Flexible Finance and Insurance

Every Jarvis location in Adelaide has a business manager on site. Instead of applying to lenders one at a time and collecting knock-backs, they take your situation to a panel of lenders and bring back the options you qualify for, so the loan and the car get sorted in the same place.

That panel includes Toyota Finance, Subaru Finance, Skoda Financial Services, Angle Auto Finance, Taurus Motor Finance, Peugeot Financial Services, PowerTorque Finance and MoneyMe. See the full provider details below. Different lenders suit different situations, which is the practical reason to go through someone who deals with all of them daily. All finance is subject to approval and to the lender's terms.

Loans arranged this way are normally at a fixed rate for a fixed term, so your repayment stays the same for the life of the loan and a rate rise does not change what you pay. In many cases finance can cover the full purchase price including on-road costs, so a deposit is not always required. Whether that is available to you depends on your circumstances and the lender's assessment.

Applying is straightforward if you come prepared. Bring photo identification, normally a driver's licence, along with proof of income such as recent payslips, or business and tax records if you are self-employed. Your business manager will also ask about your regular expenses, any existing loans, credit cards or buy-now-pay-later accounts, and your residential and employment history.

It is worth knowing that unused credit card and buy-now-pay-later limits count against your borrowing capacity even when the balance sits at zero, because lenders assess the limit rather than the balance. Closing accounts you no longer use before you apply is one of the few things that reliably helps.

Pre-approval is worth doing before you fall for a particular car. It tells you your real budget upfront, so you shop with a firm number rather than finding a car first and stretching to afford it. Use the affordability calculator above to get a rough sense of what a weekly repayment translates to; it is a guide only and not an offer of finance.

Before you sign anything, ask your business manager to walk you through a few things in dollars rather than percentages. Ask for the comparison rate rather than just the advertised rate, since the comparison rate folds in the fees and is the number that lets you compare two loans honestly. Ask for the total amount payable over the full term, and whether there is a balloon or residual payment at the end, since a balloon lowers your monthly repayment but leaves a lump sum owing when the term finishes and you need a plan for it. Ask about early payout fees in case you want to clear the loan ahead of schedule, and what any add-on products cost over the life of the loan. If something is not clear, ask for it in writing.