
A dealership credit check is a crucial step in the car-buying process. It's a review of your credit history to determine the interest rate you'll qualify for and whether you'll be approved for financing.
Dealerships use credit scoring models to evaluate your creditworthiness, with the most common being the FICO score, which ranges from 300 to 850. A higher score indicates better credit.
Your credit report will be checked by the dealership, which can be done in person, over the phone, or online. This is usually done through a third-party credit reporting agency, such as Experian or Equifax.
The dealership will consider various factors, including your payment history, credit utilization, and credit age, to determine your credit score.
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Dealership Credit Check Process
If you let a car dealership handle your financing, they'll run a hard credit check that they'll send to their lender or lenders of choice. This means you'll have limited control over which lenders are available to you and who has access to your financial information.
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Dealerships often pass along your financing contract to a bank, credit union, or third-party lender of their choice. They might even "shotgun" your credit information to multiple lenders, which is a tactic dealers use to make lenders compete for your business.
Unless you're dealing with a dealership that offers in-house financing, it's likely they'll send your credit information to multiple lenders. This can be a concern for those who value their financial privacy.
Dealerships use various tools, such as RouteOne and Dealertrack, to process and send your credit report to lenders. These tools might store your financial information even after your application is approved.
Some dealerships hold onto your credit data for up to 60 days so they can review it as needed. This is just one example of how dealerships handle credit checks and the information they collect.
You can run a full credit report and gather necessary information using software that pulls credit reports through integrated APIs. This makes the process of making informed decisions more efficient.
Doing a soft pull on every client that walks into your dealership allows you and the consumer to be on the same page during negotiations and the purchase process. It won't impact their credit score and you don't need any sensitive information to do it.
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Types of Credit Inquiries
There are two main types of credit inquiries: soft pulls and hard pulls. A soft pull inquiry, like the one offered by Soft Pull Solutions, is a type of credit check that doesn't affect your credit score.
Soft pull inquiries are often used by lenders to pre-qualify you for a loan or credit card, and they can be done without your permission. You can view your soft pull credit report with Soft Pull Solutions.
Hard pull inquiries, on the other hand, are more invasive and can temporarily lower your credit score.
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Impact on Credit Score
A dealership credit check can have a small impact on your credit score.
Too many credit requests in a short period can add up to lower your score by a few points.
A single request won't make much difference to your rating, but it's still worth being mindful of.
Pre-approval for financing through a dealership should never affect your credit score, as it only requires a soft pull credit score inquiry.
Soft pull inquiries don't affect your credit score and don't require your permission, but they can be noted on your credit report.
A hard pull inquiry, on the other hand, can lower your credit score slightly by showing you're actively seeking credit.
Multiple hard pull inquiries in a short period can suggest you're desperate for credit, raising some flags and temporarily lowering your credit score.
Hard inquiries are noted on your credit report and will typically stay there for two years.
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Benefits and Services
Our dealership credit check service offers numerous benefits for both you and your customers. It allows you to prequalify customers for auto loans without impacting their credit score.
This knowledge enables you to negotiate accurately and make informed decisions about loans and consumers. With our software, you can generate accurate credit reports that provide vital information to evaluate risk and catch any fraudulent activities.
Using our software saves you time and effort by cutting out the time spent gaining pre-approval information from other sources. It also saves your customers' time by providing them with a stress-free experience when making large purchases.
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Services to Help Your Dealership

Our software allows you to prequalify customers for auto loans without impacting their credit score, giving you a complete and accurate credit report to negotiate with.
This process benefits both you and the consumer, removing some of the stress of making large purchases and providing your company with vital information to evaluate risk and catch any fraudulent activities.
You can generate these reports through our software, saving you time and effort that would have been wasted gaining this pre-approval information from other sources.
By using our software, you can cut out time and save your client's time as well, making the process more efficient for everyone involved.
Our software cross-references the data to catch any red flags within the consumer's history, ensuring that your lending decisions are made with the most accurate information available.
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See the Difference
Seeing is believing, and with our services, you can experience the difference firsthand.
Clicking on the link to view a sample of a soft pull credit report is a great way to get started.
Understanding Credit Scores
A credit score is a numerical representation of how likely you are to pay back a loan, and it's used by lenders to determine the level of risk involved in lending to you.
Lenders can reduce their risk by only lending to people with good credit or by charging people with poor credit more in interest.
Car dealerships use credit scores to decide whether to approve a loan, and they can request a credit score from credit bureaus, which keep detailed financial records on every financially active citizen.
A single credit request won't make a big difference to your score, but too many requests can lower your score by a few points.
You should only apply for credit if you're fairly sure it'll be approved, to avoid lowering your score unnecessarily.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How to avoid credit check at dealership?
Consider working with a 'buy here, pay here' dealership that finances loans in-house, or opt for a no credit check financing option
Which credit bureaus do car dealerships check?
Car dealerships typically check credit reports from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three major credit reporting bureaus
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