The Importance Of A Soft Credit Search

The humble soft search. It has been around for some time, but customers are cottoning on to the importance of it, and dealers should be too. Here’s why they are so important and how they can help to build trust with your potential customers, securing more deals in the long run.

What is a soft search?

It is a finance check that doesn’t harm or effect the credit rating of a customer in the way a hard search would. While it doesn’t complete a full check on their credit history, it is enough information so a lender can form a background and decision on the potential customer, giving potential quotes and often, a likelihood of acceptance.

What is a hard search?

Once the customer has found a car and a potential finance deal through a soft search, you can then go about conducting a hard search which gives you the results and numbers you need.

What does a soft search do?

The point of a soft search is to see what kind of deals are available, without harming or impacting the credit rating of the customer. As you will know, hard searches on a credit report can have a detrimental effect if too many are carried out in a short space of time, or even over the course of a year.

Another advantage of a soft search is it allows you to build on your relationship with the customer. By taking the time to take them through the process and explore deals with them you will have longer to build a rapport and get to know their needs and requirements. The soft search is always going to be a key selling point when exploring finance. 

Fuel your car finance with Octane

If you are a dealer looking for a finance partner, Octane can fuel your finance and work with our panel of lenders to find deals for your customers, with soft searches available too. Get in touch to see how we could work together.