Have you ever gone for more than a week without a car? How about a month, year or more? If so, you know how inconvenient it is not to have your own set of wheels. When it comes to how we use our car, there are two main use categories: a. the necessities, and, b. the nice-to-haves.

Under the category of necessities, we of course have uses for our car like going to work, buying groceries, going shopping for sundries, and visiting the doctor. In terms of nice-to-haves, we have uses like visiting friends, going on dates, going out on the town for a bit of fun, and just taking a pleasant Sunday drive.

The thing is, if you have poor credit due to having a low FICO score, you may be rightfully concerned that you will not be able to take advantage of a car for any of these reasons anytime soon.

If you are looking for poor credit auto financing, here are 5 key points you need to understand:

1. Auto financing interest rates depend heavily on your credit score:

You will not be surprised to hear that getting a good interest rate on your auto financing is greatly dependent upon your credit score. In fact, there is no more significant factor than your FICO score in getting qualified for a good rate.

What makes the credit score so appealing an indicator of credit-worthiness to lenders is that everything - your entire financial history - can be so easily reduced to a single credit score. This makes things easy on lenders. It also makes it easy on people with good or excellent credit scores. Unfortunately, it leaves people with bad credit scores out of luck.

2. Poor credit scores make it harder to get approved or to get a good rate:

Having a poor credit score makes it nearly impossible to get a low interest rate. In fact, many bad-credit individuals cannot even get approved for an auto loan at all.

Fortunately, there is some good news: there are lenders out there who approve applications all day long for people who have a low FICO score. You just have to know where to look.

3. You have more control than you think over your situation:

Given that 95% of auto lenders and financing companies focus so heavily on your credit score, it stands to reason that the other 5% of lenders are trying to capitalize on what the others are overlooking. Namely: the opportunity to extend auto loans to bad-credit individuals.

These companies actually target people with bad scores because they use additional factors - not just the score - to determine somebody's credit-worthiness. Factors such as employment status and history, residential status and history, and specific details on the credit report (not just the overall score) are also considered by these firms.

4. Comparison shopping pays off:

You need to start by searching for "bad credit auto financing" and related terms. Make sure to find at least 3 companies to which you can apply for a loan. Remember: it is also better to have multiple when shopping for anything - especially an auto loan.

5. As you shop, be sure to record your findings in apples-to-apples way:

As you contact the various lenders you find during your research to get their quotations, be sure you are recording their company name, contact information, and loan terms (including interest rate offered). That way, you can easily go back later and make an apples-to-apples comparison of your findings.

Follow the suggestions in these 5 key points in order to secure auto financing even if you have bad credit.