Lead gen for a local bad credit car lot and financier

[QUOTE=MRomeo09;9042181]No, actually that's not how the bad credit people find you. Most of the people on social services aren't really going to qualify even for a buy-here-pay-here ride. You want people with jobs, no jobs no car.

I've been in the car business off and on since 1994. It's all about getting feet on the lot. We're having pretty good success with facebook ads right now with the right demographics.

Honestly no one cares about your ad about getting them in a car, what they care about it the monthly/weekly price and is it what they are looking for. [QUOTE]

Are you only envisioning people who have to take the RTA?

I don't know the exact numbers of people on social services who have no job and who would otherwise not qualify, but surely some of them do. I've seen people who are:
* Are on disability - getting checks every month and still needing social services. And their disability income does qualify them for a buy here/pay here car.
* Working Poor - They have a job, but still need social services to supplement (some only need food stamps, some need more)

So, I'm going to have to partially disagree with you on this point.

However, I 100% agree with you that monthly/weekly payment is what they are looking for.

You are wrongly assuming that most people there do not have jobs. Many many of them do. I know lot's of people on welfare and the vast majority have jobs. Hell to maximize your benefits you have to have a job.

Now maybe the welfare office/local clinic might not be the only specific places you would go. The key is to go where people with low income are likely to be like a Plasma "Donation" Center (few of my friends paid their BHPH cars using Plasma money). Because people looking for buy here pay here are not looking online for the most part. They are driving by, being referred by friends, seeing your TV spot, and etc.

I would be curious to know how Facebook ads would work (and have worked for you) in the Buy Here Pay Here market and how you would select the demographics.

There are some people who 100% care about you getting them in the car vs. the payments. And those are the buyers locally who buy from the Buy Here Pay Here places in my experience. There are two reasons that most buy here pay here places use weekly vs. monthly payments.

1. Leads to a faster repo when payments go south
2. Shows a lower payment number (some of these buy here pay here deals are costing these people over $500/mo for a car that on craigslist would sell for $3k)

In my opinion the average Buy Here Pay Here customer cares little for the price of the car or the payment at least that is my experience from seeing both sides (buyer and seller) second hand (I have not bought or sold BHPH). Very very different from the normal car buyer who normally cares about one of the big 3 (payment, price, or trade value).



Clearly you have worked in Buy Here Pay Here. Though your buy price is far higher than the local dealers I know but your numbers otherwise sound the same. The places around here buy much lower because that $5k to $10k price is what they need to sell them for. Though the selling prices are thousands above the true market price of the cars because the customers need a car and only care about getting financed for a car they like.



The cars going for $5 to $12k at auction around normally get ate up by the small used car dealers who finance normal credit. It's the high mileage stuff that looks good but goes for less that the buy here pay heres eat up. The customers want to look good and pay for it. Otherwise they would use their tax money to buy a beater on craigslist and save thousands.


And yes the margins are huge. They have to be since such a risk is being taken.

And of course there is profit for the finance side of the deal as well. There is lots of money to be made on these deals. Though I am not sure how much the sales person (what the OP seemed to be talking about) at a place like JD makes off the deal. My understanding was that most of these places paid their people set fees per car vs. a percentage of gross. Also places like JD put a warranty on the car which is part of the price. Of course the warranty is just there to keep the car working for when they have to repo it.

I have a lot of friends who have bought from JD (and etc) and put me down as a reference. The calls for them not paying got to be very annoying. Which is the exact reason they ask for the references. That way they can annoy your friends who will in turn annoy you if you don't pay.

The cash advance places are the same and often the same customers. I know that because I get calls about once a week still due to one friend who stop paying on her cash advance.


I've always found the owners at the small dealers (BHPH or normal) are very open and talkative as long as they are not busy at the time. Not sure rather I would call it a good old boys network but here in the midwest I agree that the dealers are easy to talk to.

I'd like to learn more about how you are targeting Buy Here Pay Here customers online with Facebook and such. Around here the Buy Here Pay Here dealers have very minimal websites (if they have one) because their clients come from drive-bys, referrals, and traditional media (in the case of the bigger ones like JD).

So if you see this please reply. I would love to see if it is a difference in the markets (deep south vs midwest) or if it is simply and untapped lead stream that local dealers have ignored. The BHPH buyers I know use social media but minus checking out a specific dealer's inventory online they have not used the internet in their buying.

Locally at least, I disagree with you and Shockwave. They are not payment buyers (minus affording it) they are buying based on looks and what/where they can get approved. The approval is what matters to the BHPH customers locally. I've know dozens of BHPH buyers over the years. They were desperate to get approved for a car because they needed it. And they time and time again bought over priced cars with payments they deep down knew they could not afford.