What a new car loan costs, read one gauge at a time

Moneysmart names three things to compare on any car loan: its features, its fees and its interest rate. The six guides below take those apart, one band of the dial each.

Moneysmart’s advice is to look at loans before choosing the car, and to work out exactly how much can be spent with the other costs of buying and running a car counted in. It divides those costs into purchase costs and ongoing costs.

Its own worked example makes the point. A $15,000 car loan over four years at 11% cost $3,609 in interest; with stamp duty, registration, comprehensive insurance, petrol and servicing added, the total came to nearly $10,000 a year for four years, over $800 a month. (This guide re-ran the loan part: equal monthly repayments of $387.68 over 48 months come to about $3,609 in interest, which matches Moneysmart’s figure. )

Over 350,000 loans from eight car finance providers sit behind the review of car lending that ASIC published in June 2026. It found wide variation in what car loans cost overall, and total fees that could be significant, especially on loans of relatively low value.

Loans usually carried two establishment fees: the lender’s own, between $299 and $995, and a distributor establishment fee, “ranging from a flat fee of $912 to up to $2,500”. The report adds that these costs are often capitalised, meaning added to the amount borrowed.

A distributor is the dealer or broker who sells the lender’s loan. The first guide follows the fee chain from the showroom to the lender, and the fifth shows what two fees do to a comparison rate.

• No market rates. Rates move and differ between borrowers; Moneysmart says the rate offered can depend on the loan’s features, its length, the borrower’s credit score and the car. Where a guide needs a rate to show how something works, it uses a round number, labels it as an illustration, and states every assumption.
• Figures worked, not guessed. Each illustration was calculated for this guide and can be checked with Moneysmart’s personal loan calculator, which Moneysmart suggests for working out car loan repayments and the effect of extra repayments.
• Licences are checked at the source. ASIC’s Professional Registers Search shows whether a company or person holds an Australian credit licence; Moneysmart notes that a licence does not mean ASIC endorses the licensee.
• Help is free. Moneysmart describes financial counselling as a free and confidential service from not-for-profit community organisations, and suggests contacting a financial counsellor as soon as possible when debt feels overwhelming.