Once you’ve found the right car and looked into all the associated costs involved in buying it, you should have a good idea of how much you’ll need to pay all up. You then have three main options for financing your new wheels: save, borrow or dealer finance.
Saving for a car
Waiting until you have enough money to buy a car outright takes time, but if you do you won't have to pay any interest once you've bought it.
Having a separate savings account helps. Having a separate savings account helps. You can also set up a savings goal using Goal Tracker* in the CommBank app. We’ll break it down into weekly targets and help you set up automatic payments from your everyday account into your goal.
Borrowing for a car
With a personal loan you can buy your car now and pay it off in instalments. Use our borrowing calculator to see how much you may be able to borrow and what your repayments will be.
If you’re buying a car that isn’t more than five years old you may be able to take out a Secured Personal Loan. By using your car as a type of security, you can typically borrow the funds you need at a lower interest rate than an unsecured loan. You can even get pre-approval for this type of loan, giving you up to 30 days to find the right car within an approved loan amount.
The more you can save before taking out a personal loan the less you’ll have to repay, so it’s a good idea to still put some money away beforehand if possible.
A novated lease is a way you can finance a new or used car and make your repayments from your pre-tax salary with approval from your employer. It can also bundle your vehicle’s expenses into one simple payment. Novated leasing is a form of ‘salary sacrificing’, which effectively reduces your taxable income.
Dealer finance
Car dealers often offer finance as a means to buying a car. If you’re considering this option, there are a few things you should ask the dealer:
'What's the interest rate?' Compare the rate the dealer may be offering through dealer finance with the comparison interest rate of a personal loan to check you're getting the best one.
‘Is there a balloon payment at the end of the loan?’ The loan repayments may seem cheap, until you realise you face an additional large lump sum when your loan term is up.
‘Is the price of the car negotiable?’ It often isn’t with dealer finance.
