Does a car dealership always have to run a credit check before negotiating monthly payments?

Question

Hey everyone,
Went a Hyundai dealership today to look at a new Elantra. I really liked it and wanted to buy it today and the sales manager said "we'll see if we can make the numbers work."

However, he wanted me to fill out a credit application before we went any further. I have good credit (712 score) and told them that I had checked it in the last month and that I wanted to know how much the payments were based on that score. I had several other dealerships to visit and didn't want to get checked 4-5 times, which looks bad. I also said if I was off on my score if they had a good price, that we could alter it based on what they found. He refused to help me any further without the credit application filled.

My best friend was able to negotiate on a new Yaris without the credit application and when they struck a deal, they checked it because he was happy with buying the car at the payments offered and everything went through smoothly.

Was I being unreasonable?

Answer 1

if your credit is that strong, you'll get a much better rate by going through a credit union. You'll also have a stronger stance in negotiating the price on your vehicle because you can tell the dealer that you're paying CASH!

Answer 2

You weren't being unreasonable, but neither was the car dealership. They probably have a policy against negotiating without a credit score because they've been burned in the past by people who claim one score and come back with another (also keep in mind there is no single credit score, each credit agency scores slightly differently).

I would avoid getting financed through a dealership anyway. Unless you are doing it to get a special incentive interest rate, it's almost always better to go through a bank or credit union. That way you'll also only have one credit check on your report, and be pre-approved for a loan no matter what dealer you buy from.

Answer 3

Every time I have ever bought from a dealership they always did a credit check at the beginning. I assume they don't want to waste time on someone who has bad credit. And they will not know until they check.

Answer 4

NO