The words this business uses.

Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH)

A dealership that finances its own customers instead of sending them to a bank or credit union. You sell the car and you carry the loan, so you collect the payments yourself.

In-house financing

A dealership lending its own money to the customer instead of arranging a loan through a bank or an outside finance company. The dealer collects the payments.

Independent dealer

A dealership that does not hold a franchise from a manufacturer. Most BHPH lots are independents, though franchise stores sometimes run buy here pay here on the used side.

Lot

The physical dealership. Used the way a restaurant owner says 'the shop'.

Note

One customer's loan. 'I wrote three notes last week' means three financed sales.

Paper

The whole set of loans a dealership is carrying. "Carrying paper" means the dealer financed the customers itself rather than sending them to a lender.

Book / portfolio

Every loan a dealership is currently collecting on, counted together. A dealer with 200 customers paying has a book of 200.

Servicing

Everything after the sale: taking payments, sending reminders, tracking who is behind, handling payoffs.

Payer

The person making the car payments. Your customer, and in a BHPH deal also your borrower.

Dealer license

State permission to sell cars. Every state runs its own process, fees and timeline.

Surety bond

A guarantee you buy from an insurer, required before most states will license you. If you break the rules, it pays your customer and you repay the insurer.

Garage liability insurance

Business insurance for a dealership: the lot, the test drives, the cars you do not own yet.

DMS

Dealer Management System. The software that writes the deal, prints the paperwork and keeps track of who owes you what. Wayne Reaves, Frazer, DealerCenter and AutoManager are common ones.

Floor plan

A line of credit for buying inventory, secured by the cars themselves. You draw on it at the auction and pay it back when the car sells.

Curtailment

A required payment against a floor plan loan on a car that has sat too long without selling.

Down payment

What the customer pays up front. In BHPH it matters more than the rate: it is the part of your money that is not at risk.

Cash in deal

What the car actually cost you, once you add purchase price, reconditioning and fees, minus the down payment. The real number at risk.

ACV

Actual Cash Value. What the car is worth today, not what you are selling it for.

Recon

Reconditioning. What you spend getting a car ready for the lot: mechanical repairs, tires, brakes, glass, dents and paint, and detailing.

Term

How long the customer has to pay. BHPH terms are usually much shorter than bank loans.

Spot delivery

Letting the customer drive off the same day the deal is signed. Normal in BHPH because you are the lender and there is nobody to wait on.

Title

The legal ownership document for the car. Who holds it while a loan is outstanding, and what has to happen before it transfers, is set by your state.

Cash car

A car sold outright, with no financing. Many lots sell both cash cars and financed cars off the same inventory.

OTD price

Out-the-door price. The all-in number including fees, tax and title work, rather than the sticker on the windshield. Shoppers increasingly ask for it by name on the phone.

Side note

A second amount financed on an existing account, separate from the original loan. Usually for a repair the customer cannot pay for outright.

Pickup payment

An extra payment scheduled on top of the regular installments, usually early in the deal. A way to collect part of a down payment over the first few weeks instead of all at once.

Payment processing

The plumbing that lets you take money by card, bank transfer or app and have it reach your bank account. Separate from the software that tracks the loan.

If you only take cash today, this is the part you do not have yet. It is separate from whatever software tracks the loan.

Convenience fee

A charge added when a customer pays by card, to offset what the card costs you. Rules on these vary by state.

Autopay

A payment that pulls itself on schedule without the customer doing anything. The single biggest lever on late payments.

Next-day funding

Money taken today reaches your bank account the next business day, rather than sitting for several days.

Virtual terminal

A web page where you take a card payment by typing the details in yourself, with no card reader involved. Used for a customer on the phone, someone standing at the counter, or a one-off charge that is not part of a payment schedule.

Payoff

The amount that closes an account out completely today, including any fees and interest owed to date.

Deposits in transit

Money a customer has paid you that has not reached your bank account yet. The reason today's collected total and today's bank balance never match.

Chargeback

A card issuer reversing a payment because the cardholder disputed it. The money comes back out of your account and you have to submit evidence to keep it.

Returned payment

A bank payment that fails after the fact, usually for insufficient funds. Also called an NSF. It clears, then it un-clears, often days later.

IVR

Interactive Voice Response. An automated phone line that answers on its own and lets the caller do something with voice commands or the keypad — check a balance, make a payment — without anyone picking up.

PCI DSS

The card industry's security rules for handling card data. Any business that takes cards has to comply, and how much work it involves depends on how the card details reach you in the first place.

Funding cutoff

The time of day after which a payment counts toward the next business day instead of the current one. Every processor sets its own, and it decides whether money taken late in the afternoon lands tomorrow or the day after.

Delinquency

How much of your book is behind on payments. The number that decides whether a BHPH lot survives.

Aging

Sorting who is behind by how far behind: 1-15 days, 16-30, 31+. How you decide who to call first.

Repossession

Taking the car back when the customer stops paying. Rules on notice, storage and resale are set by your state.

Skip tracing

Finding a customer who has stopped answering and moved without telling you.

Right to cure

A notice some states require you to send, giving the customer a set number of days to catch up before you can repossess.

Deficiency balance

What the customer still owes after you repossess and resell the car for less than the loan balance.

Charge-off

Writing a loan off your books as uncollectable. It does not mean the debt disappears.

GPS / starter interrupt

Devices fitted to a financed car: one tells you where it is, the other stops it starting. Legality and required notice vary sharply by state.

Deferral

Moving a scheduled payment to a later date so the account does not go past due. Sometimes carries a fee.

Late fee

A charge added when a payment misses its due date. How much you can charge, and how long you have to wait, are set by your state.

RFC (Related Finance Company)

A separate company you set up to hold the loans your dealership writes. Common in BHPH for tax and liability reasons.

CPI

Collateral Protection Insurance. Coverage you place on the car when the customer lets their own insurance lapse, and bill to the loan.

VSI

Vendor's Single Interest. Insurance that protects the lender's stake in the car, not the customer's.

Note sale

Selling some or all of your loans to a third party for cash up front, at a discount to face value.

Recourse / non-recourse

Whether the buyer of your notes can come back to you when a customer stops paying. Non-recourse costs more and is safer for you.

Collateral

The car itself, as the thing backing the loan.