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Your next truck: to buy or to lease?

Last updated on July 27th, 2023
  Written by 
Savvy Editorial Team
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Of course, the toss-up is between buying a truck and leasing one. In 2015, via the Truck Industry Council Report, the Australian Equipment Lessors Association reported the Truck and Trailer segment of Equipment Finance amounted to $5.7Bn, or 17% of total Equipment Financing in Australia. They also estimated the operator leasing and rental segment was an estimated $300m.

Buying your truck

Buying a truck means you are adding an asset into your business, which can influence your profit margin. When you do buy a truck or commercial utilities or van for business purposes, you may claim depreciation and interest payments back through tax. In many cases, with a chattel mortgage or hire purchase, you can claim the GST in the purchase price on your BAS. Savvy CEO Bill Tsouvalas explains the difference between these two loans:

“A chattel mortgage is just like any other mortgage that uses an asset as security; a lender gives you money to buy a truck, and you pay the lender back with interest. Once you pay the mortgage off you keep the truck. A hire purchase works the same way, but you do not retain ownership until you’ve paid off the loan. This may be good for your tax position. You should ask your finance officer or accountant for advice on which is better for your company.”

You may also claim the full GST input tax credit as another tax incentive. However, like all vehicles, you drive away with 20% hit to the resale value. According to the TIC report, the price of maintenance influences 87% of a business’ decision to buy a truck. If you buy, you are on the hook for maintenance, insurance, fuel, and modification costs. Of course, you are free to modify the truck as you please.

Leasing your truck

Leasing a truck might be a good choice if you want a new truck regularly, and are taking on special, short- to medium-term projects. Leasing usually comes in two forms: operating leases and finance leases. Operating leases is like a long term hire of the truck. Your company pays monthly (or fixed-term) repayments during the term of the lease. Leases also allow you to offset payments against taxable income, as the ATO allows you to claim them as business expenses. You also don’t have to worry about maintenance, fuel, and insurance costs. Financial leases are almost identical, except you have an option to buy the truck at the end of the lease. While this seems good – you get to minimise tax – you end up with nothing to show for it. There’s no asset at the end of a lease.

So what is best?

“At the end of the day, it’s how you want your business to operate,” Tsouvalas says. “If you want flexibility, leasing may be better. Buying is favourable if you want to build your assets and expand. It’s always best to ask a financial advisor before making a hard decision.”

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This guide provides general information and does not consider your individual needs, finances or objectives. We do not make any recommendation or suggestion about which product is best for you based on your specific situation and we do not compare all companies in the market, or all products offered by all companies. It’s always important to consider whether professional financial, legal or taxation advice is appropriate for you before choosing or purchasing a financial product.

The content on our website is produced by experts in the field of finance and reviewed as part of our editorial guidelines. We endeavour to keep all information across our site updated with accurate information.

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The interest rate, comparison rate, fees and monthly repayments will depend on factors specific to your profile, such as your financial situation, as well as others, such as the loan’s size and your chosen repayment term. Costs such as broker fees, redraw fees or early repayment fees, and cost savings such as fee waivers, aren’t included in the comparison rate but may influence the cost of the loan. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts may result in a different comparison rate.

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