Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 11-21-2015, 08:20 PM
 
Location: morrow,ga
1,081 posts, read 1,802,257 times
Reputation: 1324

Advertisements

I have heard that most buy here pay here lots sell beat up, low quality cars..is this true? can you get a decent car at one of these lots? Do these dealers really help people with bad credit rebuild their credit?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 11-21-2015, 08:57 PM
 
Location: Homeless
17,720 posts, read 13,432,092 times
Reputation: 11992
I used one when I was younger it worked out ok enough. As far as credit goes some do report & some don't I would check into that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-21-2015, 09:28 PM
 
Location: La Jolla, CA
7,284 posts, read 16,603,963 times
Reputation: 11675
You can... Whether that's the best way to rebuild credit is another question entirely, but I'm just going to answer your question.

Back when I was doing auction buying, there was a buyer for a buy here/pay here chain who would only buy specific pieces. You'd basically know which units he was going to be on before the sale even started. He would only buy clean units with clean titles, miles under certain limits, no announcements, no mystery noises, etc. Understand that he would sometimes buy cars that were not known to be great models in general, but when he did, he only bought the best examples of those cars. And I presume he only bought them to satisfy the demands of his local retail demographic.

Naturally, these lots overcharged on a retail basis when combined with their financing plans and warranties, but I think they offered some sort of basic warranty included with the purchase, and service for buyers. I only know one person who bought a car from one of those lots. He was a local property manager, a young guy from a small town with a young wife, a newborn, and he had absolutely zero credit. He did get a nice Grand Cherokee, and considering his very limited finances, he probably could have done worse. I guess it did help him build good credit, and he was good for the payments, so I'm sure it worked out for him. Whether it was truly the "best" option, I couldn't say.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-21-2015, 09:43 PM
 
33,387 posts, read 34,650,303 times
Reputation: 20027
i have only ever financed one car in my lifetime, bought it from a buy here pay here lot. after about four months they sold the note to a finance company to clear their books. in the end it worked out nicely for me. a lot of the cars i have bought over the years were bought at buy here pay here lots, though i generally always paid cash for the cars, except the one time.

if you know what you are looking for, know something about how to tell if the car is any good or not, or have some one who does check it out for you, you can find some real gems in a crowd of stones.

one thing though, if you do buy from a lot like that, and you do finance the car, be very meticulous about making your payments on time, early is better, as one way these lots make money is to sell a car, finance it, and repossess it when the payments are late. they hold the car for thirty days so the buyer can get current, then they resell the car if they cant.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 05:10 PM
 
Location: The Circle City. Sometimes NE of Bagdad.
24,300 posts, read 25,806,881 times
Reputation: 59497
We did and lucked out. Purchased a 2002 Saturn 2SC, 5 speed with 30k miles on it in 2009 for our GS.

Car was owned by a man that had passed away and wife no longer wanted it because of the 5 speed.

Has all the service records by the dealer. All it needed was new tires, no dings, paint and interior good, still running just brakes and a battery.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 07:14 PM
 
3,278 posts, read 5,349,865 times
Reputation: 4072
It is possible to get a good car, but these are generally shady places. For every one good one there are 100 bad ones. You're better off going through a reputable dealer or private party. A lot of BHPH lots are fly-by-night operations. If the car has problems you may find their phone number disconnected and them no longer in business.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 09:17 PM
 
Location: Washington, DC & New York
10,915 posts, read 31,267,502 times
Reputation: 7137
Many times, you are buying auction vehicles from such establishments, that are washed and vacuumed before being placed on the lot for sale, not with reconditioning that goes into a used car at a new car dealership. Some dealers of that type will also quote one price for cash, and another for financing, building a profit over the cash price, in addition to the usually high interest rates charged on the amount financed.

Many of the sub-prime dealerships also include a tracker that uses GPS to follow the vehicle and can include a code pad that requires a code to be entered to keep the vehicle operational. If payments are missed, the car will not start, and the lien holder knows where to find it. There are variations by state as to what is allowed with respect to tracking and disabling systems, but they can be used for purposes other than their intended reason with respect to sub-prime auto loans. And, some may disable the car for a missed payment, prior to the time where they would be legally entitled to repossess the vehicle, i.e., not considering the car in default per the original contract, but it is disabled for non-payment. On the plus side, such devices supposedly make it easier to get current as you just have to pay what's due, not pay towing or other charges associated with a repossession in which the vehicle is not sold to another party after whatever time is legally required by jurisdiction to hold the vehicle, if any.

And, when you finish making the payments, the tracker can still be on the vehicle, even if the keypad is removed, something that violates one's right to privacy, so be sure that the entire system is required to be removed, per the original contract, upon satisfactory completion of the loan agreement, not just the keypad, but the tracker and all associated wiring is to be put back to original factory spec.

You may come out ahead when dealing with a private party, however, but you generally have to pay in cash. It may be worthwhile to look for an older, well-kept vehicle that has a good reputation for reliability, as opposed to something newer, and use another financial vehicle, such as a secured credit card to rebuild your credit history while clearing past problems from your credit report.

The best way to think of such dealerships is that they are not dealerships, rather they are financial services companies whose secured loan is in the form of an automobile. You will not get an expert in a particular brand/model selling you the vehicle as you do in most cases when purchasing from a marque's new franchisees. Rental agencies may be another place to look for an affordable car, from their own sales lots, though I am not sure about financial arrangements. The best bet when financing is to buy the newest, lowest mileage, most reliable vehicle that you can find, even if it is not the ideal car, so as to minimize exposure to making a car and repair payment on the vehicle.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare
(As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)

City-Data Terms of Service
City-Data FAQs
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 10:27 PM
 
Location: Wichita Falls Texas
1,009 posts, read 1,977,128 times
Reputation: 1003
I bought my 79 Thunderbird in April 2002 at one of those places for $900 cash. Still driving it today. No problems yet. Also bought my 73 Maverick in September 1990 at one also. Still have it. I had to give what I still think was too much money ($1100!), but it's still in good shape also. I haven't bought anything newer though. I don't generally buy cars built past 79. So I had good luck with "buy here, pay here" places.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 10:33 PM
 
2,700 posts, read 4,913,575 times
Reputation: 4576
Purchased a 2002 Hynudia Accent for our son at one of these.. Took the car and a week later my son said the tranny was acting funny... Yep it was..Took it back and they looked at it and called the Hyundia customer service who told them it was a recall..They took it in and while it was there they noticed the brakes were getting close to needing to be redone.. They had the dealership do them and when they got the car back gave us a certificate for a tire place down the street to have all 4 tires changed out for better ones(not new but damn close)...

So a very nice experience all around...Went there again to see about another car a couple years later and they were gone...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 11-22-2015, 11:15 PM
 
Location: Shady Drifter
2,444 posts, read 2,739,898 times
Reputation: 4118
Most of these places make a lot of money catering to people who need a car and have no other alternative. They aren't that concerned with the quality of the cars they sell.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Automotive

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top