Only Run Hard Pulls on Sold Deals—Here’s Why
- The Problem
Most dealers run hard credit pulls too early in the process—and end up stuck with deal jackets for customers who never bought a car.
That’s a compliance risk and for many dealers who haven’t digitized their sales process — a paperwork nightmare.
- Fact:
If you do a hard pull, even on a shopper who walks away, you’re federally required to retain that deal jacket for 5 years.
- The Smarter Move:
- Use Soft Pulls Early
- Hold the Hard Pull
- Stay Compliant
Less legal exposure. Fewer unnecessary records. Cleaner audits.
- Dead Deals = Dead Weight
Let’s break it down:
Auto Financing
Just Browsing
Prequal Stage
Deal in Progress
Sold Deal
Hard Pull?
- NO
- NO
- NO
- YES
Retention Required?
- NO
- NO
- NO
- YES
Benefit of Waiting
Keep it clean
Build trust early
Protect compliance
Worth the File
Auto Financing
Just Browsing
- NO
Hard Pull?
- NO
Retention Required?
- NO
Benefit of Waiting
Keep it clean
Auto Financing
Prequal Stage
Hard Pull?
- NO
Retention Required?
- NO
Benefit of Waiting
Build trust early
Auto Financing
Deal in Progress
Hard Pull?
- NO
Retention Required?
- NO
Benefit of Waiting
Protect compliance
Auto Financing
Sold Deal
Hard Pull?
- YES
Retention Required?
- YES
Benefit of Waiting
Worth the File
- Results You Can Expect
- Reduce dead leads in your CRM
- Stay out of regulatory trouble
- Shrink your file room (and digital storage!)
- Keep your team focused on real buyers
- Pro Tips for Dealers
- Lead with a soft pull prequalification tool like Informativ’s that offers a mobile-friendly prequalification and also verifies the buyer’s identity.
- Update your dealership workflow to collect, create and store all customers information digitally, so you remove paperwork and compliance risks from your showroom.
- Train your team to ask: “Are we ready to buy today?” before running a hard pull
- The Final Word
Stop stacking up dead deals.
Use soft pulls to qualify and save hard pulls for when the deal is real.
That’s how modern dealers stay lean, compliant, and ready to close.
Need help choosing the right soft pull tech or integrating it into your lead process?
We’ve got you covered with: