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If you can avoid it, seek financing before try through a dealer. They get a commission for securing financing through the dealership, you'll get better rates somewhere else, it gives you more room to negotiate on the price of the car, and you avoid what they did to you hear. They sent out 13 hard pulls which will obviously hurt your credit, even though they are sometimes merged into one for scoring.
Inquiries have a less of an impact on your score in six months, and stop affecting it completely in 12 months. They'll stay on your report for 24 months. I would probably try to go for a secured credit card (ask in the Rebuilding Your Credit forum if you're interested) after six months.
Did you sign any authorization forms? If you didn't, feel free to dispute those inquiries.
Ah, you mentioned you didn't have any credit cards, so I was a little confused. After 12 months with my Cap One secured I applied for a Discover IT, and got it on recon. You could try for that, or something like the Chase Freedom, if you like.
EditL If you go for the Discover at that point, try to grab someone who already has the card, so that they can refer you. You both get $50 out of the deal.
Where did the score come from?
To be placed in a new "bucket" so to speak, usually involves a cleaner report. With a score of 588, I don't think it has to do with a bucket, and to see that drop, there had to be a change in something.
Keep in mind also that Fico only scores those inquires as 1 not 13 if done within a 2 week period.
@CSX1466 wrote:
Problem is I didn't authorize the dealership to run that many inquiries. They said I quote " we stop at nothing to get u approved" but because of this it actually hurt me more. Not looking for a car now just want my score to go up and fast. I do have a secure visa from capital one. I paid off all collections I have had and been on time with all my payments for 6-8 months now. Anything else I can do
lol their gonna make that sale one way or the other, but its a business so i cant blame them, sorry about your score though