Truck finance is a business loan secured against the truck. Most owner-drivers and transport businesses use a chattel mortgage at about 6.5 to 11% p.a. over three to seven years, often with a 20 to 40% balloon. A truck finance broker compares the banks, specialist lenders and truck makers' finance arms to find the lowest total cost.
The short version
- Truck finance is business asset finance for commercial vehicles. It is most often written as a chattel mortgage. The operator owns the truck from settlement, and the lender registers its interest on the PPSR until the loan is paid off.
- Indicative rates in August 2026 are 6.5 to 11% p.a. for new trucks and 8 to 14% for older or non-standard units. The age of the truck, how long you have traded and whether you go full-doc or low-doc decide where you land.
- Dealer finance on a new truck can be cheap, because the manufacturer's finance arm discounts the rate to move stock. The margin tends to sit in the add-ons and the balloon, so compare the total cost and nothing else.
- Trucks avoid the two tax caps that apply to cars. There is no car limit on depreciation and no cap on the GST credit. A truck over 3.5 tonnes can also be depreciated over 7.5 years instead of 15.
Most writing on truck finance assumes every deal is a new prime mover off a dealer's floor. The real market is wider. It runs from a $60K used rigid bought to put a second driver on the road, up to a $700K B-double combination financed with its trailers on a multi-asset facility. The structure, the lenders and the pricing all change across that range. This guide covers structures, current rates, dealer versus broker finance, and tax. It is for owner-drivers, transport operators and businesses that run trucks as part of a wider operation, the same people we work with in transport and logistics.
What truck finance covers
Any vehicle bought for business use can be financed as a business asset. For trucks that includes:
- prime movers
- rigid trucks with tipper, curtainsider, tilt-tray or refrigerated bodies
- trailers, financed with the prime mover or on their own facility
- specialist units such as crane trucks, concrete agitators and vacuum excavation trucks
- light commercial vehicles, including utes bought and used for business
Trailers need a separate mention. Lenders work out trailer resale values differently from prime movers. An operator building a fleet will often set up a multi-asset facility so each new addition doesn't need a fresh application. Specialist trucks have another catch. The body is often worth more than the cab-chassis underneath, and not every lender is happy to fund that built-up value. A concrete agitator or a vacuum unit cuts down the list of lenders before price even comes up.
How truck finance is structured
The chattel mortgage is the most common structure, for the same reasons it leads asset finance in general. The business owns the truck from day one. The lender pays the dealer or seller at settlement and registers its interest on the Personal Property Securities Register until the loan is paid off. You claim the GST on the purchase price on your next BAS, depreciation goes through the business's tax return, and the interest in each repayment is deductible.
There are two paperwork paths. Full-doc means two years of tax returns and financials plus a recent BAS. Low-doc uses six to twelve months of BAS or an accountant's declaration instead, and it is the normal path for established operators. Most lenders want at least two years of ABN trading history before they offer it. Some lenders also have replacement-asset policies. If you are swapping a truck like-for-like and have a clean repayment history, you can skip most of the serviceability paperwork.
Clean deals settle in three to seven business days. Dealer stock is quickest. Private sales take longer because of the inspection and a PPSR check for any finance the seller still owes, which has to be paid out before the new security can be registered.
Chattel mortgage or lease for a truck?
If you plan to keep the truck for years, a chattel mortgage usually wins. If you want to swap trucks every few years and hand them back, a lease can suit better.
| Chattel mortgage | Finance lease | Operating lease | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who owns the truck | You, from day one | The lender | The lender |
| GST | Claimed in full on your next BAS | Paid on each rental | Paid on each rental |
| What you claim | Depreciation and interest | The rental payments | The rental payments |
| At the end | You own it once the balloon is paid | Pay the residual to keep it | Hand it back |
| Suits | Owner-drivers and operators keeping the truck | Businesses that want lower payments and may keep it | Fleets that swap trucks on a set cycle |
Hire purchase still shows up too. It works like a chattel mortgage, except the lender owns the truck until the last payment. A novated lease does not belong here. It is a salary-packaging deal for employees, not business truck finance. Our chattel mortgage vs operating lease comparison goes through the tax side line by line.
What truck finance costs
Three bands cover most of the market in August 2026.
- New truck, established business, full-doc: 6.5 to 8.5% p.a. The major banks have dedicated truck lending books. The manufacturer finance arms also compete hard here, and sometimes go below this band when a campaign is running. These include PACCAR Financial (Kenworth and DAF), Volvo Financial Services (Volvo and Mack) and Daimler Truck Financial (Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Fuso).
- Low-doc, or a truck five to ten years old: 8.5 to 11% p.a. Specialist asset-finance lenders write most of these, including Pepper, ScotPac and Lumi, with Volkswagen Financial Services active on light commercials.
- Over ten years old, non-standard bodies, or a newer ABN: 11 to 14% p.a. A smaller group of specialists do these, usually with an inspection report and a deposit.
Deposits follow the same pattern. No deposit is normal on a new truck for an established operator. Used trucks over five years old usually need 10 to 20%, and over ten years it depends on the deal. Balloons of 20 to 40% are standard, set against the kilometres the truck is expected to have done by the end of the term. A linehaul prime mover doing 200,000 km a year supports a smaller balloon than a metro rigid doing 40,000. Terms run three to seven years, and five is the most common. Expect an establishment fee and a monthly account fee. They look small next to the rate, but include them when you compare total cost.
Dealer finance vs broker-arranged
On a brand-new truck, dealer finance is sometimes the best deal on the market. The manufacturers' finance arms discount the rate to move stock, and a real campaign rate on a current-model prime mover can save you serious money. A broker who says otherwise is selling, not advising.
What you need to check is everything around the rate. The margin usually sits in three places. First, add-ons built into the contract, such as extended warranties, insurance, and tyre and servicing packages. Each one carries its own margin, and you can usually buy each one cheaper on its own. Second, the balloon. A bigger balloon makes the monthly repayment look good but pushes cost to the end of the term. Third, the term. A seven-year quote will always look cheaper each month than a five-year one.
Compare quotes on the same term, the same balloon, and total cost including fees and every add-on. On plenty of new-truck deals the campaign rate still wins that comparison, and you should take it. A broker can still place the deal through the manufacturer's finance arm. On the rest, our panel comes out ahead once the numbers are compared fairly.
What lenders look at
Trading history comes first. Two years of ABN history is the usual minimum for low-doc terms, and newer businesses pay for the gap through a higher rate or deposit. Next is the work itself. An operator with contracts across several customers looks better than one subcontracted entirely to a single principal, because the lender has to price in what happens if that principal cuts rates or work.
On the truck, lenders care about its age at the end of the term, not the start. Most will lend on trucks up to 20 or 25 years old at the end of the term, with a higher rate once it passes 10 or 15. That is more generous than for cars, because a well-maintained truck earns money for decades. High-kilometre prime movers past that age depend on the deal and need an inspection report. Lenders also look at kilometres, service history, the deposit or trade-in equity, and the credit files of the business and its directors.
GST and depreciation on a financed truck
Tax is where trucks really differ from cars, so get it right before you sign anything.
Under a chattel mortgage the business owns the truck at settlement. That means a GST-registered business claims the full GST credit on the purchase price on its next BAS. For cars, that credit is capped at one-eleventh of the car limit ($69,883 for FY2026-27), and depreciation is capped at the limit itself. Under the ATO's definition a truck is not a car, because the caps only apply to vehicles carrying under one tonne and fewer than nine passengers. So neither cap applies. Watch out with utes. A dual-cab with a payload under one tonne counts as a car to the ATO no matter how you use it, and both caps apply.
Depreciation falls under Division 40. The ATO's effective-life tables put a truck over 3.5 tonnes at 15 years, but a cap set in law lets the business depreciate it over 7.5 years instead. That brings the deductions forward a lot. Trailers are capped at 10 years. The interest in each repayment is deductible. The instant asset write-off rarely matters at truck prices. The threshold is $20,000, which covers a toolbox, not a prime mover.
We arrange truck finance Australia-wide from our South East Queensland base. If you run trucks out of Brisbane or the SEQ freight corridor, our commercial finance broker Brisbane page covers how we work across the region.
If you are pricing a truck and want a second opinion before you sign the dealer's finance contract, or want to know which lender will write your deal at the lowest total cost, call 1300 094 529 or start with the application form. Most enquiries get a reply within four business hours.