Save time and shop with your budget in mind.
Quick summary: Getting pre-qualified at CarMax gives you personalized financing terms in as little as 5 minutes, with no impact to your credit score. Your terms are good for 30 days, so you can shop with your real budget in mind. You’ll be able to see your personalized monthly payments, down payment, and APR before you apply for financing, and adjust your down payment to see how it affects your terms. Here’s everything you need to know about how it works.
What is a pre-qualification and how does it make car shopping easier?
What is the difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval?
What is a pre-qualification and how does it make car shopping easier?
With pre-qualification, a finance company reviews your current financial situation and credit history to determine if you qualify for financing and what terms you could receive. A pre-qualification request is a soft credit inquiry, meaning it won't impact your credit score.
Getting pre-qualified is the best way to shop with confidence—you’ll know your real budget before you fall in love with a vehicle. You can try to estimate your monthly payments through online financing calculators, but those results aren’t reviewed by a finance company. Once you’re pre-qualified, you can shop knowing you’re looking at vehicles you can actually afford with decisions from real lenders, which saves you valuable time.
When you pre-qualify with CarMax, you’re getting terms customized for you. CarMax’s finance companies review the information you provide and your credit history to deliver personalized financing terms—all with no impact to your credit score.
If haven’t decided what car you want yet, shopping with a pre-qualification on carmax.com makes it easy to compare car features, monthly payments, and APRs all in one place. You can see personalized financing terms on CarMax’s inventory and can even adjust filters like your down payment—from $0 to $5,000 or more—to see how it impacts your terms.
If you have a specific vehicle in mind, such as an EV, getting pre-qualified lets you confirm it fits in your budget before submitting a credit application, which will result in a hard credit inquiry (and may affect your credit score).
How do I get pre-qualified with CarMax?
You can get pre-qualified online with CarMax in as little as 5 minutes, and your terms are available for 30 days. Here’s what you’ll need:
Your personal information (including your name, email, phone number, address, date of birth, and Social Security number)
Your housing information (move-in date, housing status, and monthly payment)
Your current employment status and income
Here’s how the process works:
Visit carmax.com and go to the Finance page, or navigate directly to a car you’re interested in.
Click “Get pre-qualified” and create or log in to your carmax.com account.
Enter your information, including personal, housing, and employment details.
Review your personalized terms—you’ll see your monthly payment, APR, and potential loan amount with no impact to your credit score.
Start shopping CarMax’s inventory with your terms applied and adjust your down payment to see how it affects your monthly payment.
Create a carmax.com account and get pre-qualified today.
I don’t have a specific car I want to buy yet…
You can still submit a pre-qualification request with CarMax to find out whether you can get pre-qualified and see your budget. You can find this on the Finance page on carmax.com.
I have a specific car I want to buy…
If you have a car in mind, go to that car’s page on carmax.com and click “get pre-qualified".
Once you’re pre-qualified, you can move forward with that car or use your personalized terms to browse other options in CarMax’s inventory. When you’re ready to purchase, you’ll submit a credit application, which includes a hard credit inquiry, to get your final offer terms on that vehicle.
What is the difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval?
While you may see companies use these terms interchangeably, there is one significant difference between a pre-qualification and a pre-approval. At CarMax, pre-qualification uses a soft credit inquiry. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), soft credit inquiries don’t impact your credit score, while pre-approvals involve hard credit inquiries that may impact your credit score.
Pre-qualification | Pre-approval | |
|---|---|---|
Credit inquiry type | Soft inquiry | Hard inquiry |
Credit score impact | None | May have temporary impact |
Reviewed by a finance company | Yes | Yes |
Final terms guaranteed? | No, credit application required for final terms | No, credit application required for final terms |
In most cases, whether you're pre-qualified or pre-approved, you’ll still need to submit a credit application to get final offer terms once you’re ready to buy. A credit application will result in a hard inquiry, which may impact your credit score.
With CarMax, you can get pre-qualified and shop with your personalized finance terms, but you must submit a credit application to finance your vehicle purchase.
Frequently asked questions
Does getting pre-qualified impact my credit score?
No. Pre-qualification at CarMax uses a soft credit inquiry, which doesn’t impact your credit score.
How long does it take to get pre-qualified?
You can get pre-qualified online in as little as 5 minutes. Just fill out some details on your personal, housing, and employment history, and most people get results back in less than 3 minutes.
How long are my pre-qualification terms valid?
Your pre-qualification terms are available for 30 days. If your terms expire, simply fill out another pre-qualification request.
What information do I need to get pre-qualified?
You’ll need your personal information (name, email, address, date of birth, Social Security number), housing details (move-in date, status, and monthly payment), and your current employment status and income.
Do I need to have a specific car in mind to get pre-qualified?
No. You can get pre-qualified without knowing which car you want. You can shop CarMax’s inventory with your pre-qualification terms.
What credit score do I need to get pre-qualified?
Our finance sources accommodate most credit profiles—over 95% get pre-qualified. There’s no minimum credit score needed, and because pre-qualification is a soft credit inquiry, it won’t affect your score, so there’s no risk in finding out.
Learn more about how pre-qualification works at CarMax.
Shop for your next vehicle with personalized financing terms.
For more financing tips, read more financing articles or visit our finance landing page.
Updated by Scott Wilson - CarMax Contributor
We hope you found this information helpful. This content is intended to inform and is not meant to provide legal, financial or investment advice. We make every effort to provide accurate information, but please verify before transacting and consider talking to a qualified professional about your unique circumstances.
