Finance Process at a Dealership

[Anonymous]

Hello, 

Can someone go over what the finance process is at a dealer? Do they look at just your credit score? Do they give you a copy of your credit report? If anyone can share what the process. 

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Not a recommended process. I would try to get financing through a bank before going to the dealership. At the dealership, they will run your credit multiple times to find a bank with the best rates for your purchase. It could go beyound 15 hardpulls. Try Capital One "Auto Navigator" for prequalification. The dealeship will tell you your score but will not give you a copy of your credit report. Good Luck!!

[Anonymous]

BTW...welcome...

[JGGM]

You fill out a credit app, they pull your credit (first inquiry). Then, if it's a good dealership, they'll look at what's in your reports and send to lenders they think have the best shot at approving you (resulting in more inquiries on your reports). We only give a credit report to those who ask for it. There's a lot more to it than just a score. For instance, someone who is 20 years old might have 2 small credit card that have always been paid on time, and they might have a 730 score because of this. That does not mean they'd qualify for a $50k loan. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle.....and your score is one of those pieces 

[Anonymous]

I also suggest a local credit union or one you can join easily like Digital Credit Union (DCU).   You want financing before arriving at the dealership.

[Anonymous]

I have worked at multiple dealerships as a salesperson. If you go without financing in hand you are looking at a min of two HPs. One for the dealership and one for the finance company. Basically you fill out an app. The sales manager pulls you credit to see if a deal is even there. Once they confirm that they send it to finance that will have multiple companies pull it to "get you the best rate." The reality is that they are trying to stuff as much backend product into the payment as they can. Once they find the "best rate" you will be called to sign the paperwork. I always always tell friends and family to arrange financing before stepping foot on a lot. And don't fall for the "we can get you a better rate" line there is a 30% chance at best.

Dealerships don't make money on the front end (vehicles themselves) anymore due to the amount of information available on the internet now. Instead they load up in the back. I have sold deals that made $200 on the vehicle but made another $9800.00 on the back because the customer was so excited to get a great deal they would sign just about anything. This is why more and more dealerships are paying sales people a % of the back end. Stick to the price of the vehicle and carry your own financing. You will be in and out in a breeze. I'm only making a $100 bucks and I need to find the guy that didn't do that to make any real money. Don't shoot the messager, I have four teenage boys to feed.

[youdontkillmoney]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello, 

Can someone go over what the finance process is at a dealer? Do they look at just your credit score? Do they give you a copy of your credit report? If anyone can share what the process. 

Thanks!

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^^^

I came into the Lexus dealer with a PenFed auto approval at 2.74%.

Dealer said they can offer 1.9%.

You fill out a form, put ID info, income, # years at address, SS# etc

They run a credit report and give you your score, I am not sure what else they see but dn't show you

In my wife's case (she applied not me since I had the pednfed approval), Lexus hit Toyota financial and Lexus financial so 2 hard hits

Her experian report had a fraud block we placed so they couldn't see anything, but based on Transunion of 800 auto score they said she was approved, but Lexus financial might call to get the ok for the Experian to see her report there...but we never got the call so I guess they relied on Transunion.

In our case it was quick and painless and over the past 2 weeks we just saw those 2 hits: Toyota financial and Lexus financial.

We got the 1.9% rate so we did not use my penfed 2.74% approval.