How Long Does It Take To Get Car Finance Approved?

Getting approved for car finance often used to be a long-drawn-out process. After all, in the old days, there wasn’t even the convenience of the Internet – so to apply for car finance, you’d need to have loads of paperwork, and to undergo protracted credit checks.

It was such a hassle – but not anymore. The emergence of online brokers like CarFinanceGenie has made it a really quick process to get a decision on your car finance application, so that you can swiftly get on with picking and getting behind the wheel of your dream car.

Applying for car finance through CarFinanceGenie will take you just a few minutes, and you might get a decision from us instantly. If not, we guarantee we’ll let you know on the same day.

Choosing the right broker will help you get a decision sooner

There are a number of things that affect how quickly you can expect to get approved for car finance.

One of those factors is the broker or lender that you approach for car finance. Here at CarFinanceGenie, we’re able to provide a fast decision in part because we only perform a search credit search, which does not adversely impact on your credit score. This differs from a more in-depth hard search, which can temporarily lower your credit rating.

Remember that your credit score – or credit rating – really matters when you’re applying for car finance. The stronger your credit score is, the likelier it is that your application will be approved, and the more competitive a quote you’ll probably be offered.

So, ideally, you won’t want to be making successive hard-search credit applications in a short space of time, given the damage this could cause to your credit score.

That’s partly why so many people seeking car finance apply through CarFinanceGenie, which has access to a broad panel of lenders. This allows us to swiftly match you with the car finance quote that best meets your practical and budgetary needs.

What else can I do to speed up my car finance application?

Whatever broker or lender you select, the below steps can help to make the application process quicker, while also maximising your chances of a fast decision:

  1. Be certain about your budget

Even if you have an urgent need for car finance, it’s important to take some time to be sure of how much you can afford to borrow.

As with any finance product, you’ll need to be confident that you can afford the monthly repayments. Our convenient car finance calculator will allow you to quickly work out how much you’ll be paying if you borrow a specific amount over a specific period of time.

  1. Improve your credit rating

Here at CarFinanceGenie, we’re proud of our excellent track record of helping even many applicants with poor credit to obtain car finance. Indeed, some of the lenders on our panel specialise in providing bad-credit car finance.

However, as we said above, you’ll have a stronger chance of getting an attractive deal – and getting approved for car finance in the first place – if you have a strong credit score.

So, even such simple steps as ensuring you always pay your existing bills on time, registering on the electoral roll, and remedying any mistakes on your file could help you to get a quick decision when you apply for car finance.

  1. Offer to pay a deposit

Lenders want to be given reasons to say “yes” to your car finance application as swiftly as possible, and offering to pay a deposit is one of the most powerful ways to get approved quickly.

Paying a deposit doesn’t just help to give the prospective lender greater confidence in your application. That’s because it’ll also lower the amount you need to pay each month, which could make your car finance repayments more manageable over time.

Having a guarantor for your car finance application – someone who agrees to pay back the loan in the event of you defaulting on your repayments – is another way of strengthening your application in the eyes of a lender.

However, it’s worth noting that neither a guarantor nor a deposit is necessarily required to obtain car finance. You may prefer not to put down a deposit if you simply lack the funds for this, or if you wish to ensure you will have sufficient funds at the end of the loan term to pay the final ‘balloon’ payment to own the car, in the case of taking out a personal contract purchase (PCP) agreement.

Measures like the above that you may take to help speed up your car finance application, therefore have to be considered against other factors, such as affordability.

As a broker with a strong reputation for bad-credit and zero-deposit car finance, we’re confident that here at CarFinanceGenie, we will be able to quickly offer you a deal that suits your circumstances and requirements. So, why not apply today?