Mike have some good pointers. Get a collateral short loan and pay it off in 6 months to show payment history while getting yourself a credit card too. I gave it 6 months because that what it takes for your credit score to recover from the hard inquires.
And as for the credit cards, the best rule of thumb is credit utilization. Never go above 20% of your maximum available credit. Above that number will affect your score negatively. 20% of 500 is 100 bucks so its not much. You can use credit cards to your advantage. Using credit cards and small loan will help boost credit score and help built credit history quick. I use 10%. Just charge little stuff every month to show you are using it, but pay it off every month to show consistant payment history and to avoid the high interest rates.
What is credit card utilization? | Credit Karma
I was in the same boat as you a year ago. I went the personal loan / credit card route before getting a car loan. Ended up with Altima though but will quickly pay it off next year. Ended up with 4.9 interest rate. I perfer to wait alittle longer to get build up more credit history to buy the z. i want a lower rate and dont feel comfortable with high monthly payments and throwing my money away to banks. So paying off a car loan in 1 yr on 4.9% is not too shabby.
I recommend signing up to these free sites.
Credit karma - good useful financial advice and pulls their score from transunion.
Credit sesame - pulls their score from equifax.