What Credit Score Do You Need to Buy a Car?

There’s no official minimum score for a car loan. Banks, credit unions, automaker finance arms and buy-here-pay-here lots all set their own cutoffs, and plenty of people get financed below 600. What the score changes is the price. In Experian’s second-quarter 2026 data, new-car loans for borrowers at 661 to 780, the band lenders treat as prime, averaged 6.15% APR. At 501 to 600 the average was 13.52%.

On a five-year, $30,000 loan, that gap runs to thousands of dollars.

Experian’s five auto credit tiers

Experian, one of the three national credit bureaus, sorts auto borrowers into five bands in its quarterly auto finance reporting. Its auto loan rates page lists these averages for Q2 2026:

• Super prime, 781 or above: 4.41% new, 6.29% used
• Prime, 661 to 780: 6.15% new, 8.81% used
• Near prime, 601 to 660: 9.71% new, 13.93% used
• Subprime, 501 to 600: 13.52% new, 19.10% used
• Deep subprime, 300 to 500: 16.11% new, 21.62% used

Two things in that table are easy to miss. Used-car rates run several points above new-car rates in every tier, so a 640 buying used is looking at close to 14% on average. And the steepest steps are in the middle of the range. Going from super prime to prime adds about 1.7 points on a new car, but prime to near prime adds roughly 3.6 and near prime to subprime another 3.8, which is why the 600s are where a few points of score matter most.

Read Experian’s footnote before you plan around those bands. The tiers are built on VantageScore 4.0, while the dealer’s finance office is probably looking at something else. FICO says its FICO Auto Scores are used in the majority of auto financing decisions, and those industry versions run from 250 to 900 instead of 300 to 850. They also weigh your past car loans more heavily. The free score in your banking app may not match the one a lender pulls, in either direction, so treat a score near a tier line as a coin flip until you see a real quote.

What $30,000 over 60 months costs in each tier

The figures below use a $30,000 loan paid over 60 months and round rates near Experian’s new-car averages, set a little higher at the top and bottom of the range. Your quote will depend on the lender, the car’s age, the term and the week you apply.

• Super prime at 5.0%: $566.14 a month, $3,968.22 in total interest.
• Prime at 6.5%: $586.98 a month, $5,219.07 in total interest.
• Near prime at 9.5%: $630.06 a month, $7,803.35 in total interest.
• Subprime at 13.5%: $690.30 a month, $11,417.72 in total interest.
• Deep subprime at 18.0%: $761.80 a month, $15,708.17 in total interest.

Put the prime and subprime rows next to each other. The subprime borrower pays $103.32 more every month, which over 60 payments is $6,198.65 more in interest for the same car and the same amount borrowed.

Small moves near a line pay too. Someone at 640 who gets above 660 before applying would drop from 9.5% to 6.5% in this example and save $2,584.28 in interest over the five years.

Will a longer term make it cheaper?

When the payment looks too big, the finance office will usually offer more months. The payment shrinks and the total climbs, and the higher your rate, the faster it climbs. Take the same $30,000 at 13.5% over four terms:

• 48 months: $812.29 a month, $8,989.91 in interest.
• 60 months: $690.30 a month, $11,417.72 in interest.
• 72 months: $610.17 a month, $13,932.16 in interest.
• 84 months: $553.95 a month, $16,531.53 in interest.

Seven years also leaves you owing more than the car is worth for a long time, which hurts if it’s totaled or you have to sell early. Decide the total you can afford to pay before you walk in, and make the dealer quote against that number instead of a monthly figure.

What lenders weigh besides the score

Your score sets the starting tier, then the rest of the application nudges you up or down. Income and debt-to-income come first, because the new payment has to fit next to what you already owe. A down payment lowers both the amount financed and the lender’s risk: $5,000 down on the 13.5% example cuts the loan to $25,000 and the interest to $9,514.77 over 60 months.

Lenders also compare the loan with the car’s value, and rolling negative equity from a trade-in pushes that ratio the wrong way. A clean record on a previous car loan tends to count for more than a strong record on cards, which is part of why the auto versions of FICO exist. Some subprime lenders also want to see steady time at one job and one address.

Getting a better rate at the score you have

Check your reports first. All three bureaus let you pull free reports weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com. If an account isn’t yours or a payment is wrongly marked late, the FTC explains how to dispute credit report errors, and the bureau has 30 days to investigate.

Walk in with a preapproval. A rate from your bank or a credit union gives the dealer something to beat. Credit unions are often cheaper for members in the middle tiers.

Keep the shopping inside two weeks. The CFPB says auto lender checks will generally only count as a single inquiry if they’re made within 14 to 45 days of each other. Fourteen days is the safe version, since it fits every model.

Pay card balances down a month or two ahead. Utilization is read from your latest statement balances, so a lower balance on the statement can lift the score faster than almost anything else on this list.

Ask hard questions at buy-here-pay-here lots. These dealers lend their own money and approve people other lenders turn away, but their rates usually sit near the top of the market, payments may be due weekly or every two weeks, and some install devices that can disable the car after a missed payment. Ask whether they report payments to the credit bureaus. If they don’t, a year of perfect payments won’t do anything for your score.

A cosigner with strong credit can move you up a tier, but that person owes the whole debt if you fall behind. And if you have to borrow at a subprime rate now, a year of on-time payments and a higher score may let you refinance into something cheaper later.

If you’re sitting just under 661

Within about 20 points of the prime line, waiting one or two statement cycles while card balances come down can be worth more than any discount you’ll negotiate on the car. When you do go in, bring the CFPB’s auto loan shopping sheet and compare offers on total cost. It helps when the dealer only wants to talk about the monthly payment.

Related reading

• Should You Refinance Your Car Loan? Run These Numbers First
• Credit Score Ranges in the U.S., Explained
• Debt-to-Income Ratio: The Number Behind Many Loan Declines

The tier averages are Experian’s Q2 2026 figures and move every quarter. Treat the dollar examples as illustrations and judge any offer by the lender’s own written terms.