Answer: -Auto finance is what i do for a living and the loans that require this type of down payment are from lenders that charge the dealers anywhere from 20%-25% of the amount financed as a fee to take the loan.What the dealer is doing is asking you to put enough money down so they can pay the fees required to get a lender to buy your contract.After 7 1/2 years of doing sub-prime auto finance I can tell you that if this is the best approval that the dealer can get you have two options. First if you do not really need the car right now, work on improving your credit and try again in about 9-10 months. Second if you do need the car, suck it up and make the down payment, then make 12 payments as agreed and refinance. -I went through Road loans. The fiance rate wasn't that great 16.39% bUT for my credit I was thinking it would be like 22%.It was easy over the computer and I did have a check the next day. They are nice so far, but I have not been late at all. And hopefully won't be. Try them it can't hurt. (oh and no money down) -There are many auto loan options available today. Today, stiff competition among auto loan financing companiesfinance option. You can apply for online car loans on the Internet, or get it from your car dealer.