If your credit is less than perfect, good luck getting a car loan in South Florida.

Like mortgages and business loans, car loans and leases have shriveled up as the paralyzed credit market awaits the effects of a $700 billion bailout. Both customers and carmakers are being squeezed, with crippled giants GM and Chrysler discussing a merger.

Normally during a slump in the automotive business, dealers practically give the cars away, tempting buyers with no-money-down incentives, thousands of dollars in rebates, we'll-pay-off-your-old-loan come-ons and subsidized interest rates.

But this latest downturn is different. Because of the credit crisis, even those who want to buy a car are having trouble getting a loan.

''It's really affecting everyone, across the board,'' said Jesse Toprak, an analyst at auto website Edmunds.com.

Lenders have become especially tough in states like Florida that are also suffering from a steep housing downturn. They say borrowers, many already struggling with mortgage payments and other bills, are more likely to pay late or default on their loans. That leads lenders to tighten their standards.

The effect is particularly acute for those with shaky credit. A year ago, seven out of 10 so-called subprime customers in Florida were being approved for car loans, according to the data firm CNW Research. This year, it's less than two out of 10.

SALES PLUNGE

Difficulty obtaining loans has contributed to record declines in auto sales, a trend that analysts at J.D. Power and Associates said will continue well into next year. Sales of new cars, trucks and minivans in the United States dropped 27 percent last month compared with the same month a year ago.

Toyota has tried to spark sales with 0 percent financing, and General Motors plans to offer discounts of up to $7,000.

Between the credit crunch and car lots full of gas-guzzling SUVs that aren't selling, auto dealerships are struggling. At least 700 -- about 2 percent of the nation's dealerships -- are likely to go out of business this year, reports the National Automobile Dealers Association.

For people who want to buy cars, lenders are asking for bigger down payments in order to be approved for loans. You don't have a sizable down payment? Your chances of being approved plummet.

So, would-be buyers find themselves scratching up more cash for that bigger down payment or putting the purchase off altogether.

Or, like Lee Yanes, they are getting creative.

Yanes has decided to join the 6 percent of U.S. consumers who don't finance their vehicles.

A 37-year-old systems analyst from South Miami, Yanes planned to buy a new car months ago. But as Wall Street floundered, he gave up on trying to find a good loan and started to surf the Web for a used car.

''To me, that's just the best deal,'' Yanes said. ``You have to consider the price of gas, and insurance, and the rest of this economy. To try to find a car loan now on top of that is just ridiculous.''

He hopes to buy a used Chevy Tahoe for $5,000 cash. Until then, he's tooling around under South Florida's fickle skies in a 1980s-era Jeep without a roof.

''It was pouring this morning on my way to work, and I got soaked,'' Yanes said Thursday. ``I have to find some sort of transportation that's affordable.''

Getting a vehicle loan is tougher now than it was a year ago, although not impossible for people with prime credit. (A credit score above 680 is considered prime, although in this environment, some skittish lenders are demanding scores above 700.)

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