Novated Lease Add-Ons: Are Paint Protection, Tint and Dashcams Worth It on an EV?

Novated lease add-ons are the extras offered on top of the car: paint protection, interior protection, window tint, dashcams, tow bars, extended warranties and insurance products like GAP cover. Most are worth less than the price on the quote, and on an electric car a few of them carry a risk that has nothing to do with value. Packed into the car’s price, they can push it over the FBT exemption cap.

That’s the part the leasing company rarely mentions. Packaging extras pre-tax makes them look cheap per pay cycle, and sometimes they are. But dealer-fitted items count toward the car’s value for the luxury car tax threshold, and that threshold decides whether the whole car is FBT-exempt. From 1 April 2027, if Treasury’s draft law passes, a second line at $75,000 starts to matter too.

This guide covers which extras are worth putting in a lease, which to buy elsewhere, and which to refuse outright. For how a lease works end to end, start with our EV novated leasing hub.

How novated lease add-ons affect the FBT exemption

Dealer-fitted novated lease add-ons count toward the value of the car, and the value decides whether the car is exempt from fringe benefits tax (FBT). FBT is the tax your employer would normally pay on a car provided through your salary. Electric cars are exempt, but only if the car’s value at its first retail sale is under the luxury car tax (LCT) threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles: $91,661 for cars first held in 2026-27, and $91,387 for 2025-26 (ATO).

What counts toward that value? Treasury’s explanatory materials for the 2026 draft law spell it out. The value includes the GST-inclusive price of the car, parts and accessories supplied with the car at the time of sale, and certain dealer-fitted options and modifications. Registration, stamp duty, insurance and finance costs aren’t included.

So the trap looks like this. You pick an EV at $89,900 including GST. The dealer adds a $1,200 protection pack and $900 of tint. Now the car’s value is $92,000, and it isn’t FBT-exempt at all. You don’t lose a slice of the benefit. You lose the lot, which on a novated lease is often thousands of dollars a year in tax.

The ATO’s electric car exemption page covers the current test. Our EV FBT exemption guide explains the rest of the eligibility rules.

The $75,000 line from April 2027

From 1 April 2027, a second price line matters, if the draft law passes as written. Treasury released the draft in September 2026 and, as of November 2026, it hasn’t passed Parliament.

Under the Treasury consultation draft, cars under leases committed before 1 April 2027 keep the full exemption until that lease ends. For leases committed from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029, an eligible EV with a base value of $75,000 or less gets a 100% FBT discount. Above $75,000, up to the fuel-efficient LCT threshold, the discount drops to 25%. From 1 April 2029, new leases get 25% at most.

Base value is the FBT term for the car’s cost to your employer, and Treasury’s materials say it takes into account non-business accessories fitted on or around the time of purchase. A $73,500 car with $2,000 of dealer extras would sit at $75,500, on the wrong side of the line.

Value of car including dealer-fitted extras	Lease committed before 1 April 2027	Lease committed 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029 (draft)	Lease committed from 1 April 2029 (draft)
$75,000 or less	Fully exempt	100% discount	25% discount
$75,001 to $91,661	Fully exempt	25% discount	25% discount
Over $91,661	Not exempt	No discount	No discount

Thresholds as of November 2026. The $91,661 figure is the 2026-27 fuel-efficient LCT threshold and is indexed each year.

If your quote lands within a couple of thousand dollars of either line, strip the extras before you sign. You can still buy most of them later, outside the lease.

Adding accessories after delivery

Most novated lease providers won’t add accessories once the car is delivered. Maxxia’s FAQ says a novated lease doesn’t include accessories fitted after purchase, and Oly says the same. If you want a tow bar or tint later, you’ll usually pay for it from your take-home pay.

There’s a second risk under the draft law. Treasury’s explanatory materials list fitting accessories to a leased car as a new commitment if it increases the lease payments. Their examples are window tinting, entertainment systems, luggage racks and bull bars. A new commitment ends the grandfathered exemption, so a car leased in early 2027 under the old rules could drop to the new treatment because you refinanced to add a roof rack. Refinancing, changing the lease term or changing the residual also count.

The upshot is simple. Decide on the accessories you need before the order goes in, keep the total under the relevant threshold, and pay cash for anything else later.

Paint and interior protection

Dealer paint and interior protection is the add-on most worth refusing. Dealer packs often cost more than $1,000, according to motoring press reviews, and the product is usually a sealant or coating applied in the dealership’s prep bay. Modern factory paint already has a clear coat, and fabric or leather protection is a spray you can buy at an auto store.

If you want a proper ceramic coating, an independent detailer can quote it separately, and quotes commonly start around $500 for a small car (as of November 2026). You’ll also see exactly what’s being applied. If you’re buying a light-coloured interior, a separate seat protector may do more good than a dealer spray.

Packaging the dealer pack pre-tax doesn’t turn a poor product into a good one. It also pays interest on the pack for the whole lease term and moves the car’s value closer to the FBT thresholds.

Window tint and dashcams

Window tint and dashcams are the two add-ons most people want, and both are often cheaper outside the lease. Independent tint shops commonly quote $300 to $800 for a full car, and a dedicated dashcam installer usually charges a few hundred dollars for a front and rear system fitted to the car’s wiring (as of November 2026).

Tint has legal limits. In Victoria, front side windows must let through at least 35% of light, and windows behind the driver can go to 20% if the car has two exterior mirrors, according to the Department of Transport and Planning. Other states set their own rules, so check before you pick a shade. Some EVs ship with a darker factory privacy glass on the rear windows already, so look at the car first.

A dashcam won’t cut your premium. IAG, the owner of NRMA Insurance, has said it doesn’t offer a specific dashcam discount, and the Insurance Council of Australia says there’s no standard discount. Footage still helps when fault is disputed, and that’s the main reason to have one. Our EV insurance cost guide covers what does move premiums.

Check whether the car already records. Teslas have a built-in dashcam that saves to a USB drive. BYD’s Australian Sealion 7 page lists a 360-degree camera system but no dashcam recorder, so on that car a fitted unit adds something.

The type of dashcam changes the answer. A plug-in camera powered from a USB socket is a five-minute job you can do yourself any time, so there’s no reason to finance one. A hard-wired system with a parking mode is different. It taps into the car’s 12V wiring, and constant draw while the car sleeps is one cause of flat EV 12V batteries. If you want hard-wired, a professional install is worth paying for, and that’s the one case where fitting it before delivery makes sense.

Extended warranties and add-on insurance

Extended warranties and add-on insurance are the add-ons with the worst track record in Australia. ASIC’s 2016 review of add-on insurance sold through car dealers (Report 492) found consumers paid $1.6 billion in premiums but received only $144 million in claims, about 9 cents for every dollar of premium. Dealers earned $602 million in commissions on those sales.

The rules have tightened since. From 5 October 2021, ASIC’s deferred sales model requires a four-day wait between your car purchase and any offer of add-on insurance such as GAP, tyre and rim, or mechanical breakdown cover. Moneysmart still calls add-on car insurance usually poor value, and says insurers have refunded more than $130 million to customers.

GAP insurance covers the difference between an insurance payout and what you still owe if the car is written off. Before you buy it, check your comprehensive policy. Agreed value or new-for-old replacement in the first years often closes most of that gap already.

Extended warranties overlap with rights you already have. The ACCC says an extended warranty may or may not give you any rights beyond the consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law, which apply regardless of what the warranty booklet says. Most new EVs also come with a long factory warranty plus a separate battery warranty, as our EV battery warranty guide shows.

Which novated lease add-ons are worth it

Only a few add-ons earn a place in the lease: things you’d buy anyway, that are hard to fit later, and that won’t push the car over a threshold. A tow bar is the best example. It’s awkward to add after delivery, it’s usually a genuine part from the maker, and packaging it pre-tax is cheaper than paying for it from after-tax income later. Check your car’s towing limits first with our EV towing guide.

Add-on	Typical cost (as of November 2026)	Put it in the lease?
Paint and interior protection	Dealer packs often over $1,000	No. Buy a coating from an independent detailer if you want one
Window tint	$300 to $800 at independent shops	Only if the car is well under the FBT thresholds
Dashcam	A few hundred dollars fitted	Only if the car doesn’t record already
Tow bar	Varies by model	Yes, if you’ll tow and it keeps the car under the thresholds
Floor mats, cargo liners	Under $300	Often included free; ask the dealer to throw them in
Extended warranty	Varies	Rarely. Factory and Australian Consumer Law cover overlap
GAP, tyre and rim insurance	Varies	Rarely. Check your comprehensive policy first

Ask for the quote with and without the extras, line by line. Then run both through our novated lease calculator to see what the extras cost you per pay. If the extras-free quote leaves the car’s value comfortably under the threshold you care about, that’s usually the one to sign. Our novated lease quote guide shows the other lines to check, and the hidden costs guide covers brokerage and fees.

One last point that catches people out. Floor mats and cargo liners are often free if you ask while the dealer is still negotiating. Asking costs nothing, and it keeps those small items out of the financed amount.