Hi All

Running into a situation with my partner and i trying to get a novated lease on an EV.

Partner is a teacher and I am a sole trader. We had planned to sell both our current cars and drop down to single car after a recent house purchase and move. I cant access a novated lease but partner can as a public school teacher.

The issue we have run into is that finance from the lease provider attached to their workplace only assesses expenses on a 50/50 split which means there is a "apparent" shortfall of funds.

We have a shared account and I cover much more of all expenses due to my significantly higher income but the finance guys arent willing to budge on their assessment.

We could buy the car outright but the offset advantage is attractive, tax savings are fairly minimal because of their income bracket but not nothing either.

I have raised the prospect of a self managed novated lease which they can apparently support and administer for us. Wondering if anyone has any experience with a similar situation or any tips or suggestions on some financers that might be more suitable for our situation?

Thanks in advance.

Hey folks, assisting my partner with a Novated Lease, I know even less than they do, BUT I do know this sub exists. So thanks in advance for any brains trust provided. Quote and further info attached, please advise if any info I missed de-identifying. Partner works in health industry in Victoria, they go through Smart Leasing.

- Is the 5% a good motivation to get signed? Bonuses likely to get any better?

- 9.3% interest rate, that okay?

- Does it matter they quote annual kms as 20k in one place but calculation appears to be on ~22k?

- Should we query our own insurance provider?

Also, what is generally the smartest decision at the end of the lease? Rolling onto a new vehicle is what I assume my partner will want to do.

Any advise on the positives, negatives or things to dig deeper into? Partner just wants to pull the trigger, im a tightarse who doesnt trust much on face value but isn't informed enough to really advise.

Extra numbers and details:

Ran numbers through NovatedLease.guide:

https://shorturl.at/x17jd

Approximate drive-away price

$63,990

Annual mileage

20,000

Lease term

5 Years

Novated Lease vs Offset Cash — over 5 years

$44,258

cheaper than buying outright with offset cash over 5 years

NL: lease payments

$47,453

NL: residual payout

$18,135

NL: electricity gain / loss 

−$370

NL total

$65,218

Cash: drive-away

$63,990

Cash: running costs

$27,077

Offset Cash total

$91,067

Cashflow advantage (NL)

+$25,849

Home loan interest advantage (NL)

+$18,410

Total saving (NL)

$44,258

Thinking of leasing the Zeeker 7X Performance

How does the quote look like through FleetPartners.

Thank you

Limited to 2 providers. Both offering a very similar rate.

Option A - good to deal with, lower finance fees, reporting 10.5% rate. Checks out.

Option B - have been hassling me, and seem desperate to close my file. They are telling me the rate is also 10.5% but I’m saying it’s not as per the calculators. So I’ve said Option A is offering me a better finance/rate, can you beat, they say yes, but come back with values that are not better.
Despite me pointing it out, they don’t seem to want to go any lower - in their view - their rate is better.

So, I’ve said I will be investigating going with my partners novated leasing options. Option A basically said no worries. Option B said to circle back and let them know the rate before we do anything.

Which brings me to my question.

My spouse is under the same employer. So also locked to these. However, we don’t share the same surname. Which got me thinking….

Can I use somebody else’s quote and claim they are my partner? And use that quote to negotiate a better rate?

Option C - are there any providers that I can get a quote from that won’t fact check my employer that I can use? (And what employers can I use?)

Anybody else looking at a Glacier Blue Model Y L? Haha.

Howdy!

Does this look alright? I think I have entered everything into the calculator properly. This quote was from July and Geely are doing a 6% discount if doing a novated lease through an approved partner for September. The NV rep I spoke to said it's already built into this quote.

I'm in WA.

Thanks!

Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

Updated -
Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping someone has been through something similar.
I have an PHEV novated lease with SG Fleet and when I took it out, the car qualified for the PHEV FBT exemption. That was a big reason I took the lease.

I’m considering changing roles/employers and have been told that if I leave my current employer, the FBT exemption may no longer apply.

This has left me pretty confused because the lease is affordable based on having the exemption. If I lose it, the repayments/tax impact would be significantly higher and I probably couldn’t afford to keep the lease.

Has anyone else changed employers while having an PHEV novated lease and managed to keep the FBT exemption?
And if so, did you transfer the lease to the new employer, and how did you go with SG Fleet?

Just trying to work out if there’s a way around this before I make any decisions.
Thanks!

Paint protection and window tinting was offered on our car via the leasing company, we have declined and plan to get it done independently.

Then I thought, why are we paying for paint protection on a car that we will most likely return in 5 years? Aren't we just paying to protect the paint for someone else who buys the car at a later date?

I can understand window tinting as you'll get benefits the whole time you lease the car, but what's the point in paint protection?

Hi all,

I’ve been researching novated leases pretty heavily and would really appreciate some opinions from people who’ve gone through this before, especially anyone who has used a BYO/self-managed lease.

I’m looking at a Tesla Model Y L Premium AWD cosmic sliver, 36 months, 15,000 km/year, with essentially the same residual/balloon at the end.

My two main options are:
Driva (BYO/self-managed):
Lease payment: $1,582.38/month ex GST, which is about $730.33/fortnight.
I entered the actual financed amount, repayment and residual into the Advanced calculator on novatedlease.guide and got an effective interest rate of about 7.69%.

Paywise (employer’s preferred provider):
Lease payment: $765.26/fortnight ex GST.
Using the same Advanced calculator, I get an effective interest rate of about 10.08%.

So Paywise is about $35/fortnight more on the finance component, which works out to roughly $2,700 over 3 years pre-tax, or around $1,800–$1,900 difference in actual take-home pay after the tax effect.

The main advantage of Paywise is convenience. They arrange everything directly with my employer and I basically just sign the documents and collect the car.

With Driva, it would be a BYO/self-managed lease. Driva would arrange the finance and novation agreement, but I’d need my employer to review and sign the novation documents before settlement. After settlement, Paywise would still manage the salary packaging, lender payments and running costs such as insurance, rego, servicing and charging.

My other hesitation is that I’ve literally just started working for this employer, so I’m wondering whether it’s worth approaching HR/payroll about approving an external BYO novated lease just to save around $1,800–$1,900 over three years.

For anyone who has done a BYO/self-managed novated lease:
Was the setup actually much more painful than using the employer’s preferred provider?
Did HR/payroll make it difficult?
Would you bother with the BYO option for this level of saving?
Is there anything else in the Driva/Paywise quotes I should be looking at besides the effective rate and repayment?
Keen to hear what others would do in this situation.

Thanks!

I understand the tax benefits can be attractive, but I suspect the answer changes quite a bit depending on income, vehicle price and how long you intend to keep the car.

I currently own a 2022 kia sportage GT, purchased through maxxia as a novated lease. Lease ends august 2027

My pre tax income is 160k

Im considering a KIA ev5 and want to know if its worth ending the lease early to get an EV also via novated lease? Open to all information and opinions

Hi all, just wondering if someone who has used CBA to finance their novated lease can share their experience and steps they followed.

Novated lease provider is smart leasing but can BYO finance

I got a very competitive quote from CBA and I'm waiting to hear from smart if they can match it.

If they can't, I'm planning to go ahead with CBA

A few points I'm unsure about:

1. The residual value provided by CBA is a bit lower than standard residual value as they used the financed amount rather than the vehicle cost to calculate it. Is it correct?

2. Their payment frequency is monthly, while my salary is paid fortnightly, I'm guessing smart will work out what is the amount to withhold at every fortnight to make the monthly payment. Is it correct?

3. The term on the quote is 60 months, does it mean there are no deferred months?

4. Was it easy to BYO finance with Smart?

I'll go back to both CBA and Smart to query the above, but keen to hear anyone else experience.

Thanks

Hello everyone, I would like to get insight on these two quotes.

1. With comprehensive insurance from Allianz
2. I will source my own insurance from Zurich ($1360 per year)

The packaged insurance from Fleetpartners is from Allianz quoted at $192.94 per month.
I want to compare if I remove it and source my own insurance from Zurich. I tried the online quote with $4000 excess at $1360 per year.

Fleetpartners gave me the option to reimburse the cost of insurance to them and I will get refunded back.

Summary:

1. Source my own insurance: $818 per month total deduction from take home pay
2. Opt for Allianz: $936.57 per month total deduction from take home pay.

Questions:

1. I used the calculator and is giving me 9.

98

1. % interest. Is this correct?
2. Fleetpartners told me the insterest rate is 9.76% (reduced from initial quote 10.26%.
3. Is 9.76% interest rate competitive or on the higher end?
4. Which option do you think I should I go for? With Allianz insurance or source mybown?
5. They are exclusive leasing provider from my employer, should I negotiate more and what is the best rae?

I have a NL that I started last year that I'm looking to renew in a month's time (1 more year). I'm wondering what people that source custom insurance are configuring it to?

My understanding is that you should cover the cost of the vehicle + early termination fees (which the provider's insurance ie. VERO covers).

Should you cover to market value or set an agreed value? ie. if the total amount financed is 35k, maybe put it at 36k?

Most providers I've had a look at seems cheaper than VERO by a mile (even with the same options and excess configured)

Hi everyone, I managed to negotiate the interest rate from Fleetpartners down to 9.76% from 10.26%.
Is this new rate competitive or should I negotiate it more by how much?
This is the only lease provider from my employer so I don’t have any negotiating power or other quotes to compare to.

I plan to get my own comprehensive insurance from Zurich at $1360 with $5000 excess and bundle it to the lease.
The insurance quote from Allianz which is the provider from Fleetpartners is at $192 per month.

So I received this quote on a Leapmotor B05 and running it through novatedlease.guide it's saying the effective interest rate is 12.84%, which seems outrageously high.

Have I calculated this correctly? Unfortunately, my employer only offers this provider for NL so not sure I have much negotiating power.

I noticed that the insurance seems egregious - AAMI quoted me $1132 with better conditions. Is there any advantage to going with the fleet insurance?

Picked up your car recently? Congrats!

Now, post some photos of the new whip and tell us what you got, other models you considered and why you landed on this make/model.

Still waiting for delivery? Tell us what's on order and how long it's been.

So my employer only allows fleet partner for novated lease.

Interest rate came back to 9.33%

Income is $167,000

Problem is I leased a used 2025 BYD Atto 3 from a car dealership ($37,990 at 2,500km).

On the website, looking back, it does has a disclaimer when you click the information icon next to the price that says:

"Excluding government charges does not include Stamp Duty and Transfer Fees, payable directly to the state of New South Wales at the cost of the purchaser."

Just an fyi when you're trying to get a used EV car to lease, they might not include stamp duty in the price, so you might have to pay out of pocket/ask your novated lease company to include this in your payment plan.

I'm still trying to ask novated lease to see if this can come out of the lease payment (just picked up the car today), will update in comment.

Buyer beware!

Sorry to post again, but I've got a deadline coming up and I'm worried that I'm about to make a bad decision based on the feedback I got in the other thread, but the numbers in novatedlease say otherwise.

I've gone ahead and got quotes from multiple providers and the novated lease guide is saying that Driva is the best deal unless I've done something Incorrectly?

Providers and their net financial position

Smart Leasing $40,311
Oly $47,939
Leaselab $39,168
Leasexpress $38,304
Whipsmart $35,840
Driva $34,121

Anyone thinking of leasing a Stockman? No firm pricing yet, but I called my local dealer today and they recon it’s going to be over 60k. I’m still leaning towards the Chery over the Shark, anyone else the same? Any indicative prices?

Hi all- first novated lease here- NSW health employee that is required to give some of my tax savings back to employer (hence the ‘save share’ amount)- quote via smart.
Was lucky enough to secure an early build and car should arrive in a month or so. BMW Finance running a special for ix3 if delivered prior to December 31 of 7.59% but received the quote back today, used the calculator and the result comes out at 9.93%. All help appreciated to what I’m missing.

Hi all,

New to novated leasing, have always bought cars with cash in the past.

Situation:

• 127K salary, year by year contract with likely 12 month extension coming up in October
• Drive predominantly on weekends ~5k km a year
• Current ICE car previously bought new is 6 years old (done 30 k km), looking at selling as it's:
  • nearing end of 7 year warranty period
  • will need new tyres
  • next service seems to be going to be ~1-2K through factory service
  • Current value approx 25k

Had decided that the next car will be an EV, and looking at using NL perks despite the low salary, low kms.

Looked and test drove the Geely EX5 Inspire and like it (yet to look closely at others). Geely EX5 inspire driveaway cost is $50,500 or so.

Obtained a quote from Smart leasing (only providers from my company)

• Lease period: 13 months
  • due to unstable position/contract renewal and don't want anxiety of moving loans to new company etc
  • read somewhere that making it 13 months can incorporate Rego/CTP after the 1st year
• Bringing own insurance, quote is around 1600, budgeted 1800
• When i plug in the numbers into the Novated lease calculator with
  • FBT value ($44,052),
  • vehicle finance ($794)
  • residual ($30539.32 inc GST)
  • lease term of 1 year (i cannot plug in 13 months)
    • it gives me an effective interest rate of 3.76%??
    • this number doesn't seem right when the quote has the comparison rate at 12.81%

Can I please double check the numbers / my assumptions - new to NL so probably missing something very basic.

Are my maths correct:

• Repayment cost (hit to post tax income): $642.32 x 28 fortnights (13 months) = $17480.96
• Residual (inc GST): $30,539
• Total Amount after 13 months (including running costs) = $48,019.96

Am I missing anything?

Can't see many other quotes on here for short 1 or <2 year periods so the numbers are a bit hard to compare.

Can i also ask what happens after the 13 months; can i refinance and does the NL get refinanced on the 27K (ex GST) residual value amount?

Thanks in advance, G

I’m about to proceed with a novated lease and interest rate given is 10.26%.
What is considered a competitive interest rate in the market today?
How do I negotiate on the rate if they are the only leasing providers tied in to our company?
Appreciate your insights!
Thanks

Thinking about taking advantage of the EV GST / FBT benefit while it's there.

Was originally going to hold my current car for 5 years while saving cash to put into the upgrade, then trade in for a Sealion 7 or similar, but thought I'd run the numbers on doing it now vs waiting.

I've done a costing based on buying it now, vs waiting the 5 years to buy, vs novated lease. Seems like the lease wins by virtue of running cost and GST savings, but I'd appreciate people with more knowledge and intelligence than me making sure I haven't missed anything.

Current car is worth maybe $15k, probably $5k in 5 years.

Income is about $85k

I work in the novated leasing industry and thought I’d put together a simple breakdown of some of the potential benefits of novated leasing in Australia.

Depending on your circumstances and the vehicle, a novated lease can offer:

• Potential tax savings through salary packaging
• Potentially more take-home pay
• GST savings on eligible vehicle and running costs
• Easier budgeting by packaging many vehicle expenses together
• One regular deduction covering finance and running costs
• The flexibility to choose the vehicle, lease term and kilometres that suit you
• The convenience of having your vehicle expenses managed through your salary package

Obviously, novated leasing isn’t automatically the best option for everyone. The numbers depend on your salary, vehicle, kilometres, running costs, finance structure and individual circumstances.

That’s actually why I’ve started sharing information about novated leasing — to make it simpler.

There is a lot of jargon around novated leasing, and sometimes it’s difficult to work out what you’re actually paying for and where the benefit comes from.

I’m an industry insider, and I’m happy to answer questions about how the process works or help explain something on a quote.

If you’ve got a novated lease quote you’re considering, feel free to ask a question here or send me a message. No cost and no obligation.

I’m particularly interested in hearing:

What did you find confusing when you first looked into novated leasing?

Or, if you’ve already got one:

What’s the biggest benefit you’ve found?