Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

hey guys just been looking to get a new bike as am currently bikeless. Just would like to know how to go about getting a bike loan. Does any one have any expienrce with this and what should I look for, be aware of? What are the pros cons of getting finance from a bank versus dealership finance . I've looked around but just want some personal experiences to see which would be better and to point me in the right direction. I've done abit of searching and will go down to my bank (national and st george) and see what they are offering.
I've got a stable job and some money saved up. I know some people might say I should just keep on saving but I want to get a new bike and it will take time and I'm done walking.
What kind of fees charges and intrest rates should I be looking at. I just want to get any ideas and dont want to get stitched up
I've got friends who've do finance but only for cars and I'll use them as a refrence but if any on you guys can chip in with any info it'll be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

I dont know what your finances r like but the cheapest way would be to extend a mortgage loan you may have? Any equity u could borrow against? The interest rates on car/vehicle loans r like 13-15% maybe higher? Whereas a morgage at the mo is around 9%... And your insurance is higher if u finance a bike versus outright ownership... Not sure if u can finance a bike in a business like can be done with a ute or truck or wagon??? Anyone else help here?

Just a couple of thoughts but like I said I dont know your situ! And Im not a finance person... Just my experiences thats all!

I highly recommend NOT USING Yamaha Finance...... Their interest rates dont really seem to reflect what you really pay...... They are doing something dodgy.... Im sure its all above board if you closely read the contract... but lets put it this way.... I paid off a loan through RACV finance, and paid off a YMF (yamaha finance) loan at the same time.... the RACV one was for 9 grand, and the YMF one was for 11. The 9grand one was fully paid off and the YMF loan still had 8k on it...... The payments were close to being the same every week...

I highly recommend using RACV if you can swing it, they were happy to loan me money, and you can actually see the balance go down very nicely, friendly people too.

Members Equity do personal loans for motorbikes,if you're in a union you can use them.Had 2 loans through them now.

http://www.membersequitybank.com.au/per ... nal_loans/

l will second the RACV loan, had a car through them and all was great. Currently l have a personal loan through a bank and think they are also good, unsecured loans means you can sell the bike when ever you want without need to tell them but have to pay a higher interest rate.

rob412y wrote:I dont know what your finances r like but the cheapest way would be to extend a mortgage loan you may have? Any equity u could borrow against? The interest rates on car/vehicle loans r like 13-15% maybe higher? Whereas a morgage at the mo is around 9%... And your insurance is higher if u finance a bike versus outright ownership... Not sure if u can finance a bike in a business like can be done with a ute or truck or wagon??? Anyone else help here?

Just a couple of thoughts but like I said I dont know your situ! And Im not a finance person... Just my experiences thats all!

This is a good way to cut the intrest payable but ONLY if you make all the required payments, otherwise it can cost you significantly more money in the long run, as 9% over 25 years is far more than 15% over 4 years. So if you do use your home loan you have to make sure you pay the extra $ in above whatever they recalculate the payments to be... this is also easier if you have a offset account. I track mine using a spreadsheet.

(If this does not make sense then let me know and I can give you a working example.)

Hey Kath! Plzzzz Show us! Actually it could show the diff in $$$ over say 4 years?

i would never reccomend a loan for any bike

but if you insist

personal loan ,
you arent required to have full comp insurance,
you wont pay extra on full comp if you do have it
you can sell the bike anytime you like and it doesnt have finance listed on REVS

as mentioned above on the home loan is smart if you run the offset account

Stereo wrote:I highly recommend NOT USING Yamaha Finance...... Their interest rates dont really seem to reflect what you really pay...... They are doing something dodgy.... Im sure its all above board if you closely read the contract... but lets put it this way.... I paid off a loan through RACV finance, and paid off a YMF (yamaha finance) loan at the same time.... the RACV one was for 9 grand, and the YMF one was for 11. The 9grand one was fully paid off and the YMF loan still had 8k on it...... The payments were close to being the same every week...

I highly recommend using RACV if you can swing it, they were happy to loan me money, and you can actually see the balance go down very nicely, friendly people too.

yea i was stitched up with YMF....

i borrowed $9800... rang up a year later for a payout figure and was told it was $10300.. after paying $3600 off....

got me stuffed...

Personal unsecured loan is the option as said above..

Will get one at around 13%, insurance is cheaper, bike isnt used as security.

thanks for the quick replies, yeah I'm steering away from dealership finance deals I haven't heard anything good about them.
I don't have a home loan so that option is out for me. I was thinking of going the secured loan route but as you guys have mentioned the bike is used as a security so I might have problems selling it so I'll just steer clear of that and look for a personal unsecured loan.
I've been using the online calculators for various websites but there too simple too trust. I never tried RACV but you guys paint a pretty pic of it. I'll def give em a call and see what they say and come up with. I've got alot of things to look at before I make a decision, rest assured I'll be asking afew more questions.
Thanks.

Bank or Credit Union Mate..stay away from the dealer financiers if ya can..YMF, GMAC etc

Talk to Sydney Credit Union as they seemed pretty fair and their rates cheaper than most others (even among most credit unions i looked at).

That reminds me, i applied for a loan through them, i ought to follow up to see if it has been followed up upon as i haven't heard back from them good or bad about it (i dropped my application off right at the end of the day before a weekend)

Questions to ask:

* what is the interest rate
* is there a startup fee?
* is there a monthly/admin fee?
* are there any other fees charged?
* am I able to pay extra?
* is there an early payout fee?
* what is the total amount I will be repaying?

Personally I recommend going head down, bum up and saving the money. Otherwise if you buy a bike and something goes wrong, you are stuck paying for the loan payments while it's off the road or while you're paying heaps to get it fixed. Also if there's a loan against your bike your insurance will be about 10% dearer in most cases.

Also if you finance, you tend to spend more than you would as it's not "your" money.... the novelty of a new bike wears off long before the payments are finished.

Say you finance a $11k bike, you will probably pay $15k for it in total. And by the time it's paid off, it's woth $7k. So you've paid $15k for something worth $7k... your call but I strongly recommend getting by without while you save, or buying something within your current budget.

yeah I've been doing the finance calculations and the wole loan thing is starting to lose its appeal, still I'm just going to find more info out from the credit unions and the banks and see how that all fits into my budget.
The whole thing of buying a brand new 08 zx10r does sound appealing but yeah the payments would suck after awhile. I'll lower my expecations and see if I can pick up an older zx10r maybe a 04/05 or the 05/06. I like the 1st gen zx10rs so I'll see if I can get one for a reasonable price.
Hey Shifty thanks for that, those were the questions I was gonna ask all the lenders and then compare them.