How to customize financing settings on your listings

How to customize financing settings on your listings

Cars.com gives shoppers the ability to get prequalified for financing directly from your listings. If you’re a Premium or Premium+ marketplace subscriber, you can customize how that financing experience works — from lender visibility to rate markups — so it aligns with your internal processes and compliance needs.

In this article, you’ll learn what settings you can adjust, how to view your current configuration, and how to request changes through your Cars.com representative.

1 What you can customize

As a Premium or Premium+ dealer, you can customize the following:

Rate Markups

  • Default: 2% markup
  • Option to vary markups by credit tier (e.g., higher for non-prime)

Lender Selection

  • You are eligible for all in-network lenders
  • OEM Captive lenders available upon request for Premium and Premium+ dealers
  • Available in-network lenders include:
    • Capital One
    • Chase
    • Global Lending Services
    • Westlake Financial

Trade-In Value Adjustments

  • Adjust trade-in book value higher or lower
  • Apply flat dollar or percentage adjustments
  • Default trade book: AccuTrade

Dealer Fees

  • Default: State-standard documentation fee
  • Can be adjusted to reflect your actual fee structure

Max Lender Fee Threshold

  • Default: $200 for new vehicles / $1,000 for used vehicles
  • Financing offers above your selected threshold will not be shown

Vehicle Type Exclusions

  • Choose whether Instant Financing appears on new, used, or all vehicles
  • Useful for OEM compliance or internal policy enforcement

To exclude certain vehicle types, see How to enable or disable financing options on your VDPs.

2 How to request changes

To update your financing settings, contact your Cars.com representative. Include the following in your request:

  • Your dealership name and CCID
  • Specific changes requested, such as:
    • Updated markup percentage (e.g., “Change markup to 1.5%”)
    • Lender additions or removals (eligible lenders for prequalification)
    • Trade-in value adjustments
    • Fee updates

3 Viewing your current settings

To review your current financing configuration, contact your Cars.com representative and request a settings summary. The summary includes:

  • Current markup rates and credit tier thresholds
  • Active lenders (soft credit)
  • Fee settings

4700Credit integration

700Credit is a credit data aggregator that integrates with Cars.com Instant Financing. The integration sends the shopper’s prequalification data to 700Credit, which delivers a soft credit report directly to the dealership’s 700Credit account. 

If you already have an active 700Credit account, you can connect it to your Cars.com instant financing tool to view an applicant’s credit score and credit report directly within Automatic. 

How it works

  1. Fill out the 700Credit form
  2. Your request will route to the 700Credit team 
  3. 700Credit will reach out directly to our Support team
  4. We’ll work together to enable the integration on your behalf

Have questions? Reach out to your AE or support@creditiq.com. 

5 How to contact your representative

  1. Log in to the Cars.com Hub
  2. Click account in the top right corner
  3. Find your rep’s info under My Cars.com Team

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