Business loans for automotive businesses
HomeSec lends to mechanical workshops, smash repairers, tyre and service businesses and dealers against equity in real property, from $20,000 to $5,000,000. No financial statements and no valuation, funded in as little as 24 hours — which suits a business that buys parts today and is paid by an insurer in sixty days.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds. No credit check to apply, no financials, no payments for the first six months. That's the HomeSec Advantage.
See if you qualifyThe cash cycle you are actually borrowing against
An automotive business pays for the job before it is paid for the job. Parts are bought at the start of the repair, usually on a supplier account with 30-day terms that started the day the part was ordered rather than the day the car left. Labour is paid weekly. The customer pays on collection — or, on the work that matters most, the insurer does, on terms set by the insurer and often stretching well past the supplier's due date.
Smash repair is the sharpest version of this. Work is assessed and authorised by an insurer, parts are purchased against that authority, and payment follows the insurer's cycle. A workshop with a bay full of authorised work can be profitable on paper and out of cash in the same week, and the more work the insurer sends, the wider the gap becomes.
Workshop equipment is the other pressure. Hoists, alignment rigs, spray booths, diagnostic scan tools and the subscriptions that keep them current are expensive, and scan tools in particular now require ongoing licensing to work on late-model vehicles at all. A workshop that cannot read a car cannot book it in.
What makes the phone ring
| The event | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Insurer or fleet debtors running long | Authorised work completed and invoiced, with the payment cycle sitting well behind the parts account. |
| A parts account going to stop-supply | One late payment can close an account, and reopening it usually means clearing it in full. |
| Equipment replacement | A hoist, a booth, an alignment rig or a diagnostic tool that stops a bay earning. |
| Buying stock or a vehicle at the right price | Trade stock, an auction opportunity, or parts bought in volume. |
| An ATO balance | GST on every invoice and PAYG on every wage, collected long before the insurer pays. |
| Fit-out or a move to a bigger site | More bays, a booth, or premises with the yard the business has outgrown. |
What you can offer as security
Workshops are often leased, so the security is typically the owner's home or an investment property, assessed to 80% of value. Where the business owns its workshop, yard or showroom, that is commercial security assessed to 70%, and either can be a first or second mortgage.
Several properties can be combined on one loan, and the borrower does not have to be the owner of the security — a company can borrow against a director's property with everyone on the title signing.
Trade stock, tools, equipment under finance and the debtors ledger are not security here. A floor-plan facility over vehicles in particular already holds what it holds; real property is the asset it has not touched.
How much you can borrow
Take the property's value, multiply by 80% for residential security or 70% for commercial, and subtract what is already owing on it. What is left is roughly what is available, between $20,000 and $5,000,000. Several properties can be added together, and the borrower does not have to be the owner — companies, trusts and sole traders — including start-ups, with everyone on title signing. Up to 80% on residential and 70% on commercial. Lower on large acreage, and LVRs may reduce on properties worth less than $800,000.
Why the bank is slow here, and we are not
A bank reads an automotive workshop as a small business with concentrated debtors, heavy equipment finance and thin reported margins, and all three push a serviceability assessment against you. A dealer with a floor-plan facility looks more leveraged again.
The timetable is the bigger problem. A parts account about to go to stop-supply is a this-week issue, and a hoist out of action costs a bay's revenue every day it stays out.
We assess the property and the exit — the insurer paying, the stock selling, a facility refinancing — and give an indicative answer on the first call.
What the money is used for
- Clearing a parts account. One payment to restore supply and reset the trading relationship.
- Bridging insurer and fleet debtors. Funded against property, repaid as the payment cycle comes around.
- Equipment replacement. A bay back in service rather than idle for a month.
- Buying trade stock or an auction opportunity. Where the buying price is the margin.
- Clearing an ATO balance. Paid direct from settlement.
- Buying the workshop. A first mortgage over commercial premises the business currently rents.
From the call to the money
Tell us the deal
Amount, purpose, timing, the property and how the loan gets repaid. A Lending Manager gives you an indicative answer on that call — usually in minutes.
Minutes
Conditional approval
Photo ID, a rates notice and your most recent mortgage statement. That is the whole list, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
About 15 minutes
Funds released
As little as 24 hours from a clean, complete scenario. Paid where you tell us — to your account, or straight to the ATO.
As little as 24 hours
What it costs
Priced per file, on the property, the position, the amount and the exit. No rate is published, because a rate with "from" in front of it is the best file's number. How it is priced, and every fee that exists.
Questions we get from this industry
Can I borrow while I wait for an insurer to pay?
My workshop is leased. Is that a problem?
Does my floor-plan or equipment finance reduce what I can borrow?
How fast can a hoist or a booth be replaced?
Do you need financials, BAS or a trading history?
I have defaults on my credit file from a bad year. Does that rule me out?
Can I buy the workshop I rent?
Do you lend to regional workshops?
Not a call centre. Tell us the property, the amount and what the money is for, and you will have an indicative answer on the call. 1300 93 83 87, Mon–Fri, 8:30am – 5:30pm Melbourne time.
The assessment is the same in every one of them: property, purpose and exit.
See if you qualify in sixty seconds
Three short questions, no credit check to apply and no financial statements. A Lending Manager reads it and calls you back with a real answer — not a call centre, not an algorithm.
That's the HomeSec Advantage.
Reviewed by Matt Hempel, National Credit Manager