Car Finance

It's a rule that seems so obvious it’s probably even in Donald Trump's best-selling Art of the Deal, if you like books with small words: "anything that sounds too good to be true, almost certainly is".

it might sound like one of those things your accountant says that provokes the choking back of a yawn, but novated leasing has the potential to save you some serious money.

Looking for car finance quick? Find out what you need to know to get a fast car loan, secured or unsecured personal loan.

Could you use your mortgage to finance a car? Is it more expensive to get a car loan or redraw from your mortgage? Find out.

Considering car finance for the first time? Read our tips for buyers planning to borrow to buy a car for the first time.

Want to know about the cost of car loan repayments? Get advice on finding car finance repayments that fit your budget.

Either way it can be confusing for car buyers trying to determine if it's a good deal or not.In many cases it can be better to haggle a sharp price and arrange your own finance outside the dealership. But sometimes the deals in the showroom do add up.We did some number crunching on one deal.At least one leading brand is currently offering 0 per cent finance on quite a high retail price of $24,990 drive-away for a small car that has in the recent past limboed to $19,990 drive-away.At 0 per cent finance over five years the $24,990 price would cost $417 per month, presuming there are no other hidden charges or establishment fees.Make sure you find out the total interest and total amount you will repay over the life of the loanBut what happens if you buy the car at $19,990 drive-away and arrange your own finance?If you have a good credit history, you may be able to wrangle a rate of 8 per cent. According to online calculators, that works out to be $405 per month over five years, paying $4329 in interest, bringing the total cost of the car to just $24,319.It always pays to get more than one quote. Make sure you find out the total interest and total amount you will repay over the life of the loan.Dealers often make more profit from finance deals than they do from the sale of the car itself.One more tip: don't just look at the monthly repayment figure (finance experts can make this figure look small by stretching the repayment terms, which means you pay more interest for longer).The longer the repayment period, the greater chance the payout figure will be more than what the car is worth at trade-in time.

Lender Firstmac and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation have agreed to a $50 million "finance partnership" to provide cheaper loans for initiatives that reduce emissions.Firstmac managing director Kim Cannon said about $25 million would be spent on cheaper loans for environmentally-friendly cars."We anticipate the agreement will provide loans for several thousand low-emission vehicles, as well as finance for installing solar power and energy efficient business equipment," he said.Passenger vehicles that emit 141 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometre are eligibleLoans for low-emission cars would be available at a rate of just under 6 per cent, he said.Passenger vehicles that emit 141 grams or less of carbon dioxide per kilometre are eligible, as are utes and vans that emit no more than 188 grams.Environmental group the Climate Council welcomed the announcement.

If you financed a car a couple of years ago and are coming to the end of your lease term, you're in for a pleasant surprise.

Unless your ears have been glued closed, you'll likely have heard a lot of chatter about interest rates lately.But just in case you somehow missed it, allow us to cut the story down to size for you; interest rates are low and likely to get lower (courtesy of our lagging economy). And while they’re almost always mentioned in relation to home mortgages, they have anloas, too. Which means? When official rates are high, car loan rates are, too. But when they’re low? Well, it might just be time to get shopping.So to help with that exact mission, we're breaking down the different types of car finance available to help you work out which is the best option for you.