Life’s short. Time flashes past in the blink of an eye. Most of us spend our lives working diligently toward goals set long ago, realizing new ones along the way and discarding the old as their importance wears thin. And yet throughout it all, there’s one goal that never fades, that never seems to lose its luster: the dream car.

For a lot of people, the reality of unforeseen circumstance has moved that dream even further from reach. Or maybe it’s had less to do with circumstance than plain old bad decisions. In either case, the emerging popularity of bad credit car loans is helping many realize their dream.

More people have bad credit today than ever before. And so to better cater to this reality, lenders have begun altering their strategies, making credit for car loans available to people who may never have qualified before. Needless to say, these are riskier loans that are offset by much higher interest rates.

There are a few things you can do to help your chances of being approved for one of these loans. Lenders love collateral—if you’ve got something of value to put up, it could be the dealmaker. Being able to provide a solid record of employment is also necessary to assure the lender you’re not flighty. In the end, you may have to do a bit of work to convince the lender of your good intentions. But the fact is, getting your dream car might be easier than you think.