Your application and account
Pre-Approved Car Finance
When you apply for car finance, there’s a two-step process you’ll need to go through – securing a pre-approved car loan and being fully approved.
What does pre-approved for car finance mean?
Car finance pre-approval offers a provisional decision based on the information you’ve provided during the application process. The information we require includes things like, but is not limited to:
- Personal details
- Information about your employment
- Address details for the last three years
The information you provide is then used to perform what’s called a soft credit check, which is an initial assessment of your affordability that doesn’t impact your credit score. This is helpful if you’re looking for poor credit car finance.
Once you’ve received a pre-approval for car finance, lenders will need to know what car you’d like to buy, then see your ID and supporting documents. They’ll then conduct a deeper dive into your credit profile to confirm your eligibility – this is called a hard credit search.
If a lender is happy that the car meets their criteria, and you pass all their ID and document checks, which help protect you and the lender from fraud, you will be ready to drive away in your new vehicle.
Will I get accepted for car finance?
Whether you’ll get accepted for pre-approved car finance largely depends on your own personal circumstances, but we work with a varied panel of lenders to try and match you with one who can offer you the loan you’re looking for.
We consider each car finance application on an individual basis, assessing an array of factors, to give you the best chance of being accepted. There are some instances, however, where you may not be accepted for car finance.
If you’re refused car finance at the pre-approval stage, don’t worry – it won’t show up on your credit score and you can take some simple steps to improve your chances if you decide to reapply:
- Provide a larger deposit
Applying for a loan with a significant deposit will reduce the overall amount you need to borrow, and often makes it easier to get car finance pre-approval. If this isn’t possible, though, we do offer bad credit car finance with no deposit.
- Reduce your loan amount
Reducing the figure you want to borrow will lower your monthly payments, making your car finance more affordable.
Alternatively, if you’re hoping to buy a more expensive car, you can choose to extend the agreement term. With Zuto hp car finance, you’ll pay the same amount (plus interest) in smaller instalments over a longer period, while PCP may be a little more in the long-run but will also see reduced instalments each month due to only paying the expected depreciation of the car.
- Improve your credit score
If you’ve not been offered a pre-approved car loan, consider ways you can improve your credit score, such as registering on the electoral roll, keeping your credit utilisation low, and settling all outstanding payments.
Zuto is a credit broker, not a lender. Representative 20.9% APR.
Why haven’t I received a decision for pre-approved car finance?
Occasionally, some of our lenders require a few hours to review your application, especially if you’ve applied outside of normal working hours. Please be assured that once you complete your application, we will be working through it and should be in touch with a decision, via email or SMS, as soon as we can.
In the meantime, whilst you’re waiting for your decision, you’ll have access to My Zuto, where you’ll be able to browse an impressive collection of vehicles available from our trusted dealers. You’ll be able to shortlist any that you like, so, when we do get a decision, we can talk about your quote specifically for those shortlisted vehicles.
If you’re still uncertain about how the car finance application process works, check out even more help and advice from our team of experts.
Ryan has worked at Zuto for a number of years and uses his experience within the industry to help customers understand the ins and outs of car finance.