ACL 390611 | MFAA Member | Established 2005
Truck Finance.Sized to the Work Rather Than the Sticker.
A truck is funded out of what it carries, and on 1 August 2026 the rules about what it can legally carry changed. We compare 100+ lenders including specialist transport funders, and we structure the facility against the work the unit is actually going onto.
15 minutes. No paperwork, no obligation, and we do not approach a lender until you have approved it. Bring the unit, the spec and the work it is going onto, and we will tell you what is fundable before you put a deposit down. Lenders pay us a commission on settlement and we disclose it in writing before any work begins.
Intellect Finance – Truck & Trailer Finance
Independent since 2005 | ACL 390611What Is Truck Finance and How Does Truck Finance Work?
Truck finance is funding for a prime mover, rigid, trailer or other heavy vehicle acquired for business use, secured against the unit itself. Because the purpose is business, it is not regulated consumer credit. The term is normally matched to the working life of the unit and to the contracts it will run on, rather than to the smallest available repayment.
A heavy vehicle is a specific legal category, not a description. The NHVR defines one under the Heavy Vehicle National Law as a vehicle with a gross vehicle mass or aggregate trailer mass of more than 4.5 tonnes. That line matters commercially as well as legally, because everything below it is a light commercial with a different rulebook and a different set of lenders.
Because the purpose is business, Best Interests Duty does not apply to this finance. What we do instead is put in writing how we are paid, which lenders were considered and why, before you sign anything. If the vehicle sits under 4.5 tonnes it belongs on our commercial vehicle finance page.
Common Situations
Why Transport Operators Come to Us
Six situations cover most heavy vehicle enquiries. In two of them the honest answer is to wait, and we will say so.
First truck coming off wages or subcontracting
The hardest file in transport and the one most often declined by a dealership panel. What carries it is the work you are going onto, evidence of the rates, and a lender that writes owner-drivers rather than one that writes fleets.
A used prime mover with real hours on it
Specialist transport funders assess an older unit on condition, hours and the work it is going onto rather than a blanket age cap. Deposit, term and structure all move with the age, and none of it is a published rule.
Adding a trailer to an existing prime mover
Trailers are financed on their own terms and often on a longer life than the truck pulling them. Worth checking whether the existing facility can be extended or whether a separate one prices better.
Replacing a unit before the current facility ends
The payout figure against what the unit is now worth decides whether this works, and that arithmetic happens before you commit to the replacement rather than after it arrives.
Winning a contract that needs more capacity
The contract is the strongest thing in the application, and it changes which lenders will look at you. Bring it to the first conversation rather than the last.
Several units and a replacement cycle
Separate contracts per unit get unwieldy quickly. One facility sized to the cycle usually suits better, and that sits on our fleet finance page.
Social Proof
120+ Five-Star Google Reviews
Transport operators and tradies alongside business owners and home buyers. Pulled live from Google, not curated by us.
Joseph Sukkar
Principal Broker · ACL 390611
Who You’re Dealing With
Built on 25 Years in Australian Finance
Joseph Sukkar started in finance in 2000 and founded Intellect Finance in Penrith in 2005. Since then the team has arranged more than 6,500 loans for clients across Australia, from first homes to complex commercial and asset finance.
Truck and trailer files sit with Chantelle, our Asset and Personal Finance Specialist, who writes vehicle and equipment finance every day rather than whoever happens to be free that afternoon. The useful work on a heavy vehicle happens before anything is lodged, in working out which lenders write owner-drivers, older units and applications carried by a contract rather than by two years of financials. The term is then set against the working life of the unit and the work it is going onto, and we would rather write a shorter facility than one that outlives the job.
Part of Our 100+ Lender Panel
The names most people recognise are residential lenders. Much of what we arrange runs through funders that do not advertise to the public. Accreditation with a lender is not an endorsement by it, and which lender suits you is decided by your file rather than by who is on this list.
Looking at a Unit This Week?
Fifteen minutes tells you what is fundable before you put money down.What Actually Decides It
A Truck Is Repaid Out of What It Carries and On 1 August 2026 That Changed
The repayment on a heavy vehicle is serviced by payload and hours, so anything that moves payload or hours moves the case for the purchase. The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026 and did both. Six things changed or are worth checking before you order, and none of them is about the interest rate.
The 4.5 tonne line decides your rulebook
The NHVR defines a heavy vehicle as one with a gross vehicle mass or aggregate trailer mass of more than 4.5 tonnes, gross vehicle mass being the maximum it can weigh fully loaded as specified by the manufacturer. Above that line you are in the Heavy Vehicle National Law and a different lender market. Below it you are not.
The law itself changed last month
The 2025 Amendment Package passed Queensland Parliament on 18 November 2025 and the amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026. It reaches accreditation, audits, work diaries, fitness to drive, and the mass, dimension and loading rules. Most published guidance in this category still describes the old position.
Concessional mass became general mass
The NHVR states that general mass limits increase to align with concessional mass limits, and that accreditation is no longer required just to operate at those weights. Its fact sheet puts tandem axle groups at 17 tonnes and tri and quad groups at 21 tonnes as general access limits, with the separate concessional category removed and higher mass limits unchanged.
The engine and the tyres can now change the payload
This is the one that should reach the order form. The NHVR fact sheet gives eligible Euro VI road train prime movers an extra half tonne on the steer axle up to seven tonnes, with tyres at least 315 millimetres wide, and eligible twin steer groups an extra half tonne up to 11.5 tonnes with load-sharing suspension and tyres at least 275 millimetres. Specification is now a payload decision.
Accreditation moved from modules to your whole business
The National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme is transitioning to the tiered Heavy Vehicle Accreditation scheme. General Safety Accreditation comes first and is audited against a whole-of-business safety management system rather than separate mass, maintenance and fatigue modules, and it is the prerequisite for alternative compliance accreditation in mass and fatigue.
Fatigue hours became something you design
Fatigue accreditation moves to a single performance-based model, letting operators select work and rest hours that suit the business within outer limits, with templated tables of hours available to streamline applications. Hours are what a truck converts into revenue, so how you are accredited now sits upstream of what the unit can earn.
Checked 1 September 2026. The heavy vehicle definition is from the NHVR. The 1 August 2026 commencement date, the passage of the 2025 Amendment Package and the scope of the changes are from HVNL reform implementation. The accreditation changes and the statement that accreditation is no longer required to access the new general mass weights are from changes to accreditation. The axle tonnages and the Euro VI steer axle allowances are from the NHVR’s plain language guide to the mass and size rule changes, dated 1 June 2026. Mass limits depend on your combination, your axle configuration and your route, and eligibility for a concession depends on the unit. Confirm your position with the NHVR or a transport compliance adviser before relying on any of it. We are finance brokers, not compliance advisers. Everything else on this page is described in the important information at the foot of the page.
None of the six is a question about your interest rate, and every one of them changes the revenue the facility is serviced from. Worth a conversation before you order.
The Honest Comparison
Buy the Truck or Keep Subcontracting?
The real question for an owner-driver, and it is not a finance question until the work is settled. Both sides, properly.
Drive someone else’s unit or hire when you need one
- No fixed repayment sitting against a variable book of work
- Maintenance, registration and compliance stay with the owner
- A year of documented income makes the eventual application far easier
- You are paid a rate rather than keeping the margin on the unit
- You build no equity, and the work can end without notice
Finance your own unit against contracted work
- You keep the margin the unit earns rather than a subcontract rate
- You control the spec, which after 1 August 2026 can change the payload
- The unit is an asset with a resale value rather than a cost
- Term can be matched to the contract rather than to a standard schedule
- A fixed repayment, plus maintenance, tyres, registration and compliance, all yours
If the work is not contracted, this is not a finance decision yet. A truck turns a variable cost into a fixed one. That is an excellent trade when the work is committed and a punishing one when it is not, and no rate we find changes which of those you are in. If you are six months from a firm contract, subcontracting for those six months usually leaves you with a better application and a better business.
The second reason to wait is the specification, and it is new. If you are about to order a unit built to a spec chosen before August, it is worth an hour with a compliance adviser on where the mass sits now. Ordering the wrong steer axle or tyre width can cost payload for the life of the truck, and no facility we arrange recovers that.
And the term should be shorter than you want it to be. Stretching a term to make the repayment comfortable leaves you owing money on a unit you are trying to move on from, which is the single most common problem we see in transport files. We would rather write a shorter facility now and another one later.
If the pressure is working capital between invoices rather than capacity, a truck is not the fix. Invoice financing or a cash flow facility is a smaller transaction for us and usually the right one.
Ask Us Whether the Work Supports the Truck
We will run the contracted work against a term shorter than you want, and tell you if six months subcontracting leaves you better placed. Fifteen minutes. No obligation.The Difference
Transport Files Are Declined by the Wrong Lender Rather Than the Wrong Borrower
Owner-drivers, older units and contract-backed applications are written every day by funders that never appear on a dealership panel. Knowing which is which before anything is lodged is most of the job.
Always in Writing
Best Interests Duty does not apply to business purpose lending, and any broker telling you otherwise has not read the legislation. What we do instead is put in writing how we are paid, which lenders were considered and why we recommended the one we did, before you sign anything.
Specialist Transport Funders
An older prime mover, a first-time owner-driver or a file carried by a contract rather than by two years of financials all need a lender that writes them. A decline from a dealership panel tells you about that panel, and very little about the market.
No Fee. Not Even Clawback.
We do not charge you for the comparison, the structuring or the application, on any loan type. If the facility is paid out early we wear the clawback ourselves rather than invoicing you for it. Lenders pay a commission on settlement, disclosed to you in writing before any work begins.
Term Matched to the Work
A five-year term against a two-year contract is a bet, not a structure. We set the term against the working life of the unit and the horizon of the work it is going onto, and we would rather write a shorter facility than one that outlives the job.
The Process
How Truck Finance Comes Together
Four steps, and the first one belongs before you commit to a unit rather than after.
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15 minutes
The unit and the work it is going onto
What you are buying, its age and hours, the configuration, and the work it is going onto. No documents at this stage. You will finish the call knowing which lenders will look at that unit and what the structure and term should be.
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You gather
Documents
Transport files carry more than a standard vehicle application, because the work matters as much as the unit. We confirm exactly which of these your chosen lender wants before you go looking for any of them.
- ABN and GST registration details
- Director identification and heavy vehicle licence
- Recent business bank statements
- Contracts, rates or letters of intent for the work
- Details of existing vehicle and equipment facilities
- Quote or invoice with the build specification and compliance plate details
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We handle
Lender selection then submission
We work out which lender writes your unit, your age bracket and your trading position before anything is lodged, so the application is not shopped around a panel that was never going to take it. On a used unit we tell you what evidence of condition the lender will want.
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We manage
Approval then settlement then on the road
We handle the documents and settle directly with the dealer, builder or private seller, and make sure any existing security over a trade-in is dealt with at the same time. If the first lender declines, we already know where it goes next.
Track Record
A Dedicated Asset Finance Specialist
Vehicle and equipment finance sits with Chantelle, who writes it every day, rather than with whoever happens to be free that afternoon.
Related Options
Other Ways to Fund a Transport Business
A single unit facility is one route. These are the neighbours worth pricing against it, and one of them is usually the answer when the problem is timing rather than capacity.
Fleet finance
One facility across several units, sized to a replacement cycle instead of a contract per truck.
Commercial vehicle finance
Utes, vans and light commercials under 4.5 tonnes, where the tax classification rather than the transport law sets the ceiling.
Invoice financing
Where the trucks are running and the money is sitting in a ledger waiting on payment terms.
Cash flow loans
For the gap between paying for fuel, tyres and wages now and being paid for the work later.
Equipment finance
Forklifts, workshop plant and yard equipment, financed against the assets rather than the balance sheet.
Every asset we finance
Back up to the full range, including the four structures side by side and how each one is treated.
Know the Number Before You Commit.
Fifteen minutes, and you will know what is fundable and on what term.Questions Answered
Truck Finance FAQs
The questions operators and owner-drivers ask us most often before getting in touch.
What is truck finance?
Truck finance is funding for a prime mover, rigid, trailer or other heavy vehicle acquired for business use, secured against the unit itself. Because the purpose is business, it is not regulated consumer credit. Terms are usually matched to the working life of the unit and to the contracts it will run on, rather than simply to the smallest available repayment.
What counts as a heavy vehicle?
The NHVR defines a heavy vehicle under the Heavy Vehicle National Law as a vehicle with a gross vehicle mass or aggregate trailer mass of more than 4.5 tonnes. Gross vehicle mass is the maximum the vehicle can weigh fully loaded, as specified by the manufacturer. Anything at or below that line is a light commercial and sits under a different rulebook entirely.
What changed in the heavy vehicle law on 1 August 2026?
The amended Heavy Vehicle National Law commenced on 1 August 2026, following the 2025 Amendment Package passed by Queensland Parliament on 18 November 2025. It changes accreditation, audits, work diaries, fitness to drive, and the mass, dimension and loading rules. Several of those changes affect what a given truck can legally carry, which affects what it earns.
Do I still need mass accreditation to run at concessional weights?
Not for the weights themselves. Under the amended rules the concessional mass limits become the general access limits, and the NHVR states that mass management accreditation is no longer required just to operate at the new general limits. Accreditation is still required for certain access schemes, including Higher Mass Limits and Performance Based Standards. Confirm the limits for your own combination.
Does a Euro VI truck get a mass concession?
Eligible units do, and it is worth checking before you order. The NHVR fact sheet gives eligible Euro VI road train prime movers an additional half tonne on the steer axle up to seven tonnes, with tyres at least 315 millimetres wide, and eligible twin steer groups an additional half tonne up to 11.5 tonnes with load-sharing suspension and tyres at least 275 millimetres.
How does accreditation work under the new scheme?
The National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme is transitioning to the Heavy Vehicle Accreditation scheme, which is tiered. General Safety Accreditation comes first and is audited against a whole-of-business safety management system rather than individual modules. It is then a prerequisite for Alternative Compliance Accreditation for mass and for fatigue, and for the maintenance assurance program.
Will a lender finance an older truck?
Often, and by a different group of lenders than the ones financing new stock. Specialist transport funders assess an older unit on its condition, its hours or kilometres and the work it is going onto, rather than applying a blanket age cap. Deposit, term and structure all move with the age of the unit, and none of it is published as a fixed rule.
Does Best Interests Duty apply to truck finance?
No. Best Interests Duty applies to credit provided for personal, domestic or household purposes, or for residential investment property. A heavy vehicle financed for business purposes sits outside that framework, along with the responsible lending obligations. We disclose in writing how we are paid, which lenders were considered and why, before any work begins.
Visit Us
Penrith Based.Clients Australia-Wide.
Penrith is our head office and the one you can walk into without an appointment. We also meet clients at Parramatta and in the Sydney CBD by arrangement. Heavy vehicle finance runs almost entirely by phone and email, and we settle with dealers, builders and private sellers in every state.
Parramatta
Suite 23, Level 1, 181 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150
Business broker Parramatta →Ready When You Are
Tell Us About the Unit and the Work.
Fifteen minutes with Chantelle. Tell us the truck or trailer, its age and configuration, and what it is going onto, and we will tell you which lenders will look at it, what term suits the work, and what evidence the application will need.
No paperwork, no obligation. Penrith based, clients Australia-wide. Intellect Finance Pty Ltd, ACL 390611.
Finance for a heavy vehicle acquired wholly or predominantly for business purposes is not regulated consumer credit, and the Best Interests Duty and responsible lending obligations under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 do not apply to it. We disclose how we are paid in writing before any work begins. Heavy vehicle mass, accreditation and fatigue obligations described on this page are set by the Heavy Vehicle National Law and administered by the NHVR, they changed on 1 August 2026, and they are not advice on your operation. Nothing on this page is credit assistance, transport compliance advice, tax advice or an offer of credit, and no outcome is guaranteed.
Intellect Finance Pty Ltd | Australian Credit Licence 390611 | MFAA Member | AFCA Member
Important information General information only. Not credit assistance, compliance advice or an offer of credit. We charge you no fee. Every caveat and source on this page is collected here. Tap to read.
General information only. The content on this page is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. It is not credit assistance, financial advice, legal advice, tax advice or transport compliance advice, and it is not an offer of credit. You should consider whether it is appropriate for you and seek your own advice before acting on it.
Business purpose lending. Where a heavy vehicle is financed wholly or predominantly for business purposes, that is not regulated consumer credit, and the Best Interests Duty and responsible lending obligations under the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 do not apply to it. Different protections apply to business borrowers than to consumers. If you are unsure which framework your facility sits in, ask the lender and obtain the answer in writing before you sign.
Heavy vehicle law is not ours to advise on, and it has just changed. The mass, accreditation and fatigue material on this page comes from the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator and describes the amended Heavy Vehicle National Law that commenced on 1 August 2026. Mass limits depend on your combination, axle configuration, tyres, suspension and route, and eligibility for any concession depends on the individual unit. We are finance brokers. Confirm your own position with the NHVR, your state road authority or a transport compliance adviser before relying on anything here.
Chain of responsibility obligations stay with you. Financing a vehicle does not transfer any safety duty to us or to the lender. Duties under the Heavy Vehicle National Law rest with the parties in the supply chain, including the operator, and arranging finance for a unit is not a statement that the unit or its intended use complies with anything.
Tax positions are not ours to give. Depreciation, GST, the instant asset write-off and the treatment of any structure depend on how the vehicle is used and on your own circumstances. Those are matters for a registered tax agent and the Australian Taxation Office. We are not registered tax agents and we do not provide tax advice.
The unit is the security, and guarantees are common. Heavy vehicle facilities are secured against the unit, and lenders commonly require guarantees from directors and sometimes additional security. If the facility is not met the lender can take and sell the unit, and any shortfall remains payable. Read what you are being asked to guarantee before you sign it.
Nothing here is a guarantee. Approval, borrowing capacity, pricing, terms, deposit requirements, which units a lender will finance, age limits and how long anything takes are determined by individual lenders, not by us. They differ between lenders and change over time. Any figure, range or timeframe on this page is indicative and is not a quote, an offer, or a prediction of your outcome.
How we are paid. Intellect Finance does not charge borrowers a fee for arranging finance, and does not charge a clawback fee where a facility is paid out early. Lenders pay us a commission on settlement. The basis of that commission is disclosed to you in writing before any work begins, together with the lenders considered and the reason for the recommendation.
Third-party information. Where this page refers to legislation, regulatory guidance or regulator publications, that information is sourced from the relevant authority and was correct to the best of our knowledge at the date shown on this page. Those rules change, sometimes without notice, and the heavy vehicle rules on this page are the most recently amended of any on this site. Always confirm the current position with the issuing authority or with us before relying on it.
Found something wrong? If you believe anything on this page is inaccurate or out of date, tell us at joe@intellectfinance.com.au and we will review and correct it.
Intellect Finance Pty Ltd | Australian Credit Licence 390611 | MFAA Member | AFCA Member