What Documents Do I Need To Finance My Car?

9th Apr 2024

Car finance may be complicated at the best of times. Do you choose the hire purchase option, personal contract purchase option, or personal leasing option? Then, once you've done your research and made your decision, you'll need to go over the application, which will require you to provide specific documents. So, let's go over the most important documents and evidence you'll need to purchase a car on finance.

Car Finance Documents List:

When completing your car finance application, you’ll typically need three main documents with you, whether you are applying online or at the dealership. These are your driver's licence, proof of income and proof of address. The specific documents you need do vary from lender to lender, but these are the most common ones.

Driving Licence

You need to provide proof of your identity when applying for finance on a car. Some lenders do allow you to use a provisional licence, but oftentimes it has to be a full driving licence. When submitting your proof, make sure all the details are clearly visible and legible to read.

If you don’t have your driving licence to hand, some car finance lenders do allow you to submit your passport or birth certificate as an alternative proof of identity.

Proof of Income

Car finance lenders are interested in seeing your employment status; to whether you are employed full time or part-time, self-employed, a student or even on benefits. They’ll want proof of the last 3 months of income from payslips, and if you’re self-employed you’ll need to provide tax returns and bank statements instead.

If you’re receiving benefits, the following can be accepted as a form of income:

Income support allowance
Child tax credit
Working tax credit
Housing benefit
Disability Allowance (DLA)
Carers allowance
Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

A lender wants to see your proof of income when applying for car finance to determine how you handle your money and your debts. This will give them a good indication of whether you are a trustworthy borrower, who will pay back the money on time.

Proof of Address

Last but not least, you’ll need to provide your address history from the last three years. Some car finance does specify longer, but again this is down to the individual lender. Usually, you’ll be able to submit either a utility bill or a council tax statement as proof.

Lenders like to see your proof of address for two reasons. Reason one is if your address history is erratic, in that you’ve moved around a lot, this can be a cause for concern and reason two is so that if you fail to keep up with your monthly repayments, you can easily be reached.

How Long Does It Take To Be Accepted For Car Finance?

It usually takes around 1-2 business days for the finance lender to process and assess your application and return to you with a decision.

You can expect to get one of three answers once the checks have been completed:

You’ll be approved and the funds will be transferred from the finance lender to the dealership or broker.
Your application will be rejected and this can be due to a low credit score, missed or late repayments and outstanding debt.
The finance lender will require more information from you.

How Can I Tell If I'll Be Approved For Car Finance?

You can use our free finance eligibility checker to see if you’re likely to be accepted for used car finance in London before you apply. We use a soft credit search meaning your credit score won’t be affected when you check and there are no extra admin fees or costs to pay either.