After almost 30 years working in finance, I’ve learned that a car finance application rarely comes down to one number.
People naturally want to know the rate or how much they can borrow. They’re important questions, but they’re not where I start.
If you’re looking for car finance in Geelong, these are some of the things I want to understand before deciding how to approach your application.
1. What Are You Actually Buying?
It sounds obvious, but the vehicle matters.
Is it new or used?
Are you buying from a dealer or privately?
How old is it?
What’s the purchase price?
Is it an everyday family car, an older vehicle, something unusual or a higher-value vehicle?
Different lenders have different policies. A lender that suits one vehicle purchase won’t necessarily suit another.
If you haven’t found the exact car yet, that’s fine too. We can start with what you’re looking for and the approximate amount you’re considering.
2. How Much Do You Really Want to Spend?
There’s an important difference between asking:
How much could I potentially borrow?
and:
How much do I actually want to spend on a car?
I prefer the second question.
A vehicle has costs beyond the loan repayment. There is insurance, registration, fuel or charging, servicing, tyres and maintenance.
Just because a lender may be prepared to consider a particular loan amount doesn’t mean spending that entire amount is necessarily right for you.
I’d rather understand the purchase you’re comfortable with first.
3. What Does Your Income Look Like?
A lender needs to establish that the proposed loan is affordable.
But not everyone’s income looks the same.
You might be permanently employed with a regular salary.
You might receive overtime, allowances, commissions or bonuses.
You could work casually.
You might have recently changed jobs.
You could be self-employed.
Those differences matter because lenders don’t necessarily assess every type of income in exactly the same way.
This is one of the reasons I don’t like treating car finance as simply filling in an online form and hoping for an approval.
Understanding the income first can help determine which lender policies are relevant.
4. What Other Commitments Do You Already Have?
A car loan doesn’t exist in isolation.
There may already be a mortgage, rent, credit cards, personal loans, existing vehicle finance or other commitments in the household budget.
Lenders consider existing liabilities and living expenses when assessing affordability.
This is also why two people earning the same income can have very different borrowing positions.
The income might look identical.
The overall financial picture isn’t.
5. Are You Putting Money Into the Purchase?
Maybe you have a cash deposit.
Maybe you’re trading another vehicle.
Maybe you want to finance as much of the purchase as the lender will consider.
I want to know that upfront because it changes the transaction.
If there’s a trade-in with existing finance, we also need to establish the current payout.
The trade might have equity.
It might have a shortfall.
Those numbers matter before we work out how much finance is actually required.
6. How Long Do You Expect to Keep the Car?
This is a question I think deserves more attention.
Some people buy a car and keep it for ten years.
Others change vehicles every three or four years.
That should be part of the conversation when considering the finance term.
A longer loan term can reduce the regular repayment compared with repaying the same amount over a shorter period, but it also means the debt remains for longer.
If you already know you’re likely to change vehicles relatively quickly, I want to understand that before looking at the structure.
Finance should make sense beyond the first repayment.
7. What Does Your Credit Position Look Like?
Your credit history forms part of a lender’s assessment.
That doesn’t mean I expect every person who calls me to know their credit score.
What I do want is an honest conversation.
If you’ve had previous credit problems, tell me.
If you’ve made several recent applications, tell me.
If there’s something unusual that may appear on your credit report, I’d rather know about it before deciding how an application should be approached.
Sending applications to multiple lenders just to see what happens isn’t how I want to handle someone’s credit file.
I’d rather understand the situation first.
8. How Quickly Do You Need the Car?
Sometimes someone is casually researching what their next vehicle might cost.
Sometimes they’ve found the exact car and the dealer wants an answer.
Sometimes their existing car has died and they need another vehicle as quickly as possible.
Those are very different situations.
If the purchase is urgent, tell me.
If you’ve already negotiated a vehicle, send me the details.
If you’re only starting to look, we can have the finance conversation before you commit to a particular car.
Knowing where you are in the buying process helps determine what needs to happen next.
9. What Is Important to You About the Finance?
This is something borrowers aren’t always asked.
Is your priority keeping the regular repayment within a particular budget?
Do you want to repay the loan faster?
Is flexibility important?
Are you trying to minimise the amount you need to contribute upfront?
Do you expect to keep the car for a long time?
There’s no point focusing exclusively on a headline rate if the resulting loan doesn’t suit what you’re actually trying to achieve.
The structure matters.
Why I Ask These Questions Before Choosing a Lender
There are many lenders offering vehicle finance.
The job isn’t simply finding a lender that has a car-loan product.
It’s understanding the borrower, the vehicle and the transaction, then considering which available lender policies may fit that combination.
That’s where experience matters.
I’ve worked in finance for almost three decades, and one thing hasn’t changed: the detail behind an application matters.
A strong application isn’t about making someone’s circumstances fit a predetermined lender.
It’s about understanding the circumstances properly before deciding where the application belongs.
Looking for Car Finance in Geelong?
If you’re planning to buy a car in Geelong, you don’t need to wait until you’ve signed a purchase contract to start discussing the finance.
If you’ve already found the vehicle, send us the details.
If you’re still shopping, tell us approximately what you’re looking to buy and what you expect to spend.
We’ll start with your circumstances, the proposed purchase and what you’re trying to achieve, then investigate available finance options.
Because before I ask which lender?, I want to understand what are we actually trying to finance?
All finance is subject to lender eligibility, assessment, approval and applicable terms and conditions.