If you’re looking for an auto loan in Los Angeles and have bad credit, a bankruptcy, or no credit at all, you probably see advertisements from bad credit car dealerships around LA stating "Guaranteed Auto Loans" or "All Car Loan Applications Accepted."
While some customers suspect these promises are too good to be true, many car buyers with bad credit still visit the dealer’s lot, hoping they can finally get approved for an auto loan. But these buyers could be making a mistake, and giving your business to the guy you heard yelling "Everyone’s Approved!" in an ad may not be the best way to find a bad credit car loan.
Buyer Beware: All Applications Accepted Doesn’t Mean You’re Approved
The goal of dealership advertising is to get customers through the door so their salespeople have the chance to make a sale. Over the years, used car dealers have come up with a variety of promotions, offers, and strategies to generate interest in their businesses, from obnoxious jingles in Van Nuys to massive auto malls in Cerritos.
Sometimes, used car lots make offers they can’t keep, or use vague or misleading language in their advertisements. They may declare that "all applications are accepted" and hope consumers read that as "all applications approved," or they may tell consumers they’re pre-approved, when pre-approved really means they haven’t been approved yet.
Getting turned down for a car loan can be tough if you thought approval was a sure thing, and can be especially demoralizing if you have been denied an auto loan in the past.
Why Getting Turned Down for an Auto Loan Matters
Being turned down for a car loan because of poor credit can be more than just a waste of your time, it can actually lower your credit score even further. This is because new credit hard inquiries make up 10 percent of your credit score, and multiple applications for credit over a long period of time can cause your credit score to fall considerably.
While a typical VantageScore, a type of credit score, falls less than five points for a single hard inquiry, the average credit score in California is 680, according to Experian. A credit score of 680 can be considered to be on the line between good and poor credit, so even a small drop in your credit score could have a big impact on getting approved for an auto loan.
What To Do Instead
Auto Credit Express has been working to help consumers with bad credit find the car loans they need for 20 years. We have a nationwide network of over 1,300 dealership partners and have helped 1.8 million consumers in the two decades since our founding.
We can’t promise that you're going to get approved for an auto loan, as there are minimum requirements for financing that every customer must meet, but if you fill out our car loan request form, we can work to match you to a local LA dealer who specializes in bad credit and getting car buyers approved for auto loans regardless of their credit score. If there’s a way to get you into a vehicle, we want to find it!
