The lender pays the seller directly and registers its interest on the PPSR. The GST on the price comes back on your next BAS, and depreciation and interest go through your tax return.
Two other options are worth knowing. An operating lease suits equipment you need for the length of a project rather than the life of the machine. The rent is deductible, the machine goes back at the end, and the lender keeps the residual risk. The chattel mortgage vs operating lease comparison explains the tax side. Rent-to-own deals from specialist equipment providers cost more again, but they turn hire payments into equity. They suit an operator whose contract pipeline is too short or too new for a standard approval.
Paperwork follows the usual two paths: full-doc with two years of financials, or low-doc using six to twelve months of BAS for businesses with two or more years of ABN history. For newer businesses, a signed contract or a letter of engagement from a principal carries real weight in an application, because lenders want to see work lined up. At auctions, payment is usually due within days, so get pre-approval before you bid.
What excavator finance costs
Two rate bands cover most of the market in August 2026.
- New or near-new equipment from the mainstream brands, for an established business: 7 to 12% p.a. Full-doc borrowers with clean files sit in the lower half of the band. Low-doc sits in the upper half.
- Older machines, high-hour units or the newer import brands: 9 to 14% p.a. The deposit lenders expect goes up too.
Deposits range from zero on new mainstream equipment for an established operator, to 10 to 20% on used machines and imports. Trade-in equity counts, so the value in the machine you're replacing can stand in for a cash deposit. Balloons are available but smaller than in the truck market, usually 10 to 30%, because engine hours wear down resale value quickly. Most machines are financed over three to five years, sometimes seven on larger plant. On used equipment, hours matter as much as age. A five-year-old 20-tonner with 3,000 hours and a service history is priced differently from the same machine with 9,000 hours and no history.
Brand appetite: which lenders write which brands
Most equipment finance pages skip this, but it decides real deals.
The tier-one brands (Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hitachi, Volvo, Kubota) have the most lenders willing to finance them. Nearly every asset financier on the panel writes them, their resale values are well known, and the manufacturers' own finance arms (Caterpillar Financial Services, Komatsu's own finance arm) compete on their own equipment with sharp campaign pricing, especially on new stock.
Most of the market writes the established mid-tier brands (JCB, Case, Develon, Hyundai, Takeuchi, Bobcat, Yanmar) on similar terms, sometimes with slightly more cautious residual values.
The import brands are where lenders split. Sany, XCMG and LiuGong machines have won real market share in Australia, and more lenders have come on board as resale data has built up, but the list is still shorter. Expect a 10 to 20% deposit, possibly a shorter term, and fewer lenders willing to finance them used. That doesn't make the machine a bad purchase. The saving on the price is often bigger than the extra finance cost. It does mean you need to pick the lender before you pay the deposit. Specialist lenders, including Pepper, ScotPac and Lumi, write much of the business in this area that the banks won't touch.
When hiring beats owning
Finance isn't always the answer.
Wet hire (machine with operator) or dry hire (machine only) beats owning when the need is short and clear. A 30-tonner needed for one ten-week bulk earthworks job should be hired. The hire rate will be higher than a repayment month for month, but it stops when the job ends, and you're not left selling a machine into a soft market afterwards. The test is how often the machine works. Equipment that earns most weeks of the year is worth owning. Equipment that earns on one contract is worth hiring.
Many civil contractors end up doing both: they own the machines that work every week (the 8-tonner, the skid steer, the roller) and hire the big or specialised units per project. The owned machines build equity and the hired ones keep risk off the balance sheet.
GST and depreciation
Under a chattel mortgage the business owns the machine at settlement, so you can claim the full GST credit on the purchase price in your next BAS. The car limit doesn't apply to plant and equipment.
Depreciation runs under Division 40. The ATO's effective-life tables put most excavators and loaders at around ten years. Hours worked change the resale value, not the tax life. Interest on each repayment is deductible. The instant asset write-off threshold of $20,000 sometimes covers an attachment but not a machine. The full cost of an excavator depreciates over its effective life in the normal way. Anything more aggressive is a question for your accountant, not something to assume when setting up the finance.
If you're buying a machine and the job is waiting, call 1300 094 529 to find out which lenders write the brand and which structure fits, or start with the application form. Most enquiries get a response within four business hours.