For future reference, this can be used by some less than ethical folks for trying to push you into the sale, as you somewhat observed. I’m sure @jeisensc or @trism may have some more specifics from their experience, but in my opinion you shouldn’t ever give out your information (SSN, etc.) to run any form of credit check until you’re actually drawing up your vehicle’s deal. Maybe I’m paranoid, but its served me well.
Using apps like Experian and certain credit cards’ free portals can get you your FICO score (also check out The Credit Thread later), and with that information along with other parameters that you can find online on other forums like Edmunds (money factor/interest rate and residual value of the vehicle), you should be able to come up with rough numbers for any car on your own! (And this community is here to help too!)