Those searching for a new car via private sale know that the price the car is listed at is not necessarily the price it will sell for. In addition, another private party may be interested in a given car. This means that, ideally, in order to proceed with a new car purchase quickly and secure the vehicle, the buyer would have their used car loan lined up in advance. But in order to do this, you need to know exactly what long amount and loan term you need - which you can't know until you've made an offer on a car! Many people get round this catch-22 by making use of loan pre-approval, which is available for both private and regular sales. Pre-approval means you know before you start shopping exactly how much you can borrow, and at what rate, so you have a firm budget to work with, rather than an estimate