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Buy Here, Pay Here overview

What BHPH is in AutoDealer.io, how to turn it on, and where you service in-house loans (Accounts).

Who: Owner, Manager, or AccountingPlan: All plans

Buy Here, Pay Here (BHPH) means you are the lender — the dealership carries the note and the customer pays you directly over time. AutoDealer.io has a full loan-servicing layer for this: originate a loan from a sold deal, then track the balance, schedule, and payments under Accounts.

BHPH is different from a Finance deal. On a Finance deal an outside bank pays you at signing. On a BHPH deal you keep the note and collect the payments yourself. Pick the right deal type up front — see Deal types.

What you get

  • An in-house loan originated from a sold BHPH deal — amount financed, APR, term, and a full payment schedule.
  • An Accounts list of every loan you carry, with balances and status.
  • A per-loan page with a payoff quote, next-due, the amortization schedule, and a payment ledger.
  • A Collections view with portfolio aging and your most-delinquent accounts.
  • Optional, opt-in automation: late fees, NSF (returned payment) handling, and email payment reminders.

How a BHPH loan starts

A loan is not created automatically. It's an explicit step after the sale.

  1. Create a deal and set the deal type to In-house (BHPH).
  2. Close the deal and mark it sold (this sells the vehicle and creates the title work).
  3. On the deal page, find the In-house financing card and click Originate in-house loan.
  4. On the Originate in-house loan screen, set the loan terms — sale price, taxes & fees financed, cash down, trade allowance, APR, number of payments, frequency, interest method, day count, first payment date, grace period, and any flat late-fee or pickup (deferred-down) terms.
  5. Watch the live Loan preview (payment amount, amount financed, finance charge, total of payments, maturity, and the full schedule), then click Originate loan.

You land on the loan's account page, and the loan now appears under Accounts.

At origination the late-fee type is None or Flat amount only. A Percent of payment option exists in Settings → In-house financing (BHPH) for future use or API-direct calls, but the loan origination calculator does not support selecting it. The loan is signed with whatever late-fee terms you set on the origination screen.

You can only originate a loan when the deal type is In-house (BHPH) and the deal is sold. If the deal isn't sold yet, the card says "Mark this deal sold to originate the in-house loan." Each BHPH deal can have only one loan — if it already has one, opening the calculator sends you to the existing account instead.

Where loans are serviced: Accounts

Accounts (in the Sales group of the left sidebar) lists every in-house loan you originate and service. From here you can:

  • Open any loan to see its balance, payoff, schedule, and payment history.
  • Open Collections (top-right button) for portfolio aging and delinquency.

On a single loan's page you can:

  • See Principal balance, Next due, and Payoff today (interest accrues on actual days, so the payoff reflects exactly when you pull it up).
  • Review the Loan terms (amount financed, finance charge, APR, total of payments, payment, term, first payment, maturity).
  • Record payment (the dialog has a one-click Payoff fill), pull a Payoff quote good through a chosen date, and collect any pickup (deferred-down) payments.
  • Assess late fee, mark a payment returned (NSF), or void a payment.
  • Share a read-only Customer portal link so the borrower can check their own balance.

Some controls only appear in context. The Assess late fee button shows only when the loan carries late-fee terms; the NSF and void buttons appear per non-voided payment row; and the Pickup payments table appears only when the loan has pickups.

Who can do what

  • Recording money (originating loans, recording payments, payoff quotes, late fees, NSF) — Owner, Manager, or Accounting. A Sales user is blocked ("Only owners, managers, or accounting may record loan money").
  • Changing loan status (e.g. defaulted, charged off) and voiding / NSF-reversing a payment — Owner or Manager only.
  • Saving BHPH settings — Owner or Manager only.

Turning on BHPH automation (optional)

Everything below is off by default and dealer-configurable. Nothing is charged or emailed until you turn it on.

  1. Go to Settings → In-house financing (BHPH).
  2. Set your Late fees defaults — grace period, default late-fee type (None / Flat amount / Percent of payment), and the amount. These prefill the calculator when you originate a loan.
  3. Turn on Auto-assess late fees daily if you want the daily servicing run to charge a late fee on each overdue installment automatically (otherwise you assess them manually per account).
  4. Set an NSF fee if you want the option to charge one when you mark a payment returned.
  5. Turn on Email borrowers about payments to send upcoming-due and past-due reminders, plus a daily summary to your team.
  6. Click Save BHPH settings.

A late fee only ever fires when both are true: you've enabled it in settings and the loan was originated with late-fee terms. The fee charged always uses that loan's own signed terms, not whatever the settings say now. Set your state's legal amounts — the system enforces no caps and invents no legal amounts.

What BHPH does not do (yet)

Be aware of these limits so you don't expect features that aren't built:

  • Interest methods: only Simple interest and Zero interest are available. Rule-of-78 / precomputed is intentionally blocked.
  • Payment frequency: Weekly, Bi-weekly, or Monthly only (no semi-monthly).
  • No signable financing contract is generated. The system computes and displays all the TILA-style numbers (APR, finance charge, amount financed, total of payments, schedule), but it does not produce a compliant signable Retail Installment Sales Contract. Have your contract reviewed by counsel.
  • No usury / APR cap checks. Any APR is accepted with no warning. You are responsible for staying within your state's legal rate.
  • Payment allocation is fee → interest → principal, and is not configurable per state. Confirm this matches your state's contracts.
  • No online borrower payments. The customer portal is read-only (balance, payoff, schedule, history); the borrower can't pay through it. Collect payments yourself and record them on the account.

FAQ

Why don't I see my BHPH loan under Accounts?

The loan isn't created automatically. The deal must be type In-house (BHPH) and marked sold, and then you must click Originate in-house loan on the deal page. Until you originate it, there's nothing to service.

Can a salesperson record a payment?

No. Recording payments and other money actions require the Owner, Manager, or Accounting role. Salespeople can't book BHPH money.

Why isn't a late fee being charged?

Two things must both be set: late fees must be enabled in Settings → In-house financing (BHPH), and the loan must have been originated with late-fee terms. A loan with no late-fee terms is never charged a fee, even with automation on.

Is the customer portal where borrowers pay?

No. The portal link is read-only — the borrower can view their payoff, balance, next due date, schedule, and payment history. Online payments are not supported; collect payments yourself and record them on the account.

Does BHPH cost extra?

No. BHPH loan servicing is available on all plans.