Buying a car when you have bad credit isn't an ideal situation. However, sometimes there's no alternative since you need to get yourself to and from work each day. It's not impossible to get bad credit car loans, you just need to know where to go and also make sure that any potential lender is being upfront with you about all the associated fees.
You need to start by finding out what types of vehicles are more likely to get good financing. Loan terms depend on a variety of factors, so talk to different friends who have financed their car purchases to see what kinds of terms they received. If you go to a lender or dealership knowing what you want and showing that you've done the research, they'll feel more confident approving your request.
If a lending company is a little worried about your financial past, it might try to sneak some additional payments into your contract to guard against default. In some cases, there won't be anything you can do about this type of thing. Make sure you're careful and bring up any terms that seem unfair.
While your bank might reject your application immediately, there could be smaller lenders looking for clients just like you. You could end up getting saddled with a high APR, but that's often the case when anyone with bad credit gets a loan. Doing a thorough search online will at least give you an idea of what other companies are out there, and some of them have helpful tools on their websites to estimate what your interest rate might be.
If you need a car, you can't let your credit score stand in your way. Start researching bad credit car loans and don't stop until you find one that's right for you.