Most Islamic car finance in Australia is a Murabaha with better or worse paperwork. Ijarah Finance's vehicle and asset product is the structural exception: a genuine rent-then-buy (Ijarah Thuma Albai) that the Bankstown firm says took five years to develop, carrying the rare thing in this market, a dedicated product-specific Shariah certificate, issued by FSAC in September 2025. It is also the most exclusive product in the segment: salaried employees cannot use it at all. The full review, verified August 5, 2026.
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The structure, done properly
Under Ijarah Finance's Ijarah Thuma Albai (rent ending with an offer to buy), the funder purchases the asset at your request and holds legal title while the vehicle is registered in your name; you pay fixed rentals as the user, and may offer to buy at any time for the remaining balance plus a nominal fee. The implementation details are what convince: rentals are fixed for the whole term and contractually indexed to a rental rate rather than an interest rate, payments do not move with the RBA, there is no compulsory balloon (none at all unless the ATO requires one), and the buyout price is transparently defined. The firm's own page contrasts this with the chattel mortgage, which it calls a true form of riba. Asset scope runs from cars, utes and trucks to cranes, earthmoving equipment, farm machinery and medical fit-outs, with sale-and-leaseback, equity release on business assets, and refinancing of interest-based loans to a compliant structure all supported.
The tax choice and the certificate
Two features distinguish this product from every Murabaha competitor. First, the GST election: you can take the deal in Hire Purchase format (no GST on payments) or Lease format (plus GST), a structured choice designed to fit your accountant's advice, and the closest legitimate analogue to novated-lease tax logic in the halal market (see our novated lease guide). Second, the paper: a dedicated Vehicle and Asset Finance Shariah Compliance Certificate published September 2025 by FSAC (Financial Shariah Advisory and Consultancy, Singapore), alongside five named FSAC board advisors. Product-specific certification, as opposed to provider-level claims, is almost unheard of in Australian vehicle finance; only Hejaz's March 2026 car finance certificate keeps company with it.
The gates and the gaps
Access is the hard limit: exclusively self-employed ABN holders registered for GST for at least a year (sole traders, partnerships, companies, trusts). No salaried employees, full stop. The consumer version promised for January 2025 had still not launched as of August 2026, nineteen months later, and buyers waiting for it should stop waiting and quote the consumer market instead. Exclusions are specific: Uber and rideshare vehicles (served instead by Baraqah), gym equipment, and most laser hair removal machines. And pricing is unpublished: no rental rates or fee schedules appear anywhere, with mandatory asset insurance naming the funder as interested party riding on top. The structure is certified; whether the price is fair only a quote against a conventional chattel mortgage will tell you.
Sale-and-leaseback and refinancing, explained
Two working-capital tools distinguish this product from every Murabaha competitor. Sale-and-leaseback lets a business release equity from assets it already owns: the funder buys your existing ute, truck or machine and leases it back to you under the same rent-then-buy structure, converting a parked asset into cash without an interest-bearing loan. Refinancing does the equivalent for debt: existing interest-based equipment loans can be restructured into the compliant Ijarah arrangement, which for a Muslim business owner carrying legacy chattel mortgages is often the whole reason to engage. Both tools run inside the same certified framework, with the same fixed rentals and buyout terms. The practical caution is valuation: on a sale-and-leaseback, the price the funder pays for your asset sets your finance base, so get an independent sense of the asset's worth before accepting the figure.
How it compares
The direct structural competitor is Crestmount Money's business asset finance, which offers a choice of Ijarah or Murabaha across a similar asset range with a tax-efficiency pitch, but publishes no pricing, no certificate and no named funder; Ijarah Finance wins the evidence contest outright with its downloadable September 2025 paper. ICFAL finances commercial vehicles and trucks through member Murabaha with minimal fees but a five-year term ceiling and a membership process. Halal Loans brokers commercial asset finance to 75% LVR at a published 25% minimum deposit across unnamed funders. And the benchmark outside the halal market is the conventional chattel mortgage, which Ijarah Finance's own page calls a true form of riba; quoting one anyway, purely as a price reference, tells you what the compliant structure costs you, which the published evidence suggests may be little.
Verdict
For self-employed Australians, this is the strongest-governed Islamic vehicle and equipment product in the market: coherent structure, fixed payments, penalty-light exit, genuine tax flexibility, and a certificate you can download and read. Quote it against Crestmount Money's business asset finance (which offers an Ijarah-or-Murabaha choice but publishes no pricing and no certificate) and a conventional chattel mortgage to price the halal premium, if any. Salaried buyers should skip straight to the consumer field in our complete guide or compare structures in Murabaha vs Ijarah.
Frequently asked questions
Who can use Ijarah Finance's vehicle product?
Only self-employed ABN holders registered for GST for a year or more: sole traders, partnerships, companies and trusts. Salaried employees are excluded entirely, and the promised consumer version had not launched as of August 2026.
How does the buyout work?
At any time during the term you may offer to buy the asset for the remaining balance plus a nominal fee. Rentals until then are fixed, with no exposure to RBA movements and no compulsory balloon.
What is the difference between the Hire Purchase and Lease formats?
GST treatment: Hire Purchase payments carry no GST, Lease payments carry GST. Which suits you depends on your BAS position and cash flow; Ijarah Finance structures either way, and this is a decision to make with your accountant.
Is this product actually certified?
Yes, with the segment's rare product-specific evidence: a dedicated FSAC Shariah compliance certificate published September 2025, alongside five named FSAC board advisors. Rates and fees, however, are unpublished; get the full schedule quoted in writing.
What assets can it finance?
The published scope runs from cars, utes, work vans and trucks with attachments through cranes, construction and earthmoving equipment, plant and production machinery, farming machinery, and business, office and medical equipment including fit-outs. Excluded: Uber and rideshare vehicles, gym equipment, and most laser hair removal machines.
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Why are rideshare vehicles excluded?
The site does not publish a reason, only the exclusion. Rideshare drivers who want Islamic finance have one published welcome in the market, at Baraqah, with the diligence caveats our rideshare guide sets out.