Finance, insurance and warranty in AUS

[Mr.Ferret]

Hi all. long time lurker FINALLY in a position to make one of these my own in the next few months.

Just after some advice and opinions, this is my first brand new car, im looking to go the GT Manual and pay roughly a third of it off upfront.

My dealer doesn't have exact figures for the 2015 models yet but my driveway will be between 32 and 34 drive away.

Now i might be best asking on a more financially opinionated forum or some such however im curious to know who you guys went through if you financed the car, how did Toyota fiance do for you? i got some rough numbers from Toyota and from my bank (bank of Melbourne). The bank said a variable rate is a better option (because the total amount of interest you pay is variable if you do make bigger payments, which i hope to do) but the monthly rate is a bit bigger, roughly 500 - 550 fixed vs variable (the fixed rate was similar to Toyota finance as well)

Just trying to do my research as like i said new to a lot of this.

Another thing, insurance and warranty with modifications, Toyota insurance quote was fairly decent for an under 25 full license holder (800 premium) however they don't want to know about it if you do anything to it bar changing the wheels. Don't get me wrong im not gonna go out and shove a turbo in week one but i would like the option of playing with coilovers and exhaust in the future and just concerned about this as well as the warranty.

AAMI look to not mind if you do small stuff (they specifically said if you do turbo's roll cages etc etc they can do it but need specifics to quote) which to mean means things like coilovers and exhaust etc should be fine (yet to read the fine print on that one yet though) but the premium for aami is about 1k which i think is reasonable if they let you do a bit more to the car. Curious to know who other owners have gone through, especially with some of the awesome modding etc that gets shown off around here.

Sorry for the long ass post as well guys, would greatly appreciate any tips or help i can get and hope to become a key carrying member of the club soon!

[Mim]

I'm hoping to finally pull the trigger on a twin towards the end of the year and have been looking into the same sorts of things.

I found a neat comparison site that also includes a loan calculator http://www.ratecity.com.au/car-loans just click the orange "find a loan" button for a more detailed search. This is helpful in getting a ball park idea of the likely repayments.

You will want to speak with an advisor or two and work out a list of questions you want addressed. Doing so via e-mail is not a bad idea so you have something in writing.

If seeking a mods friendly insurer I'd recommend looking at http://www.shannons.com.au/

A family member that had an s15, that they moded over the years, and never had any problems with Shannons. Their whole angle is geared towards the enthusiast market and (more often than not) includes moding.