What credit score is needed to buy a car?

Most Americans apply for an auto loan when they plan to buy a car. As part of the review process, lenders check your income and credit score to be approved for a car loan. FICO® and VantageScore® weigh some of the same factors differently. But they also have specialized industry-specific scores for some purposes. The FICO Auto Score is for auto lenders. Such scores are weighted differently than other FICO scores. Credit utilization has more impact on the Auto Score. There are multiple versions of the Auto Score as well.

Customers are categorized differently by auto lenders based on their credit scores. These are the categories according to Experian:

Super prime: 781 to 850
Prime: 661 to 780
Non-prime: 601 to 660
Subprime: 501 to 600
Deep subprime: 300 to 500

Lenders mainly favor people who fall under the Prime and Super Prime categories, so any score between 661-850 is considered good to apply for different types of car loans.

You can still buy a car with fair credit, but you may have to pay a higher interest rate or have a co-signer who can apply for the loan with you (they should have good to excellent credit).