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Smart Shopper Buy Here, Pay Here
328 messages, Last post on Jul 19, 2009 at 7:42 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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but I play one on TV. One of my best friends from high school has one of the most successful BHPH businesses (4 lots) that I've ever seen. He has over 1,000 vehicles worth of payments rolling at any one time, started with 6 cars and a 14ft travel trailer on a gravel lot. There are many stereotypes that fit these guys, and in my buddy's case, some that don't. Yes, you have to be thick-skinned. Yes, you have to be fairly treacherous. But, you also have to be very well set, financially, and have to have a good eye for vehicles, plus a reliable mechanic to make sure it all runs smoothly from before the sale, until the car is paid off. This is a business I will probably get into, although nowhere near my buddy's "area", when I retire. Call it what you may, and talk badly about these highway robbers...but you have to understand that there is a HUGE market for this service. People need decent transportation, and have, themselves, ruined any chance of going to a dealer and buying a new or used car with conventional financing. It's all about personal responsibility - if you pay your bills and honor your word and obligations, you can buy anything you want, from anyone you want, with either cash, or a loan from any financial establishment you want. If you DON'T do all of the above, then you can't do any of the above, and unless you want to scrape up $300 for a rusted up beater, if you MUST have something nicer, or have to pose with your bling-bling (that's a majority of the business in BHPH), you have the choice of BHPH. From a credit perspective, my buddy can report your account to the various credit bureaus, and will when you pay it well, or if you repo. MOST BHPH dealers, though, don't go to the additional cost or trouble to report to the credit bureaus - simply because, in most cases, they would be doing their customers a favor, and most won't.
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Replying to: driftracer (Jan 03, 2005 10:33 am)
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a big "We Finance" sign - many BHPH dealers don't use the term "Buy Here, Pay Here"....although that's exactly what the consumer does. Prices may be fairly in line, until you figure out the title status for that assumedly clean and decent mileage vehicle - these are perfect places for flood, salvage, and total title cars, simply because the consumer has no recourse, and there's no lender or warranty company to certify the car to as a "clean, sellable" retail unit, as there are with a typical car dealership using GMAC and GMPP. Oh, and flood, salvage, and total (and repurchased lemon!) vehicles are CHEAP at the auctions and main line dealers won't touch them. |
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I always assumed that the places advertising weekly payments were this type of dealership - for those with poor credit, similar to the rent-to-own furniture companies. I know there are other reasons for renting or paying weekly, but are these likely to be BHPH dealerships? I've never seen any other finance company offering weekly payments. kirstie_h Roving Host Host, Future Vehicles & Smart Shopper discussions
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| they want to see your smiling face, and hopefully the car, every week, so they know you haven't skipped town. | |
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Some lots still have the big buy here, pay here banners. Probably less confusing to the majority of their customers, that are looking for just that! As long as the dealer is honest (that is, the cars are legit used cars), and the prices are market correct, than BHPH makes sense as an alternative way to finance. Someone has to service the market for people that can't get normal financing. It is also nice to report the good payers, but I'm sure some dealers don't, since it would potentially cut into their client base. So, I have a problem with the repo shark types that are basically preying on people without options 9for whatever reason), but not with the whole BHPH concept. There are quite a few of the sleazy places in my area (across the river from Phila, Drift will know where!), but also some legit ones (one in Westhampton comes to mind). I wonder how many people actually complete the payments and end up owning the car? |
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is buy cars from individuals that other lots won't take, old or high mileage, if you're not trading or don't want to sell yourself for some reason (e.g. need the cash *now*). These don't necessarily have to be salvage or otherwise "tarnished" cars. For example, I wasn't sure if I wanted to trade in my 14-year old Jetta with 131K miles, or sell it myself. I shopped the car around to see what it might be worth. About the only guys who would even make an offer on a car that old were BHPH dealers, so I ended up getting a good idea of what it was worth to them. Of course, I got over $1000 more than that by finally selling myself, but if I'd needed to sell it right away I knew where I could take it--as well as having a number to base ACV trade-in value if I'd gone that route instead. |
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Replying to: kirstie_h (Jan 03, 2005 12:53 pm) That said, it doesn't make them a bad store, most of the BHPH lots do 75/85%+ of their "real" business on the Retail side and most of the time the BHPH stuff is just a small portion of their business .. most sell some nice vehicles and have a good reputation .. it's awful hard to stay in the BHPH business when your not selling anything else and your depending on Billy Bob to make his payments after his 2nd bankruptcy ........ Yikes.! Terry 
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Replying to: rroyce10 (Jan 04, 2005 3:47 am) |
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Mrs. Turboshadow and I disagree completely on the subject of BHPH, furniture rental, payday loans, title loans, and other places that the local news media have dubbed "predatory lenders." My take on the deal is that the people that use these places actually have no recourse because of bad credit, or are young and have yet to establish credit. Sure, it seems unfair, but there is an aweful high number of people who default on them as well. As one ex-car dealer told me, "Bad credit is expensive." I am leery of buying cars from these places, though. Even though I obtained finacing thru my credit union, I didn't look at any cars from the BHPH lots; I was afraid of the aforementioned lemons, salvages, and flood cars. Turboshadow |
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