I know that when you have bad credit, you should normally go in to a dealer to apply for financing (as opposed to burning up inquiries on your own and essentially tying the F&Is hands when it comes to credit decision reversal). However, what is the best way to shop for auto re-fi loans when you have bad credit?

Also, is it a wise decision to try to re-fi right after a BK...if not, how long should you wait after filing bk to re-fi?

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A portion of the answer would depend on the inception date of the loan which you propose to refinance as it relates to the bankruptcy discharge date.

I plan to file bk within the next 1 - 1 1/2 months. I anticipate discharge (if everything goes perfectly) around February. November 1, I will have had the car loan for one full year and had a perfect payment history. Would like to re-fi immediately after (say March or so). Good idea? What options should I pursue?

I would imagine it would be extremely difficult to do this on your own, so soon after BK discharge. And certainly the LTV would play a huge factor.

So do you recommend I contact an F&I department to do it? I know normally people can go back to the place they got their car from and get a re-fi, but I bought my car from a dealer who only works with their own proprietary lender....

My DH car was bought from a dealership and I know they have a very aggressive loan dept...do you think it would be easier to just do a trade in? My LTV would most likely be pretty high, but I would be willing to put money down with the loan...

I can only finance vehicles that I own. So perhaps a trade-in might work, but again it will depend on the overall LTV.