If you work with clients in transport or construction, you’ve probably noticed something shifting in the past few months.
Deals that used to move are stalling, approval processes that used to be quick now require more documentation, and a lot of deals are getting knocked back entirely.
This isn’t a coincidence, and it’s not one lender having a moment.
There’s a clear reason it’s happening, and it’s worth understanding because some of your clients in these sectors still have good options, even if the path to those options has changed.
Why are lenders tightening on transport and construction clients in 2026?
Both sectors have been under serious financial pressure for a while now, and lenders are responding to what they’re seeing in their own books.
Construction has had a difficult few years. ASIC data shows 3,217 construction firms collapsed or entered administration in 2024 – up from 2,546 in 2023 and 1,793 in 2022.
In FY 23-24 alone, construction accounted for roughly 27% of all company failures nationally – an extraordinary concentration for a single industry. Fixed-price contracts, input cost blowouts, chronic late payments, and labour shortages wiped out margins that were already thin.
Transport and logistics has its own version of the same story.
Insolvency appointments in the Transport, Postal and Warehousing sector more than doubled from 196 in FY 21-22 to 495 in FY 23-24, according to Grant Thornton.
CreditorWatch data shows 8.46% of road transport businesses exited in the 12 months to November 2025 – around 40% more than the year before.
Fuel, wages, insurance, and tolls have all risen permanently. Freight rates haven’t kept up.
When lenders see those numbers in their arrears data, they adjust. That’s what’s happening now.
Across a number of non-bank lenders, approval settings are being tightened for transport and construction deals – particularly where the documentation is lighter, the client isn’t asset-backed, or the asset is coming from a private sale.
The result for brokers is more friction, slower decisions, and some deals that simply can’t get across the line the way they used to.
Which transport and construction clients are most affected?
The clients feeling this most are the ones who were already on the edge of standard lending criteria. And in transport and construction, that’s a significant proportion of the workforce.
Think about the subcontractor who picks up work through a few different head contractors. The sole trader running one truck who’s had a lean patch. The tradie who’s been doing construction work for years but whose cash flow arrives in irregular lumps rather than clean monthly deposits.
These aren’t people with structural problems in their businesses. They’re hard workers whose financial story is more difficult to tell in a standard documentation format – and right now, that’s exactly what lenders are requiring more of.
But these clients have work. And they have the skills. They just need the vehicle.
Can transport and construction clients still get approved without bank statements?
ARG’s Rent To Buy model doesn’t assess clients the way lenders do, because we’re not a lender.
We’re commercial rental specialists, and the thing we focus on is: can this person earn with the vehicle in front of them?
We don’t require bank statements. Or financials. And we don’t use credit scores as the deciding factor.
Which means the things that are creating friction in the lending market right now – inconsistent cash flow, limited documentation, non-standard income patterns – aren’t the barriers at ARG that they are elsewhere.
Our policies haven’t changed. And neither has our pricing.
For brokers with transport and construction clients who are being knocked back or pushed into documentation requirements they can’t meet, Rent To Buy is worth a conversation.
We prioritise utes, vans, and light trucks – the core assets for subcontractors, tradespeople, delivery operators, and small business owners across both sectors.
Which means the deal you can’t place right now probably still has a home.
How to check if your client qualifies for Rent To Buy
If you’re already accredited with ARG, log into the Partner Portal and run the scenario through the Rental Calculator.
Put in the asset type, age, vendor price, and Mandatory First Payment and it’ll give you the approximate weekly rental on the spot.
From there, the Fast Lane Eligibility Check tells you instantly whether the deal qualifies for same-day approval or moves into our Standard Product for manual review. You’ll know where you stand in minutes, without picking up the phone.
If the scenario is particularly tricky, your BDM is there for exactly that, so feel free to reach out to them directly and they’ll be happy to help.
If you’re not yet accredited, it takes minutes to get set up – and it’s worth doing now rather than when you’re mid-conversation with someone waiting on an answer.
Your client needs the vehicle. Let’s see if we can find a way to get it to them.
