Have you looked at buying a Skyline or Nissan Elgrand for the family? We’ve provided some information on How to Finance Import Vehicles and Grey Import Cars.
Japanese import or grey import cars have been available in Australia for some 20 years.
Traditionally, sports cars such as the Nissan Skyline and Mitsubishi FTO were sought after by younger drivers due to their high performance characteristics, and modified 4wd wagons such as the Toyota 4Runner were available to a select buyers as an alternative.
In recent years family orientated people movers such as the Nissan Elgrand and Toyota Estima have been made available on the Australian market, and provide more features and comfort than their Australian sold counterparts.
So what’s the problem with financing Import Cars?
Mainstream lenders (Banks, Credit Unions and Building Societies) usually have no problem in funding Australian complied vehicles (vehicles sold NEW in Australia) but when it comes to providing finance for Import vehicles, banks either don’t have the facility to provide secured import car loans or simply don’t want these types of vehicles on their books.
Why?
With secured car loans, banks look at recovering the outstanding debt from auction price or ‘fire’ sale value in the event of the loan defaulting or repossession.
Due to import cars being sought after by specific people they cannot be guaranteed a quick resale, so some lenders who provide funding for American Import cars, Japanese grey imports or luxury European import vehicles will usually ask for a deposit to reduce the overall risk on the loan or provide an unsecured personal loan to the customer.
Car Insurance
Comprehensive Car Insurance can be expensive for grey import vehicles and only a select few insurance companies will cater for these types of vehicles.
Due to the increased insurance premiums, some younger borrowers fail to renew their cover which can make it difficult for financiers to recover the outstanding debt if the vehicle is stolen or written off.
Generally the build date on Japanese grey imports is between 6 – 15 years of age. Even though they may have gone through Australian compliance recently, cars that are over 5 years of age will usually fall into an unsecured personal loan category with the banks.
How can I finance an Import Car?
Put simply, there are 2 options available for purchasers of grey import cars.
Unsecured Personal Loan
Unsecured lending is suitable for some applicants, however the higher the loan amount (ie: $20,000) the more security is required in the form of property or vehicle security. As imported cars are not preferred as security by the banks onlinecasinogo.com.au, most people keep trying endlessly without any research into the lenders guidelines. Personal loans are a higher risk to the lender, so they sub sequentially charge a higher interest rate.
Secured Car Loan
Only a select few financiers will provide Secured Import Vehicle funding with most able to fund up to 100% of the purchase amount.
Secured import car loans can allow customers to borrow more as the banks risk is distributed between the customer and the vehicle.
Unfortunately many import vehicle purchasers are misled by false promises from introducers and lenders of super low interest rates in order to gain a loan approval, however these approvals are based on non-import cars in the hope the customer will change their mind and finance an Australian complied vehicle through them.
For many they have to restart the entire car loan application and places an unnecessary mark on their credit file.
Solution
iCREDIT is a Company that specialises in no deposit or 100% import car loans for Japanese Import Cars, American Import Vehicles or Luxury European Cars, with no age limit restrictions. Our tailored lending services help in providing comparative interest rate loans for import car and grey import vehicles, usually over loan terms from 1 to 5 years.
Our service can take the guess work out of finding a suitable lender and loan for import vehicles purchases.
If you are in the research phase of buying an import car or Japanese grey import vehicle, contact the team at iCREDIT to discuss your finance needs and requirements.
Our business has helped many Australian’s with advantages of getting car finance for their import vehicle purchase and our industry trained finance consultants can help you throughout the entire process whilst providing no nonsense updates and answers from the lenders.