Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealerships: Rebuilding Your Credit One Mile at a Time

When you think of a dealer that defines itself as “buy here pay here in Dayton,” what do you envision? Do you immediately think of a small building with a dilapidated sign, a few missing lightbulbs and a lot laden with heavily used vehicles, each with hundreds of thousands of miles on the odometer, hail damage, and rust spots? If so, you’re not alone since many buy-here, pay-here dealerships match that description. However, that’s not what you’ll find at McCluskey Automotive.

Buy-here, pay-here dealerships cater to individuals with limited credit histories or low credit scores. Unfortunately, this usually means that customers have to settle for a low-quality vehicle with high mileage. At McCluskey Automotive, that’s not the case because we don’t believe our customers should ever have to sacrifice quality, not even when they’re in a financial rut.

We’re determined to set a new standard as a buy-here, pay-here dealership. That starts by fighting the stigma associated with buy-here, pay-here dealerships and understanding what the BHPH designation means. Knowledge is power, and we’re here to empower our customers so that they can confidently get behind the wheel and back on the road to financial success.

Buy-Here, Pay-Here: What It Means

Traditional dealerships work with third-party lenders to provide financing for their customers. When you say “yes” to a model, the dealership completes the paperwork and finalizes the deal. However, the contract or purchase is passed onto the lender who loans you the money to buy the vehicle. The lender charges you interest on the loan, which is how they earn money. As you repay the loan in monthly installments, the lender reports the payments to the credit bureaus, impacting your credit score and history. Once the loan is repaid, the lender sends you the title, signifying you own the vehicle.

Buy-here, pay-here dealerships do things a little differently. Rather than working with third-party lenders, the dealership acts as the dealer and the lender. They not only sell you the vehicle, but they also loan you the money or finance your purchase. Because of this, buy-here, pay-here dealerships can work with individuals with low credit scores or limited credit histories.

Buy-Here, Pay-Here: How It Works

Think about the traditional car-buying process. It often starts by browsing the inventory on a dealer’s lot and then taking a few test drives before starting the purchase process. In contrast, buy-here, pay-here dealerships work differently to set every customer up for success.

Buy-here, pay-here dealerships take the guesswork out of what you can afford by reversing the car-buying process. While you can browse our inventory anytime, we like to start the financial paperwork first to better estimate your budget and what you can afford. This process begins by verifying your income and proof of residence. From there, we’ll determine the loan amount you qualify for and the required down payment.

Once you know the amount you qualify for, it’s time to start shopping. We’ll show you the vehicles on the lot that meet your budget needs. Then, once you say “yes” to a model, we’ll finalize the paperwork and toss you the keys. Unlike traditional automotive loans where you repay the lender, you’ll make your monthly payments to the dealership.

Buy-Here, Pay-Here: The Many Advantages

The most obvious advantage to shopping with a buy-here, pay-here dealership is that your credit score isn’t a factor. As a result, you don’t have to worry about pre-qualifying for a loan with a lender, which eliminates much of the financial stress of buying a vehicle. Instead, you can focus on taking the next steps to rebuild your credit while getting behind the wheel of a car, truck, or SUV that meets all your needs. But what other benefits come with working with a buy-here, pay-here dealership like ours?

#1 Helps Your Credit

The best way to improve your credit score involves three steps:

1. Make your monthly payments on time.
2. Ensure you have a healthy balance of installment credit (auto loan or mortgage) and revolving credit (credit card).
3. Limit the use of available credit or avoid maxing out your credit cards.
   However, how is this possible if you don’t qualify for a traditional loan? It makes rebuilding your credit an overwhelming task.

Buy-here, pay-here dealerships like ours are ideal for individuals who need to rebuild their credit. We report your payments to the three major credit bureaus–Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. Every payment made on time and in full puts you one step closer to a healthier credit score.

#2 Build Equity

Buying a vehicle from a buy-here, pay-here dealership puts you on the path to a promising financial future. Every payment that you make on your loan builds equity. What is that exactly? Equity is the difference between what you owe on the vehicle and how much it’s worth. More importantly, every payment puts you one step closer to owning the vehicle outright, making it an asset in your financial portfolio.

#3 Interest Rates Vary

Anytime you loan someone money, there’s a risk they won’t repay you. The same is true when financing a vehicle with either a traditional dealership or a buy-here, pay-here dealership. A loan is the IOU of the automotive world, and as you’ve likely experienced, not all IOUs are repaid on time or in full.

Lenders mitigate the risk by charging interest on the principal or the amount borrowed based on your credit score—the higher your score, the lower the interest rate and vice versa. Lenders also know that they can recover their investment by repossessing the vehicle if you fail to repay the loan.

The same is true for buy-here, pay-here dealerships. As with traditional lenders, interest rates vary at buy-here, pay-here dealerships because they are based on your financial situation. In either instance, laws regulate how much interest buy-here, pay-here dealerships, and other lenders can apply to any loan.

#4 Simple Process

Buy-here, pay-here dealerships are known for their straightforward processes. By determining your budget upfront, you know exactly what you can afford and that eliminates any guesswork when it’s time to start shopping. Finalizing the purchase takes very little time while making your payments is as easy as swinging by the dealership or using the dealer’s online payment tool.

Raising the Bar for Buy-Here, Pay-Here Dealerships

Third-party lenders regulate the customers that traditional dealerships can work with based on the customer’s credit score and history. We eliminate the middle man and act as both the dealership and lender. This allows us to set our own rules on what types of credit we can work with, giving every customer a fair chance to purchase a vehicle. So, what makes us different from every other buy-here, pay-here dealership?

We believe that every customer deserves the same treatment they would enjoy at a franchise or big-brand dealer. We hold our models to higher quality standards to ensure that you only have the best to choose from, whether you’re shopping off our lot or using our nationwide search tool that puts over 100,000 models at your fingertips. Our commitment to transparency and integrity defines every step of the process, which is designed to get you behind the wheel of a vehicle that meets your needs and exceeds your expectations. That’s what it means to shop with the leading buy-here, pay-here dealer in Daytona, McCluskey Automotive.