Welcome to the forums! The good news is that for scoring purposes, multiple auto inquiries in a short span of time will usually only count as 1 since it is expected that a consumer will be shopping for the best rate for a loan. That is not always the case, and of course the dealer usually gets a kickback from the lender so you may get a shady dealer that tries to talk you into a specific lender because their commission is larger. And fortunately, I have not been on the receiving end of the "scattergun approach" I've read about here where it might go to 10+ lenders, just generally 2 or 3 lenders that the dealer thinks would offer the best rates. Personally, it's worked out well for me in the past as the dealer has usually been able to provide me a better rate (and nearly free 0.9% manufacturer financing on my last purchase) than I could get elsewhere.
