Financing a $100k+ Truck or Excavator When Your Business Is New

October 13, 2026 · 8 min read · Equipment Funding Network

A new business buying a late-model sleeper or a mid-size excavator sounds like the hardest file in equipment finance: a big ticket and no track record. Many banks will not look at it until you have two years of tax returns. But some lenders prefer the larger deal, and for them a new business is a question to answer rather than a reason to decline. Here is what they need to see.

Why a big ticket and a new business look like a bad mix

Time in business is how most lenders judge whether a company can keep paying. With two years of returns, they can see the revenue, the seasons and the margins. With none, there is nothing to read, and a six-figure loan means more is riding on a guess. That is why a bank's first answer to a new business buying expensive equipment is usually to wait.

Why some lenders prefer the larger deal

Lenders that lend mainly against the equipment see it differently. Inspecting a machine, checking its value, filing the paperwork and, if it ever comes to it, recovering and reselling it cost them roughly the same on a small deal as on a large one. So many of them set a minimum deal size, often around six figures, and a late-model Class 8 truck or a mainstream excavator sits comfortably above it.

What they need in return is equipment with a deep resale market and a borrower who has put real money in. A new business that brings both can be a better fit for these lenders than an established one buying an old, specialized unit.

What stands in for time in business

Without a history, the lender reads you, and it looks for evidence that the equipment will earn from the day it arrives:

1. Industry experience. Years with a CDL, years operating an excavator or running crews for someone else. A long-time operator starting a company is a very different file from someone new to the work.
2. Work lined up. A lease-on agreement with a carrier, a signed subcontract, a letter of intent from a general contractor, or regular customers ready to use you. Paper beats promises.
3. Personal credit and the story behind it. With no business credit yet, your personal history stands in. Challenged credit narrows the field but does not close it with lenders that consider it.
4. Cash. The down payment, and what is left in the bank after closing to cover insurance, fuel, repairs and a slow first month.
5. A properly set-up business. An LLC or corporation, an EIN, a business bank account, and for trucking your USDOT number and authority or a lease-on.

The equipment has to carry the deal

When the business is new, the machine does more of the work in the lender's mind. For trucks, that usually means a late-model unit from a mainstream make, often only a few model years old and well under the mileage caps lenders apply to older trucks. For construction equipment, it means a common size class — mid-size excavators, dozers, wheel loaders — from a well-known manufacturer, with documented hours and service records.

The reason is resale. A lender lending to a new business is relying more than usual on being able to sell the equipment if things go wrong, and mainstream, late-model equipment is what sells quickly and close to its value. Unusual configurations, heavy modifications and high-hour machines all push the file toward a no.

Down payment and structure

Expect to put down more than an established business would. As a typical range only, not a quote: often 15% or more for a new business on mainstream equipment, and sometimes 25 to 40% when a new business also has challenged credit or the unit is used. On a six-figure ticket that is real money, which is why it pays to know the number before you commit to a machine.

Terms are often shorter for a new business, and the lender may ask for a personal guarantee from every owner. Some will consider a deferred first payment when the equipment needs a few weeks to start earning, such as a machine bought ahead of a job that starts next month. Ask while the deal is being put together, not afterward.

A hypothetical, to make it concrete

Two drivers each start a trucking company and want the same late-model sleeper. The first has eight years driving for a carrier, a signed lease-on with that carrier, a score in the high 500s from a divorce four years ago, and a down payment saved in the bank. The second has a better score, a CDL earned last year and no freight lined up. Many lenders that look past the score would rather finance the first. Experience, work and cash answer the questions a short history cannot.

What to have ready

• Photo ID for every owner, and your formation documents and EIN.
• Personal bank statements, and business statements for however long the account has been open.
• The equipment quote or invoice and its details: year, make, model, VIN or serial number, miles or hours.
• Proof of the down payment.
• Evidence of experience: a CDL and driving history, or a résumé of the equipment and jobs you have run.
• Evidence of work: a lease-on agreement, contracts, letters of intent or a list of customers.
• An insurance quote for the equipment, because the lender needs coverage in place before it funds.

What gets new-business deals declined

Most declines on these files come from a short list, and almost all of them can be fixed before you apply rather than after:

• Equipment outside the lender's limits: too old, too many miles or hours, or too specialized for a new business to carry.
• A down payment that is not yet in the bank, or arrived the week before from a source nobody can explain.
• No paper trail of experience or work: the owner may have years in the trade, but nothing in the file shows it.
• A business that does not exist yet on paper: no entity, no EIN, no business bank account, or for trucking no authority and no lease-on.
• Applying to many lenders at once. Every hard inquiry shows on your report, and a cluster of them reads as a business shopping out of desperation.

New businesses up and down the East Coast, and beyond

Lenders that do these deals often lend nationwide, so the same file can work in Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida or Texas. What differs is the work behind the equipment: port and warehouse freight around Savannah and Atlanta, storm cleanup and year-round site work in Florida, residential and commercial site development across the Carolina Piedmont. The state pages linked below say what lenders ask about in each.

Where EFN fits

EFN is not a lender, and it cannot change your credit. You describe the equipment and the business in one short application, and the first step is a soft credit pull that does not affect your score. EFN checks the file against what each lender says it finances — whether it considers new businesses, the deal sizes it takes, the equipment and the credit it considers — so a new business buying a six-figure unit goes to a lender that does those deals. A person reviews every file before it goes to a lender, and it goes to one lender at a time, not out to a list. If nothing fits, we tell you so. EFN's service is free to you.

Common follow-up questions

Can a brand-new LLC finance a $100,000 truck or excavator?
Often, yes, with lenders that consider new businesses and lend mainly against the equipment. Expect more money down, a shorter term and a personal guarantee, and expect the lender to weigh your experience and the work you have lined up.

Do lenders need two years in business?
Many banks do. Some lenders that focus on the equipment consider startups, and they look at industry experience, contracts, personal credit and cash in place of business history.

Is a bigger deal really easier than a small one?
Not easier in general, but some lenders set a minimum deal size, often around six figures, because their costs per deal are the same either way. For those lenders, a late-model truck or a mainstream excavator can fit better than a small, older unit.

What if I have a new business and challenged credit?
It narrows the field further but does not close it. We work with lenders who consider scores below 620 — they often require a larger down payment. Late-model, mainstream equipment and documented experience matter even more in that case.

Will I have to sign a personal guarantee?
Almost always for a new business. With no business history behind the loan, the lender relies on the owners personally, so expect every owner to guarantee it.