In the market for a motorcycle, but have bad credit and need a subprime motorcycle loan? Well, don’t worry, the goal of this article is to give you everything you need to know to get approved for a subprime motorcycle loan.

You must first understand how motorcycle lenders classify you as high risk. On average, when a motorcycle lender is looking to approve any motorcycle financing, they have a much higher cap on the credit score range than an auto lender. This exists whether you have good or bad credit.

So, with that said, an auto lender may approve a 610 FICO credit score as not high risk, but a motorcycle lender would likely classify a 610 FICO credit score as a high risk motorcycle loan and they may do not offer an approval.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Motorcycles are much more difficult to recover in good condition than a car. As a result of this simple fact, if you default on your motorcycle loan, it is a greater risk for a motorcycle lender than an auto lender because it is much more difficult to repossess a motorcycle in good condition than a car.

With all the new riders entering the industry, there are a high number of incidents of some type of minor or major damage to many motorcycles, resulting in a lower amount per unit a lender gets when repossessing a motorcycle for a customer. who chooses to get bad credit by paying off his motorcycle loan. The damage could be from the salvage agency or the actual owner, but the simple fact is that motorcycles fetch much less at salvage auctions than cars.

This simple fact is one of the reasons good and bad credit motorcycle loans are offered at much higher interest rates than a car and have lower approval rates overall compared to cars.

2. The average motorcycle tends to depreciate very quickly. Because motorcycles have higher accident rates and there are many people who do not repay their loan once they crash, this results in higher delinquencies for motorcycle lenders. This is another reason why motorcycle loan rates are higher and it is difficult to get approved for motorcycles.

Ok, now that you have some background on how a motorcycle lender views a motorcycle loan, let’s look at how you can get approved for a sub-prime motorcycle loan.

The first step is to really understand your credit report and credit score. Sure, if you’re looking for subprime motorcycle financing, you’ve probably had some credit problems in the past. But you never know how those credit problems developed on your credit report until you get a copy.

Take a look and make sure everything on your credit report is actually true. See every year, thousands of people just like you find that creditors made mistakes on their credit report, the negativity of which affected their credit score. If your FICO score shows a 610, but there is 1 error on your credit report, you could easily raise your FICO credit score to 625 or higher by correcting the error. Always correct errors on your credit report before submitting a subprime motorcycle loan application.

The second step is to clear your credit card debt. I know you’re probably thinking I can’t do this, but it can make a world of difference in helping you get approved for subprime motorcycle financing. See motorcycle lenders don’t like to see their personal credit cards depleted. Therefore, before you apply for motorcycle financing, you should try to pay off your credit card debt. Even if you have to do it in the short term, it can go a long way in helping you get approved.

For example, if you have a FICO credit score of 610, you will likely be turned down if you have all your credit cards maxed out. However, if you can reduce your credit card debt by 50%, you have a much better chance of getting approved for a subprime motorcycle loan. This is a simple concept, but you’d be surprised how many motorcycle buyers don’t do it and never get approved.

Step three and the last step is to finally submit your motorcycle loan application. There are many lenders that specialize in subprime motorcycle loans. I recommend tying up about 2 or 3 online motorcycle lenders and then moving on to your local credit unions or dealer-provided financing such as Suzuki Finance, Honda Financing, Kawasaki Credit Card, or Polaris Star Card.