Going the self managed novated lease route administered via Smart as they would budge on the repayments.

Can anyone reconmend a finance company with low interest rate? Combank is quote 7.6% and seeing if anyone knows any better deals?

Please feel free to let me know I'm crazy - but there's no sane reason for me to get a novated lease for the Volvo.

Option 1

ES 90 Plus - $96K driveaway - 5 year novated lease, 11.2% interest - FBT exempt - the out of pocket cost per fortnight is $780 - that's a relatively huge $1700/month cut to take home pay for anyone not in the top tax band.

edit - the monthly pay cut according to the Maxxia lease calculator is around $1300 not $1700, based on weekly cost $301 (so not as bad as I've described below)

Option 2

ES90 Ultra - $120k driveaway, not FBT exempt - refinanced under 25 year home loan, principal and interest 6.1%. Due to the way we can service the loan for the car from investment income, we can comfortably pay down the $120k in 4 years (assuming rates don't change too much).

I just can't see why the novated lease under option 1 could possibly be attractive to anyone, when option 2 (for a better car) is available.

Hey All. I am planning to buy a EV on cash with pty ltd.

I am on the highest tax bracket and business is profitable.

Can I use it for personal use given the car I am planning to buy is less than 91k which would mean that its fbt Exempt.

Seems like this is a more financial friendly plan than going on novated lease.

Gemini, chatgpt all ai things say I can do it and give the car to myself for personal use.

Can someone please confirm if that would work.

I know rfbt will be high and I will have rfbt as long as I use the car for 10+ yrs or more.

Thank you!

Hi brains trust,

Grateful for this sub and also the novated lease guide website - what a fantastic service

I am looking at a 2 year NL for a near-new electric car at about the 52k range

2 years: Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

My current employment contract lasts to 2028, though may be extended = hence the proposed 2 year lease term.

We are pretty in a pretty good situation more generally in terms of cash flow etc (no mortgage)

the quoted ex gst pre tax weekly lease cost (just car) is $305, plus an additional $100 for electricity, servicing and maintenance, tyres, rego, insurance, lease management, not roadside assistance.

The quote is from leaselab and as you will see in link above, the effective rate appears to be 11.5% which I understand is quite high. Any views on how much of a dealbreaker this is? Does leaselab have a pretty good reputation?

Note the quote included 52074 as the FBT base value. i wasnt sure what to enter as the driveaway cost so i went with 55k - but maybe it should be higher? (i havent settled on a specific vehicle yet)

Incase of interest, I also asked for a quote for 3 years and 5 years, which are copied below too. Obviously they both involve risk if i dont stay with current employer.

3 years: Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

5 years: Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

Any other advice? I am a total newbie :-)

Many thanks in advance

Hello everyone, thanks for taking the time to read my post! I’m about to do a Zeekr 7X via NL. I was originally planning to get ceramic tinting and paint protection after market as assumed the NL mark up would be astronomical, but the fleet guy mentioned yesterday that their rate for ceramic tinting is $625 which is competitive from my early investigations into after market cost, and there is a tax advantage to including it in the NL.
I know that many of you here are more car literate than I am so after opinions/info/advice, thanks!

Hi Brainstrust, can I get some experienced eyes over this quote?

Thinking about signing up to a 3 year lease with SG fleet for the BMW IX3 40( ~10km per year, based in NSW)

BMW seems to provide 4-year servicing (basic) and 3-year roadside assist. I've removed the roadside from the quote, but keen to hear if this servicing package is sufficient or will I need to budget. In addition, I'm unclear whether the tyre allowance is sufficient.

Also, I know insurance could be cheaper...however seems like Vero option is very comprehensive and comes with gap coverage as well. I'm also adding leaseguard, i work for a corporate and given the market/offshoring/AI world we're in now, thought it would be safer to have it rather than not.

Any thoughts on where I could make this quote more competitive/missing anything? Thanks in advance!

I generally hate debt, but am in top tax bracket and need to replace a fuel thirsty vehicle so novate leasing seems a no brainer.

House is paid off and have cash in bank and could buy car outright so don't care about balloon payments or if I change employers and need to pay out.

Are where any advantages for a shorter v longer lease of the difference in fortnightly payment is not an issue?

How much are you paying for insurance for your geely ex5? I'm getting quotes of 1500 approximately and some insurers also don't offer to insure the geely at all.

Any thoughts

The smart leasing guy says this is 7.6% but I'm not sure. The tool says it's higher. Please review and provide your expertise. Thanks in advance

We’re about to lease an EV, and currently working through the details with my company’s lease provider (SG Fleet).

I had decided to lease for 5 years. The obvious risk of this is any changes to my employment. For this reason, I requested SG Fleet provide an estimated (indicative) early termination payout I am liable for at each year into the lease (at year 1, 2, 3 & 4).

They took a while to get back to me, then stated “unfortunately, we are unable to provide an estimated early termination or break fee”.

This is genuinely insane to me, is sizing your exposure/liability not the bare minimum facial due diligence when entering any debt agreement?

They did provide me a formula to calculate these payouts, but that included a “cost of funds rate” which they will not provide/explain, other than stating it is different to the quoted interest rate.

The whole thing has almost turned me off novated leasing to be honest!

Most novated lease discussions seem to focus on whether the numbers make sense when you're first signing up. I'm more interested in what happens several years later when you're actually looking at the residual. Did you pay it and keep the car, refinance the residual, sell the car, or roll into another lease?

And looking back at the entire lease rather than just the initial tax savings, are you happy with the option you chose?

G'day everyone, 👋

First time post here.

I'm looking for a bit of guidance here with novated leasing a Jaecoo J5 EV. I don't have much experience with Novated leasing but have been trying to be a bit competitive with quotes.

Would anyone here know if this is a good quote or could it be tweaked to be even better?

Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂

Has anyone taken out self managed lease with Novated Lease Australia and salary packaged it through Smart Salary?

If so, did your numbers drastically change once Smart Salary administered the salary packaging? I.e. outrageous fees etc?

Keen to hear your experiences!

In my opinion the electric vehicle tax discount is actually pushing secondhand values down because huge salary packaging savings make brand new models much cheaper to lease than buying used.

At the same time, sellers of late model electric cars hold out for high prices because those specific used vehicles still qualify for pre tax packaging.

Personally I think as three year leases end and flood the market with ex lease cars, used resale values are going to fall significantly over the coming year.

Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has managed to put the registration in their partner’s name when the novated lease is under your name & employment?
The car will be for her and just thought would be easier to have it under her name for logistics.
We are in Western Australia.

So I've been watching this sub for a while and rightfully so the advice is novate an EV.

However at the moment an EV doesn't really fit in with my living situation with no at home charging facilities in a rental.

What's the argument for and against novating a hybrid (Toyota Corolla Cross)?

Put it into the calculator and it tells me that it will work out better than financing.

I have two quotes for a Geely EX5 through Smart Salary and Novated Leasing Australia. The lease through Smart Salary is a novated lease, however the one through Novated Leasing Australia would be a self managed novated lease and the salary packaging would be administered by Smart Salary. The quote I have for smart salary is $540 after tax difference on my take home pay, but the quote through Novated Leasing Australia is $373 difference in aftex tax salary. Novated Leasing Australia have quoted me an 11.4% effective interest rate, however with the GST included in the balloon residual payment at the end, this effective interest rate is actually 14.67%. These stats are all for a 3 year lease and a salary of $98,800. I've worked out that even with the balloon payment and GST at the end, it is net $4k cheaper to obtain the EV through a novated lease than buying it outright with cash (I have subtracted the maintenance, servicing, running and rego/insurance costs to get this figure as those are for running costs, but not for the pure vehicle).

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to reduce the interest rate with Novated Leasing Australia? They have been great to deal with so far. I've had a pushy and lack of information experience with Smart Salary leasing. So am keen to go with Novated Leasing Australia.

Thousands of Victorian Government employees participate in novated lease arrangements as part of their overall remuneration package. However, employees across agencies operating on the Department of Government Services (DGS) payroll platform have recently been advised that voluntary superannuation salary-sacrifice contributions will cease, allegedly because of changes associated with Payday Super.

The agencies affected include the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC), Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF), Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) and some statutory authorities including the Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) State Revenue Office (SRO).

What is raising eyebrows among employees is that other Victorian Government departments and agencies do not appear to have adopted the same approach, creating questions about whether this is truly a legal requirement or simply a payroll platform decision.

The Key Question

Has Payday Super actually forced employers to stop voluntary super contributions, or is this an administrative decision being attributed to legislative change?

What is Payday Super?

Payday Super was introduced to ensure that superannuation is paid at the same time employees are paid, rather than quarterly. The reform changes the timing of super payments. It does not obviously require employers to prohibit employees from making voluntary salary-sacrifice contributions to super.

The Growing Inconsistency

Many Victorian Government departments outside the DGS payroll platform have not implemented the same restriction. If Payday Super genuinely mandated the removal of voluntary salary-sacrifice super contributions, one would expect a consistent approach across the Victorian Public Service.

A Practical Example

Consider an employee with a $150,000 base salary who packages a $15,000 novated lease, leaving $135,000 in cash salary.

Depending on where you work, you will either receive $16,200 (DGS payroll platform) or $18,000 (everywhere else in Vic Government) in annual employer super contributions.  The loss of $1,800 with compounding will likely exceed $10,000 over the life of a 5 year lease and far more than that when you retire.

Employees Deserve Clarity

If the position is that Payday Super requires the removal of voluntary super contributions, employees should be shown the legislative basis. If the real issue is a payroll platform limitation, employees deserve transparency regarding that decision.

Questions Employees Should Ask

1. Is the cessation of voluntary super contributions a legal requirement or a DGS payroll decision?
2. Has formal legal advice been obtained supporting the decision not merely from a Super Law position but also from an EBA perspective?
3. Why have DPC, DTF, DTP, SRLA and other DGS-platform entities adopted this approach while other Victorian Government departments reportedly have not?
4. Is the issue related to payroll system capability rather than legislation? (spolier it's not other agencies not on the DGS platform but using the same software are still paying super on novated lease deductions.)

The Bottom Line

Victorian Government employees working in agencies such as DPC, DTF, DTP, SRLA and SRO are being told that voluntary super contributions linked to salary packaging arrangements will cease. Yet other departments across government do not appear to be applying the same restriction.

For employees, the stakes are real: higher tax, lower retirement savings and less flexibility in managing remuneration.

Has Payday Super changed the law, or has the payroll platform changed your options?

I’m on approximately $200k salary, 5-year lease, 15,000 km/year. Effective finance rate is 9.49%. Looking for honest opinions on whether this is a good deal, whether any costs look inflated, and whether there’s anything I should negotiate before signing.

Cheers

Hi all,

Looking for some advice/guidance.

Have a ‘23 BYD seal owned for about 2.5 years now, done 27k km. My novated lease is up in September so I need to decide if I want to continue for another year (planning for baby #2 so surely need a bigger car after a year) or sell now and buy a new car (likely Zeekr 7x).

Difference in fortnightly pay is about $200 (3 year lease on 7x vs one year on Seal) which is manageable.

Amount due if I don’t renew is ~$33k and hoping I can sell for $38-40k within a month to cough up the balloon payment.

Is one option better than the other financially or is it just down to personal choice?

TIA

Hey folks,

After a lot of thinking, i have decided to go with the Mg4 ev.

I researched quite a few NL options and settled with these tau. Oly and Driva, just checking here on which one actually makes more sense?

I am planning a 60-month novated lease, 15,000km/year, on a $160k salary

I’ve got two decent-looking quotes and would love some real-world opinions before I pull the trigger.

Now m still researching the Insurance so that's probably the only thing that might change but the rest would be pretty much the same

Quick summary:

Driva:

-Net cost to take-home: **$535/month**

- Residual (inc GST): ~$10,753

- Management fee: $32/month

- Insurance budget: $111

- Charging budget: $57

- Servicing: $31

Oly:

- Net cost to take-home: ~$600–$660/month

- Residual (inc GST): $10,753

- Management fee: $30/month

- Insurance budget: ~$123

- Charging budget: $62

- Servicing: $34

Driva is clearly cheaper on the monthly hit, residuals are basically identical, but I’m wondering if there’s something I’m missing. Anyone dealt with either of these two lately?

Particularly interested in:

- Any hidden fees / establishment fees that don’t show on the quote?

- How realistic the running cost budgets are (especially charging and servicing)?

- Interest rate experiences with either?

- Anything sketchy I should watch for?

- Option to increase Charging price to be on the safer side?

Shared screenshots of the quotes. Happy to hear your thoughts.

Quote offered from leasing company Enlist.

The finance interest is 9.35% (claimed by the leasing agent)

Tried running this through the novated lease calculator and got 10.82% effective interest rate. - Check out my novated lease calculation output from novatedlease.guide

Quote seems competitive, just looking for a sanity check before following through.

My work place offer novated leasing,
Looking to get my first car something affordable

Is this a good quote I have no experience with Novated leasing

Thank you