There’s a bunch of brand new models that fit this category and priced below the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) threshold of $91,387 for fuel-efficient vehicles. Here are some notable upcoming models:

Audi Q4 e-tron
Expected in early 2025, this compact electric SUV offers both single motor front-wheel drive and dual motor all-wheel drive (Quattro)

options. Starting at $84,900 plus on-road costs, it remains under the LCT threshold.

BYD Sealion 7
Set to arrive in early 2025, the BYD Sealion 7 is a mid-sized electric SUV positioned to compete with models like the Tesla Model Y. With an estimated starting price around $55,000, it offers a compelling blend of performance and affordability.

Zeekr X
Available for pre-order since September 2024, the Zeekr X is a mid-size electric SUV priced at $56,900 plus on-road costs for the rear-wheel drive variant and $64,900 plus on-road costs for the all-wheel drive variant. Both configurations are priced below the LCT threshold.

Hyundai Inster
Launching in early 2025, the Hyundai Inster (known as the Casper Electric in other markets) is a compact electric crossover. While specific Australian pricing is yet to be confirmed, it’s anticipated to be competitively priced, likely well below the LCT threshold.

Polestar 4
Expected to arrive in Australia in 2025, the Polestar 4 is a compact luxury electric SUV. While official Australian pricing hasn’t been announced, it’s anticipated to be positioned competitively within the market, potentially below the LCT threshold.

Leapmotor C10
Introduced by Chinese brand Leapmotor, the C10 is an electric vehicle aimed at suburban families. Priced under $50,000, it offers an affordable entry into the EV market.

Kia EV5

Set to compete in the mid-sized SUV segment, the Kia EV5 offers a driving range of over 600 km and is expected to be priced below $60,000, making it a strong contender in the Australian EV market.

Cadillac Lyriq

Marking Cadillac’s return to Australia, the Lyriq is a luxurious electric SUV boasting a 530 km range. While pricing details are yet to be confirmed, it’s expected to be competitively priced within the luxury EV segment.

Please remember that vehicle specifications, pricing, and release dates are subject to change!

The post What new car models (EV’s) released in 2025 get the FBT exemption? first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

Just when we thought we were getting the hang of what was going to happen with the new fringe benefit tax system, and those of us who were lucky enough to go ahead and get a car through a novated lease scheme (thanks to our employers) were learning how to go about using logbooks, we had an election that resulted in a change in government. And the proposed changes to the rules which were anything but popular  were scrapped.

So, breathe a sigh of relief, everybody. Stop scratching your heads over how to fill out a logbook and working out what is and isn’t a business trip. We can all go back to using the most common method of calculating the fringe benefit tax we have to pay because we’ve got the perk of a car.

You won’t be the only people breathing a sigh of relief. The proposed rule changes were very bad news for Australia’s car sales industry, as a lot of business is created by our novated lease system. It ensures a lot of turnover  which isn’t just good news for car sales people but also for road safety and our car manufacturing industry. When people get a new car under a novated lease scheme fairly easily, this means that they’re less likely to stick with some old rustbucket that doesn’t have as many safety features as a new modern car. This means that Australia’s roads are more likely to have lots of safe cars with all the protective gadgets on them, which means safer roads and fewer accidents.

It’s also good news for smaller businesses and charitable organisations. Often, these employers want to keep hold of their best workers but don’t have the budget in place to provide other incentives and rewards. Including a car in the salary package is an easy way for these people to reward and retain the good people  it’s so much easier than trying to pay them more, which may be a disincentive for some employees, as it means that they pay much more tax when they pop over a certain threshold.

Of course, logbooks haven’t been scrapped altogether. Some people were on the logbook system before the proposed changes came in anyway. They’re still going to be doing things the same way, and are probably the only people who aren’t breathing a sigh of relief (but if you’re in this category, you can stop feeling smug).

Some people felt that the reaction from the car leasing and car sales industry was a bit over the top. After all, it’s not as though the proposed changes were planning to scrap novated leases altogether. Companies could still create salary packages involving new cars as a way of rewarding their best employees; the only real difference was that people were going to have to keep logbooks and use them to calculate the amount of fringe benefit tax they would have to pay. And after the initial shock and downturn, the car sales and lease industry would have bounced back once we were all used to the new way of doing things. But who’s to tell now? Who knows what would have happened?

The good thing is that we can now carry on as normal. And no matter whether you’re considering setting up a novated lease agreement or whether you’re just considering taking out a loan to buy a new car, we’re here to help you find what you need.

The post Relax, Everybody! first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

The recent changes in the rules about Fringe Benefit Tax will mean that all vehicles that are involved in a novated lease as part of a salary package will need logbooks so the people with them pay a fair amount of fringe benefit tax.

Your company accountant will probably give you a brief run-down on how to fill out a logbook and give you a few basic pointers about what is and what isn’t considered personal use. However, we thought we’d give you a few case examples to help you wrap your head around the concepts.

Case 1: Stephanie works at a small retail store. She uses the car that is part of her salary package to drive to work, obviously. The trip to and from work is considered to be a personal trip (and considering that Stephanie drops her children off at school on the way to work in the morning, most of us would think that this is fair enough. This trip goes into the logbook as a personal trip, therefore. From time to time, Stephanie has to meet up with business contacts such as suppliers and wholesalers to talk over a new deal. Driving to meet these people counts as a business trip and Stephanie can certainly claim this amount back against tax. Occasionally, the boss asks Stephanie to deliver a purchase to a customer using her car. Again, this is considered to be a business cost. Usually, the journey home is a personal trip but if the boss has told Stephanie Hey, the person who put in this order lives over in your part of town  could you drop it off to him on your way back home, then this would count as a business trip. Naturally, all the trips Stephanie makes in the weekend and doing the Mum’s taxi runs are personal trips.

Case 2: Gary works for a contracting crew. Usually, he drives in to work and parks his car (part of his salary package) up for the day at headquarters before piling into the work van with the rest of the crew to head out to the various sites the contracting work is done on.As you may have already figured out, the trip to HQ is a personal trip. However, if something crops up that means that Gary and a couple of workmates have to nip over to another site while the main work van goes elsewhere, and they have to take Gary’s car, that counts as a business trip. And if the foreman asks Gary to go and pick up a few edible treats from the supermarket on Friday afternoon for a special end-of-the-week feed, and Gary uses his car, this is a business trip, too, even though Gary picks up a few groceries for himself at the same time.

Case 3: Kathy is a social worker and counsellor who works with troubled teenagers. The organisation she’s associated with has an office, where she sometimes does her counselling work and where she touches base with the others in the organisation. As you probably have guessed, her trip to headquarters is a personal trip. However, she also goes out to quite a few high schools to meet with her counselees and has even been known to meet with them in the evenings. All these trips are business trips. If she decides to take a group of the teenagers she’s working with out to the movies as part of her work with them, the trip to the cinema is also a business trip.

Case 4: Jeff is a sales representative and drives a lot from client to client. The chances are that he won’t be getting a car as part of a salary package, as those who do lot of driving for business purposes don’t usually get a set of wheels under a novated lease.

The post Business or Personal? first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

The recent changes in the fringe benefit tax rules are making things very difficult for employers, employees, loan brokers like us and car dealers. The way Australians buy cars is changing and employers can’t use their default solution for keeping and rewarding their valued employees. The changes will affect all new novated leases set up from the 16^th July 2013 onwards.

There are a few people who won’t be affected. If you are self-employed or a sole trader who uses their car for work purposes and claims back a few travel expenses, nothing’s going to change. If you’re an employee who uses a car that belongs to the company and you use it nearly all the time for work purposes (e.g. if you’re a sales rep who has to travel to your clients) then things aren’t going to change for you, either. And if you have an existing salary package that involves a novated lease, everything will stay the same under the current lease and the changes will only affect you when the current lease expires and a new one starts.

The changes apply to novated leases as we know them  the situation where a company sets up the lease for a new car that their employees can use as they wish, and the payments for the lease are taken out of the pay packet before tax so the employee gets the perk of a new car but stays in the same tax bracket and doesn’t have to fork out any more income tax although they will have to pay fringe benefit tax.

Under the old system, there were two ways of calculating the amount of fringe benefit tax that someone had to pay. You could choose to keep a logbook and record all your trips, along with whether or not it was a business or personal trip, and the proportion of personal to business trips was used to calculate the amount of fringe benefit tax to be paid. Or else you could just use a formula based on the cost of the car times 20%, and there was no need for logbooks.

Under the new system, it’s logbooks all the way so you pay fringe benefit tax for the personal use of the car. The irritating thing about this is that the trip to and from work is considered to be personal use rather than a work trip. One of the headaches for employees and employers alike is that the new system requires a lot more paperwork. The idea is that people shouldn’t be claiming back more expenses than they are actually entitled to and should pay the right amount of fringe benefit tax.

The Rudd government thought that keeping logbooks was going to be the only change that people would really be affected by (as if that wasn’t enough hassle in itself!) but the economy as a whole seems to be affected.Car companies, especially companies providing company cars, are not selling/leasing as many vehicles, as a lot of people don’t want to set up a new lease under the new system. Some employers are left scratching their heads as they try to think of other ways to reward their staff and keep them in the company that aren’t going to cause headaches and hassle after all, having to write down every single trip to the dairy and every single Mums taxi trip is not that much of a perk for a busy person trying to juggle work and family. Charitable organisations are also affected, as salary packaging deals are the only way that they can reward their employees on a tight budget.

It’s going to be a case of watch this space, as there’s a lot of opposition to the changes and further changes may be in the wind.

In the meantime, if you are on the lookout for a new set of wheels, don’t forget that ordinary regular car loans aren’t affected by these changes at all.

The post The Rules, They Are A-Changing first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

Here is some food for thought about the new changes to Fringe Benefit Tax and Carbon Tax. It would be best that before you make any big decisions regarding this new information that you first see what your accountant says, and do have a talk to us if this new information raises any questions because we are a specialist car finance provider.

For many, the reinstated PM Rudd has been a good move forward for Australia in its current economic and political situation. However, the newly proposed changes to Fringe Benefit Tax and Carbon Tax that PM Rudd has announced hasn’t made for great news if you happen to be in the car lease industry. On July 16^th PM Rudd suggested that an Emissions Trading Scheme would replace the carbon tax, and as part of this change there would be a $1.8 billion cut in Fringe Benefit Tax concessions. The main reason for the change was stated by Joe Albanese, the Government Minister for Transport, who said that There’s a lot of people clearly fiddling the system. Those people who are salary sacrificing who use their car less than 20 per cent but claim the 20 per cent offset  less than one kilometre in every five they actually use for work  the chances are it’s not a Holden Commodore; it’s a BMW. The big deal is that under current measuring methods, Fringe Benefit Tax is calculated at 20 per cent of a vehicles cost, regardless of whether the car is used for private or business use or private use via the salary sacrifice, with the assumption that the car is being used for predominantly business use anyway. The more expensive a car, the larger the portion claimed in Fringe Benefit Tax.

Added to the cuts in Fringe Benefit Tax for new car owners, a potential extra cost of around $1400 per year per vehicle could make the car leasing environment a whole lot less attractive for someone who might be on the lookout for a new set of wheels predominantly used for business, with a small portion of the vehicle being run for personal use. Some would say that this bleak outlook could well stop the car lease industry in its tracks.

Again, the new changes bring in the requirement of a far more comprehensive log book keeping system of the vehicle’s use. In order to make sure that the kilometres a car travels for work and personal use are tracked more accurately, recent new technology has made it possible to get a much more precise value for both work and personal use over a twelve week period. According to Federal Climate Change Minister Mark Butler, The Government had considered the FBT changes very carefully. It’s not the same as it was in the 1980s. You can download these very easy apps that use GPS systems to do the work all for you.You effectively just press the button, let it go and after you’ve finished marking that travel or recording that travel over the 12-week period every five years it can be automatically sent to your employer or your tax agent. Using the on-board GPS systems inside new cars for tracking mileage is also a simple and effective way of gathering data for emissions.

While the changes do have some great benefits in ensuring that the system becomes much harder for people to cheat, the Shadow Minister for Transport, Joe Hockey, stated that This is going to be like a baseball bat to the motor vehicle industry in Australia. This is poorly thought out. There was no consultation with any stakeholders.

Mr Hockey pointed out that 75 per cent of recipients of a new company car earn less than $100,000 a year, and that they were going to be hit with a tax bill of $1400 a year, every year, going forward.

It is this sort of change that will make people think twice about leasing a new vehicle for the business fleet. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries has responded with CEO Tony Weber claiming that: The changes undermine the long-term certainty the FCAI and its members have called for from government, and threatens to affect around one-third of new car sales in Australia. The effects will flow right through the industry, including to dealerships and service centres.

Though new log book-keeping technology could make it easier, the changes ignore the fact that the costs involved to companies to process manual log book keeping processes will result in the forcing of higher prices for new vehicles, more real-time paperwork and the potential to damage the 80% fleet market sales that Australian car makers have. These effects would be disastrous, and the changes have already caused one major fleet vehicle purchaser to freeze their order, pending any further developments.

Everyone loves a new car. A new fleet is not only great for business marketing they are essential for the smooth operation of a new working business fleet. It’s essential that you are kept in the loop with regards to the new changes, and, as stated at the beginning, please consult your accountant for information, and feel free to give us a call to further help you to clarify this new legislation so you can best decide what’s best for you.

The post New FBT Rules first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

If you’ve been one of the lower level workers who’s just had a pack packet to take home with the PAYG taken out of it already up to now, it can be a bit bewildering to hear all the talk about FBT or Fringe Benefit Tax for the first time. If the new salary package involves a novated lease for a car, you’ll definitely hear the term being bandied about.’ There you are, just moved up the corporate ladder to a new position with a nice salary and a few perks like a great new car, and they’re talking about this new tax. You could just tamely accept it and let the accounting people sort it out (they will). Or you could ask a few questions.

In short, a fringe benefit tax is a tax on the non-cash perks that you get with your job. Technically, although this should include things like the boss saying that you can take a couple of big cardboard boxes home for the kids to play houses in, it doesn’t. If the company is giving it to you instead of putting it in the bin, it isn’t a fringe benefit and can’t be taxed as what you are technically being given from an accountant’s perspective is rubbish worth nothing (tell that to the kids playing for hours in a big box). Fringe benefits are usually things like the use of a car for private purposes (one of the most common ones), a low-interest loan from the company, accommodation provided by the company, getting free car parking so you don’t have to use the metered parking down the road and so forth. If you get it as part of the job on a regular basis instead of getting a salary raise, it’s a fringe benefit and will incur a fringe benefit tax.

If you’re uncertain about whether something is or isn’t a fringe benefit, then ask your accountant, who will probably explain what is and what isn’t a fringe benefit  it’s his or her job to know. But one thing is for certain: if you are getting a car that you can use for whatever you like whenever you like via novated lease where the repayments come out of your pay packet before the tax is calculated, then this is a fringe benefit.

It’s easy to understand why fringe benefit taxes are imposed if you put yourself mentally down the ladder again. Chances are you look at what your supervisors and the other higher-ups get and start grumbling: Look at what they get  a free car park right by the door while us lot down the bottom have to pay to park the cars. And they get the ruddy car as well for diddly-squat, really, while we have to pay for our own cars. It’s not fair.Fringe benefit taxes make things a bit fairer, recognising that the perks are worth something and ought to be taxed just to level things a wee bit. Here, we could get into a huge political debate, but we won’t!

If you have any other questions about fringe benefit taxes and novated leases, don’t hesitate to ask us.

The post Fringe Benefit Tax Explained first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

Business loans are good things for small start-up businesses and larger outfits alike. Usually, it’s the larger people who come to talk to us about setting up novated leases for vehicles or taking out a business loan to purchase some new equipment. And we know how to handle that. We also know how to handle things if we’re approached by one of the little people (and we don’t mean habbits) about business loans to get a vehicle for a small business.

Now, with a number of small businesses, you can use your usual vehicle for most of the work, and you might need to have a chat to a friendly accountant about what you do regarding claiming expenses back against tax, GST and all that sort of thing. But there’s one small job that offers a lot of flexibility and fun that requires a vehicle to get started: mobile coffee baristas.

Mobile coffee baristas are becoming more and more common, and the job usually requires having a special vehicle set up to do this. Not many of us have a spare car of the right sort sitting around ready to convert into a mobile coffee shop, so if you want to work for yourself, are keen about coffee and like getting out and about in your community, you are probably going to need to borrow a bit of cash so you can buy the car and kit it out with all the bits and bobs needed to make great coffee.

You’re going to need a fairly sizeable vehicle to start up a mobile coffee service. For a start off, you need something that has a fifth door so you can open up the back and make the coffee, but a little hatchback just isn’t going to do the trick. You need something with a bit more space than that. Nor will a ute do the trick, as it’s best to have all your stuff under cover  you’re going to need paper cups, remember. The best thing to look out for is a large MPV, an SUV or a 4×4. You might want to consider getting signage on the side of the car, so don’t forget to include the cost of this when you think about the amount you want to borrow.

You also need the coffee making equipment. Naturally, this means a caf quality espresso machine and probably a small bar fridge as well to keep all the milk in (and maybe the flavourings so you can offer flavoured coffee options). These will need to run on something, so look out for a vehicle that has power outlets sprinkled around the place.Petrol/diesel generators are pretty noisy and are likely to put your customers off, and although we get a lot of sunshine in our part of the world, you probably aren’t going to be able to power your equipment off the size of solar panel that can fit in or on a large car  assuming that you can fit one at all.

After these basics, it’s up to you. You probably need a good supply of paper cups and tops to go on them, ordinary milk, trim milk, soy milk, sugar, chocolate, marshmallows, tea and possibly some herbal tea into the bargain. You might also want to sell biscuits. Don’t forget a chalkboard or whiteboard to advertise your prices!

Where do you go with your mobile coffee machine? Just about anywhere that people gather: sports matches, markets, skate parks, malls Where two or three people are gathered together, somebody probably wants a coffee!

The post Coffee Beans and Counting Beans first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

Let’s say that a few years ago, you started out as a small-scale contractor doing things like lawn mowing, window cleaning or home cleaning. And so far, your business has been doing pretty good. But you know that you can reach a bit higher and provide more services  and do a better job of what you do  if only you had an extra bit of equipment. You might want a stump grinder, a ride-on lawnmower, a set of scaffolding or an industrial strength steam cleaning machine (or whatever piece of equipment suits the next step you want to take with your business). You could go for the big commercial contracts and you know that the demand for what you want to do is there.

But there’s one small snag preventing you from taking that next step. Your business has been doing well, but you haven’t got that much stashed away in the account for purchasing a new asset for the business. This is where you need to start shopping around for an equipment loan so you can borrow the money you need to finance the new step. Well, you’ve taken the right step by coming here and reading this article.

Getting out a loan or a lease for business equipment is the same as getting out any other loan, really. You need to do your homework and ask all the questions before you sign on the dotted line. You need to make sure that you (or in this case, your business) can manage the weekly, fortnightly or monthly repayments (don’t forget to work out which of these would suit your situation best). And the usual rule about having a generous deposit so you don’t have to borrow as much applies.

You also need to ask a few questions that relate to business finance  have a yak to your accountant and do a bit more homework. If this is the first piece of big equipment that you’re buying for your business, you might need to work out what to do with assets and depreciation when it comes to accounting. You also need to ask about what is and isn’t a business expense that you can claim back against tax. And if your business has enough turnover for you to worry about GST, you need to find out what to do about that when you purchase your new asset.

And I know it’s not pleasant to contemplate, but you also need to work out what you’re going to do about your loan and whether you can manage it if your new business venture doesn’t prove to be as profitable as you thought it would be. Will you be locked into a lease agreement for ages? Can you re-sell the asset to raise the funds to pay back the outstanding amount? And can you manage the repayments now with what you are currently earning rather than relying on the extra you’re pretty sure you should be able to earn with the new piece of equipment?

Of course, there’s a good chance that your new venture will succeed, especially if you persevere and do a good job. We wish you the best of luck with it, whatever it is.

The post When You’re Ready to Step Up first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

A few posts ago, we investigated a range of car advertisements and had a look at the loan packages offered when you bought through these dealers. However, car companies and the finance packages aren’t the only options when it comes to taking out a car loan. Sure, the loan packages you can get through car dealers are often very simple but if you’re smart, you probably want to shop around to find the best loan package which is why you’ve come this site so we can do all the legwork for you. You may have seen ads offering loans in other places.’ Let’s have a look at some of these and decide whether they’re a good idea or not.

From the very start, we can dismiss the sort of ad that landed in my email inbox this morning (oddly, the spam filter missed this one). This email simply said I am Mr XXXX the advertising agent of (name loan firm and the brackets were in the original). This company is a registered loan company that give out fund to those who need financial support in their businesses or other activities. Our offer is with a very low interest rate. For one to apply he/she must be above the age of 18.You have to take advantage of this as preference will be given to first seven applicant. All interested persons should contact us Via Email and then proceeded to ask for a bunch of personal details. We’ve probably all seen emails like this ‘ some are even briefer like yesterday’s beauty (which was caught by the spam filter): Do you need loan contact us now with: Name, Amount, Duration, Phone, Country.

No matter how badly you need a loan or whatever your history is, IGNORE THESE EMAILS. They are out to nick your personal information and even if they do give you a loan, the terms are likely to be absolutely vicious. Never trust any offer of a loan that comes to you  you should be the one to approach the company, not the other way around. And never trust a loan company that has an ad in bad English  if they’re good enough and they’re genuine, they should be able to hire a decent writer to do the job for them.

But what about other ads? Can you trust them? As usual, the age-old advice of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) applies, and you want to keep your wits about you so you don’t end up wishing you lived back in the Renaissance or the Middle Ages when charging exorbitant interest was considered to be among the most disgusting of sins, on a par with perversion.

Let’s take a look such loan ad in my local freebie newspaper: this one offers hassle free cash loans and instant cash. It all sounds very easy but I, for one, would ask a lot of questions before hopping on their website and applying and would ask even more (probably over the phone) before calling out one of their mobile managers to come round and give me the hard sell. Frankly, the ad on the same page that offers cash for scrap metal looks a lot more trustworthy and attractive. Some of the ads you see in the paper might be for decent companies, but always do your homework and ask thoroughly about terms and conditions before signing anything.

Or, even easier, you could get us to do the homework for you. We don’t like nasty loan sharks any more than you do, and we want to help you get the wheels you need without getting in over your head.

The post More Loan Ads Investigated first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.

So you’ve decided that a motorbike is a good option for you, either because you want the fun of cruising the highways or the convenience of a form of transport for one that uses less fuel than a car does. And you’ve checked out what you need in the way of licences. You’re ready to organise a motorbike loan, you’ve saved the deposit and you’re ready to start shopping.

You probably already know that not all cars are created equal and the same goes for motorbikes. If you run your eyes over what’s on offer at your local car dealers, you’ll see a number of different styles of vehicle with four wheels: hatchbacks, sedans/saloons, stationwagons/estates, sports cars, coup’s, convertibles, four-wheel-drives, utes, SUVs… the list of body styles and specs seems almost endless. While motorbikes don’t come in such a wide range of styles, there are different types out there. If you’re going to all the effort of taking out a loan to purchase a motorbike, it’s wise to do your homework and choose the right bike for you.

So what’s out there?

• Scooters: Scooters are the smaller type of bike and are suitable for people on a provisional licence.They’re great for city running and if you just want a nice cheap way to get about, a scooter may be all the bike you need. Think the classic Nifty 50 (Honda 50) and the little Italian Vespa types. You can also pick up electric-powered scooters that reduce your petrol bill to nil  although they do bump up your electricity bill. Scooters aren’t built for speed but for compactness, but even so, a good scooter might make a good addition to a commercial fleet if you want an in-house courier to negotiate heavy traffic (scooters can glide along the side of queues) to get documents, samples and lab results across town quickly.
• Cruisers: This is the bike you need if you’re planning on going on long journeys and road trips. Cruisers are built for comfort and tend to be bigger bikes. They also tend to have a bit more room for a pillion passenger and a variety of saddlebags for carrying the gear needed for overnight trips. Harley-Davidson is the iconic type of cruiser, but BMW also makes some very comfortable and reliable cruisers  police forces in various parts of the world have used BMW bikes for their motorbike fleets. Needless to say, you need a full licence to ride one of these, as they tend to have bigger motors.
• Dirt bikes: These are designed for off-road use in rough conditions and usually have juicy suspension and heavy studding on the tyres. They’re not the best choice for on-road use, but if you live in one of the remoter parts of Australia and most of your roads are gravel or you do a lot of off-road running, a dirt bike might be the best option for you. Some dirt bikes are designed purely for off-road use and may not be road legal, so ask the dealer the right questions if you have your eyes on one of these.
• Racing machines: Definitely not for the learner rider or the inexperienced, these tend to be built for speed and power Kawasaki, for example, makes some very powerful machines indeed. These tend to be heavy bikes with streamlined design. Don’t forget to buy all the safety gear you can to be on the safe side  you might need to take out a larger loan than you would have otherwise to do this.
• Classic bikes: Triumphs, older Hondas, Harley-Davidsons and other bikes from the 1970s and earlier. These tend to be bought for fun and for sentimental reasons, but they are surprisingly practical and reliable. They tend to have bigger engines (except in the case of very old models that date back to the Second World War) and might not be the best choice for learner riders.

Expect to have complete strangers come up to you and talk to you about your bike if you have a cruiser or a classic, especially if that stranger also owns a bike. This could be another reason for buying a motorbike  it’s a great way to meet people with a common interest.

The post Picking Out A Motorbike (Part 2) first appeared on Novated Leasing & Automotive Finance.