Excavators are almost always financed the same way as other earthmoving and construction machinery: a chattel mortgage. The lender funds the purchase, you own the excavator from settlement, and the lender holds security over the asset until the loan is repaid. If your business is GST-registered, you can generally claim the GST credit on the purchase in your next BAS rather than waiting for the machine to be paid off.
Repayments are usually weekly, fortnightly or monthly, matched to how the machine earns on your contracts. A balloon (residual) at the end of the term is common on excavator finance — it lowers the regular repayment in exchange for a lump sum due at the end, which suits operators who trade in or upgrade every few years as newer, more efficient machines come onto the market.
New and used excavators are both financeable, and so are private-sale and auction purchases — these typically go through an independent inspection step before settlement so the lender has confidence in the machine's condition. The rate a lender offers depends on the excavator's age, hours and your business's trading history; the indicative rate above is a starting point, and your actual rate is set once a lender has assessed your application.
For an excavator used in the business, the interest portion of chattel mortgage repayments is generally tax deductible, and the machine itself can typically be depreciated as a business asset. This is general information, not a substitute for advice from your accountant, who can confirm the treatment that applies to your entity and circumstances.
Excavators sit at the centre of most earthmoving, civil and construction fleets, and demand for them tends to track closely with the pipeline of residential, infrastructure and commercial building work around the country. Because an excavator is a working asset that pays for itself through the jobs it wins, most lenders on a broker panel like ours are set up to move quickly once the paperwork is in — comparing terms across the whole panel rather than the single rate an equipment dealer's own in-house finance desk can offer.
Any size — mini and midi excavators through to standard and large-class machines are all financeable on our panel. Lenders assess the machine's value, age and your business's circumstances rather than applying a size cut-off.
No dealer requirement at all — a dealer sale, private sale, buying from a friend or relative, even a Facebook Marketplace listing, are all fine. Private sales just involve a couple of extra verification steps that we handle for you before settlement, since there's no dealer warranty backing the machine's condition.
Attachments purchased at the same time as the excavator can usually be rolled into the same finance amount. Attachments bought separately later are typically financed as their own smaller facility — ask your broker about bundling if you're buying both together.
For an excavator used in the business, the interest portion of chattel mortgage repayments is generally tax deductible, and the machine itself can typically be depreciated as a business asset. Confirm your specific position with your accountant.
It depends on the lender — but we have lenders on our panel who don't require a deposit at all.
Machines with lower hours and a documented service history generally attract longer terms and larger balloon options, since the lender is weighing remaining useful life and resale value. Older, high-hour excavators usually see shorter terms and smaller balloons.