Best Used Car Loans

PNC Bank has several flexible options to help you buy a used car depending on where you’re purchasing it from. If you’re buying from a dealer, you can apply for a traditional used car loan, or you can apply for a PNC Check Ready loan that allows you to bring a blank check to a car dealership directly, with the idea that you can walk off the lot as soon as you find the right ride. If you’re buying from a private party, however, you’ll need to apply in person at a branch location.

If you set up autopay from a PNC Bank account, you’ll also get an additional 0.25% discount off your rate. Unfortunately, you’ll need to be relatively sure you’re eligible for approval with this bank because you can’t apply with a co-signer (you can apply with a joint applicant, however), and you’ll need to submit a full loan application including a hard credit check. 

Consumers Credit Union is an especially good choice if you‘re trying to buy an older or high-mileage vehicle from a dealer. Unfortunately, the credit union doesn’t allow you to use loan funds to buy a used car from a private seller, like someone off Craigslist. Aside from its relatively open-door policy to new members and its loose age and mileage requirements, Consumers Credit Union doesn’t provide much information about what you’ll need to qualify for a loan. 

The credit union offers the TrueCar car buying service, which can help you save up to $1,824 off of the MSRP for a new car, although you can use the service to buy a used car too. If you sign up for autopay on your loan, you can get a 0.25% discount. And if you’re worried about breaking down, Consumers offers optional-to-purchase ForeverCar mechanical repair insurance.

AUTOPAY is one of our top lenders thanks to the ultra-low rates it advertises. If you’re able to qualify for those low rates, it could be the cheapest loan you’ll find anywhere. Presumably, you need excellent credit and a high income to qualify, but since AUTOPAY provides only a few details about its used car loans, it’s impossible to say. 

AUTOPAY is a used car loan marketplace that matches you up with a lender. Unfortunately, AUTOPAY doesn’t disclose how many lenders it works with or what their requirements are for getting a loan, so it’s a bit of an unknown. Still, it can’t hurt to apply and see what rates you may qualify for. And if nothing else, you won’t have to make any payments on the loan for the first 45 days. 

Chase offers auto loans with an exceptionally high loan-to-value ratio of 140%. Why is this important? You may need to borrow more than the value of the vehicle to help pay for the typical extras, like taxes and title/license fees.

The downside of Chase used car loans is that you can only use them to buy a car from a dealership that’s already in Chase’s partner network. While Chase doesn’t say how many dealerships this is, the good news is Chase is the largest bank in the country, so your odds are better than with a less well-known bank. 

This loan requires the bank and the seller to already be linked up, so that means a smoother loan transition for you. You can shop for a car online, get your loan details all dialed up, and then simply go to the dealership to test-drive the used car to make sure it’s what you want. If it’s not, no worries; you can simply transfer the loan to another car. 

NASA Federal Credit Union is designed to benefit NASA employees, but it allows anyone to join by giving them a free one-year membership to the National Space Society. It’s another good choice if you're trying to purchase an older or higher-mileage car from a dealership, because this credit union has no restrictions on those common blocking points for used car loans. 

You’ll need to have a bit more patience with this credit union, however, because it can take three days to receive your funds (versus one day for most other lenders). It does offer the nice perk of not requiring any payments for the first 60 days. However, this isn’t as helpful as you might think because interest still accrues during this time—the very point when your interest payments are the highest they’ll ever be for this loan (because the balance is at its biggest). 

Credible offers a marketplace for used car loans where it can connect you with one of its 11 partner lenders that offer auto loans. Keep in mind that Credible is geared more toward the personal loan marketplace, and indeed some of its partner lenders don’t even advertise auto loans on their websites. 

Another big downside is that Credible isn’t very open about its loan requirements. It doesn’t tell you what car requirements (if any) there are, whether non-citizens can apply, or what type of credit score you’ll need. The maximum rates you may end up paying if you don’t have good credit are higher than those disclosed by most other top lenders, for example (these rates may be for personal loans).