Truck finance

How much is a monthly payment on a $150,000 truck?

Over five years with no balloon, a $150,000 truck costs roughly $2,970 a month at 7% p.a., $3,114 at 9% p.a. and $3,261 at 11% p.a. Shorten the term to three years and the same loan runs between $4,632 and $4,911 a month, because you’re repaying the same principal in a little over half the time.

The full picture, across the terms lenders write:

Principal and interest, no balloon, no fees. These are arithmetic on the amounts and rates shown, not quotes. Establishment and monthly account fees sit on top and vary by lender.

Now the same truck with a 30% balloon: $45,000 parked at the end of the term instead of being repaid along the way.

Same rates and terms as the table above, with 30% of the purchase price deferred to a single payment at the end. Principal and interest, no fees.

What is the payment on a $300,000 truck?

Over five years with no balloon, a $300,000 truck (a new prime mover and trailer, or a small fleet addition) runs about $5,940 a month at 7% p.a., $6,228 at 9% p.a. and $6,523 at 11% p.a. Stretch it to seven years and the repayment drops to between $4,528 and $5,137, which is the move most operators reach for when a contract has to cover the truck from month one.

Here’s what the longer term costs you. At 9% p.a., financing $300,000 over five years costs $73,650 in interest. Over seven years the monthly payment falls by $1,401, but the interest bill rises to $105,445. That’s $31,794 more, on a truck that’s two years older when you finish.

What are the interest rates for truck finance?

There’s no single published rate. The headline numbers advertised across truck finance sites are best-case figures for the strongest applicant on the newest asset. The honest benchmark is the market: the RBA’s business lending series for July 2026 puts new small business variable loans at 7.07% p.a. and new fixed at 8.11% p.a., and the RBA lifted the cash rate to 4.60% on 29 September 2026. Truck finance is secured on a resaleable asset, so it prices in that region for a clean file and drifts upward from there.

If you want to model a specific truck, our asset finance calculator doubles as a truck finance calculator. Enter the amount, the term and a balloon figure and it returns the same arithmetic as the tables above.

What moves your number:

What is the best way to finance a truck?

For most operators, a chattel mortgage. You own the truck from delivery, the lender registers its interest on the PPSR, and you claim depreciation and the interest rather than a rental. A finance lease keeps ownership with the financier and makes the rental the deduction instead, which suits a business that wants the residual risk carried elsewhere.

Dealer finance is the third option. Compare it rather than assuming. A manufacturer-backed program can be sharp on a new truck, particularly when a campaign rate is running. It’s rarely the better answer on a used unit or a private sale, because the program exists to move new stock.

Does a balloon payment help?

It lowers the monthly repayment and raises the total cost. See the size of that trade before you agree to it. On $150,000 over five years at 9% p.a.:

Can you finance a used truck?

Yes, and it’s most of the market. The same applies to trailer finance and van finance, which price off the same panel and the same tests. The constraint isn’t the age today but the age at the end of the term, which is why a longer term on an older unit is often what gets declined rather than the purchase itself. Private sales and auction buys are financeable but narrow the panel, and they usually need the inspection and settlement handled more carefully than a dealer purchase.

If you’re replacing rather than adding, sort out the payout on the existing truck before you commit to the new one. A trade-in that doesn’t clear its own finance rolls the shortfall into the new contract, and that’s the point where an affordable repayment quietly stops being affordable.

Is equipment lending holding up?

For small businesses, yes. New small business commitments for plant and equipment finance were $20,755 million in 2025-26, essentially flat at +0.5%, while the equivalent medium business lending fell 11.8%, according to ABS Lending Indicators.

Source: ABS Lending Indicators, tables 30 and 32, original series, financial years to June. Plant and equipment finance covers vehicles and machinery as a category; the ABS doesn’t report trucks separately. Small means the lender’s exposure is under $1 million.

When truck finance is not the right call

When the work isn’t contracted yet. A truck financed against expected volume rather than signed work is the most common way an operator ends up carrying a repayment through a quiet quarter. If the contract is the thing that justifies the truck, the contract should exist first. If it does, say so in the application, because a named work source materially changes how lenders read it.

We work a panel rather than one credit policy, so the useful conversation is usually about which lender reads your file most generously, not which advertises the lowest headline rate. Those are rarely the same lender.