What does buy here pay here mean?

A buy-here-pay-here lot sells you the car and lends you the money itself. There's no bank and no finance company in the middle — the dealership is your lender, which is where the name comes from: you buy it here and you pay here.

At a regular dealership, the salesperson takes your application and sends it to lenders who decide whether to fund you. Your credit score is what they're deciding on. At a buy-here-pay-here lot there's nobody to send it to, so nobody can decline you over a score. The lot is risking its own money, so it's asking a different question: can you actually make the payments?

That's why the paperwork is about income rather than history. Thirty days of pay stubs, how long you've been at the job, a licence, proof of where you live, references, and what you can put down. People are turned down at these lots more often for being new on the job than for anything on their credit report.

The trade-off is real and worth knowing going in. Interest is higher than a bank would charge, because the lot is lending to people banks won't. Payments are often weekly or every two weeks instead of monthly, sometimes timed to your paydays. Many lots fit a GPS or a starter interrupt device. And the cars are older with more miles than a franchise dealership's used row.