Caravan finance rates:

What Actually Determines Your Caravan Loan Rate

There is no single caravan finance rate. Lenders price each loan on whether it is secured, the van's age, the term, the balloon, the deposit and your own situation. Two buyers at the same dealership can be quoted numbers several percentage points apart. These are the levers:

• Secured vs unsecured. A secured loan uses the caravan itself as collateral - if you stop paying, the lender can repossess it. Because the lender carries less risk, secured rates are meaningfully lower. Unsecured (personal) loans cost more and are usually only worth considering for very old vans that lenders won't take as security.
• New vs used vs private sale. New vans from a dealer get the sharpest pricing. Used vans typically cost a little more to finance, and private-sale purchases can carry a further loading with some lenders because there's more verification work involved.
• Van age caps. Most lenders want the van's age plus the loan term to stay under roughly 20-25 years. A 15-year-old van on a 7-year loan busts that cap at many lenders - which shrinks your options and pushes the price up.
• Loan term. Caravan loans commonly run anywhere from 3 to 7 years. A longer term means smaller repayments but more total interest - and sometimes a slightly higher rate too.
• Balloon (residual) payment. Some loans let you defer a chunk of the price - say 20-30% - to a lump sum at the end. Repayments drop, but you're paying interest on the full balance the whole time, so total interest goes up. A balloon is a cash-flow tool, not a discount.
• Deposit size. The less the lender has to put up against the van's value, the less risk they carry. A real deposit generally means a better rate and a much easier approval.
• Your own situation. Income stability, existing debts, and how long you've been at your address and job. This is the factor with the widest swing - two buyers can be quoted entirely different numbers on the identical van. (Borrowing history less than perfect? We wrote a separate straight-talking guide on caravan finance with bad credit.)

This is why we don't publish a "rates from" table: rates move with the market, and the headline number is always the best case - new van, big deposit, everything in your favour. What matters is knowing the levers so you can tell whether a quote in front of you is priced fairly.

Advertised Rate vs Comparison Rate: Only One Number Matters

The big number in the ad is the advertised rate - interest only. The smaller number next to it, the comparison rate, folds in most of the fees. The gap between them is the fee load, and on some loans it's enormous.

Australian lenders are legally required to show a comparison rate precisely because a low advertised rate propped up by fat fees is an old trick. A loan advertised at a sharp rate with a comparison rate two points higher is not a sharp loan. When you compare offers - or plug numbers into a calculator - the comparison rate is the one to use.

Fees to watch for

• Establishment / application fee - charged upfront, often financed into the loan so you pay interest on the fee too.
• Monthly account-keeping fees - a few dollars a month sounds trivial; over 7 years it isn't.
• Early payout / early termination fees - matters more than you'd think, because plenty of people upgrade or sell the van before the loan ends.
• PPSR registration and dealer origination fees - usually small, but ask for the full fee schedule in writing.

One caveat: the comparison rate is calculated on a standardised example loan, so on amounts and terms far from that example it's a guide rather than gospel. The bulletproof measure is the total cost of credit - every dollar you'll hand over across the life of the loan. Any lender or broker can tell you that figure; make them.

Secured Loans on Private-Sale Caravans

Buying privately usually gets you the best price on the van - and the most lukewarm reception from the big banks. Specialist caravan lenders handle private sales routinely, and the process has a genuinely useful side effect: the lender verifies the van and the seller, requires clear title, and pays the seller directly at settlement. If the seller still owes money on the van, the lender pays out their loan and clears it as part of the deal - it never becomes your problem.

In other words, a secured private-sale loan puts a professional third party between you and the exact things scammers rely on you skipping: title checks, identity checks, and payment handling. We cover the full private-buying process - the $2 PPSR check, the inspection, and the scams - in the used caravan guide.

How private-sale caravan finance works, in the used caravan guide →

How to Actually Compare Two Loan Offers

Lenders don't make offers hard to compare by accident. Strip every quote back to the same shape and the winner is obvious:

• Same loan term. A 7-year quote will always have a smaller repayment than a 5-year quote. That tells you nothing about which loan is cheaper.
• Same balloon. A quote with a 30% balloon against a quote with none is an apples-to-oranges comparison rigged in the balloon's favour. Set both to zero (or both to the same figure) before comparing.
• Compare on the comparison rate - it folds the fees in. See above.
• Ask for the total cost of credit on each and compare those two dollar figures directly. This one number cuts through every structuring trick.

And do it in the right order: get pre-approval before you negotiate on a van. Pre-approval tells you your real ceiling so you don't overbid, marks you as a serious buyer, and matters doubly in a private sale - a good private van sells in days, and a seller won't wait two weeks while you start the paperwork from scratch. We wrote a full guide on why finance comes before the dealer visit - what pre-approval actually is, and what happens to buyers who leave it to the finance desk.

Think in Weekly Repayments, Then Get a Real Quote

The most useful way to sanity-check a caravan budget isn't the sticker price - it's what the loan costs you per week, against what actually comes into your account per week. Our calculator lets you play with the amount, term, deposit and balloon and see the weekly, fortnightly and monthly repayment move in real time.

A calculator gives you an estimate; only a lender or broker can give you a rate. Everything on this page is general information only - a licensed broker can price your exact situation: your van, your deposit, your circumstances.

Credit history making you nervous about applying at all? Don't fire off applications to find out. Read this first:

Caravan Finance with Bad Credit: The Honest Guide →