Having been in the automotive industry for 7 years now I have seen a lot. I have seen past employers go to great lengths to earn the poor reputation car dealers have.

I have also seen genuine honest dealers slammed, I have seen honest sales people insulted and spit on. I have seen things that would shock most people, good and bad.

Yet, there one thought always stands out.

One of my memorable experiences came after having just a few years under my belt.

I took a job doing sales & internet at a "Buy Here, Pay Here" lot. It was an eye opening event to say the least. It was also an experience that I will NEVER repeat again.

First let me say this, Buy Here, Pay-Here lots can provide a legitimate service. When someone has no possibility to finance a car, and no money to buy one. For just about everyone else, you need to read this article.

First you need to understand more about how a Buy Here, Pay Here lot works internally.

For instance while pay-plans do vary, the majority of these stores pay their sales people a percentage of the down payment they are able to get from the customers. Why a commission on the down payment and not the sales price you ask?

Well, most of these places have very active collection and reposession departments!

Infact, across the industry, these small lots go into each car deal fully expecting to REPO up to 60% of the vehicles they sell!

One of the common tricks, is to set you up on a "weekly" or "bi-weekly" payment schedule. It's true that this sometimes makes the payment more managable, what else does it do?

Why, it also makes it more likely that you might slip up and miss your payment too!

More payments = More Chances They Repo your car!

It's not uncommon for a buy-here pay here lot, to sell and repo the same car several times before it is finally paid off by an eventual owner.

Now Buy here, Pay here lots do a great service to people who have encountered credit troubles in the past. Yet they do little to help you rebuild your credit. Many people end up in an endless loop, overpaying for cars from these lots.

Remember, while many Buy here, Pay here lots do not report positive payment history to your credit, most do report negative.

Your best course is to take out a loan from your local bank, or a new car dealership that specializes in helping people rebuild their credit.

If you have no choice but to goto a Buy Here Pay Here, follow these rules and guidelines - They will save you trouble:

1. When you find a vehicle that you like, make sure that it comes with a verified in writing warranty and that the terms and conditions are clearly stated. Buy-Here Pay here Lots do not have factory trained technicians looking at their cars, they are at best checked out by an ASE certified technician, at worst, a guy with a wrench doing part time work. New car dealers have technicians who have gone to college for 4 years, cars today are too complex. Don't leave your vehicle investment up to chance. You can also ask to take the vehicle to a mechanic, I would suggest taking it to a new car dealers service department so they can look at it and give you an educated opinion.

2. If I had a nickle for every time a customer came to me who was currently making payments to a buy here pay here lot believing that their credit score was going up all the awhile, I could have retired a long time ago. (Well, I could have taken a nice long cruise vacation anyway)

If a Buy Here Pay Here lot promises to report your on-time payments to the credit agencies, get it in writing. Make sure they do. Often, the only time they report to credit agencies is if you don't pay!! This is not always the case, sometimes these stores are legitimate and do as they promise, but I've seen it happen more times then I can possibly count. Someone has made payments on their car religiously for 3 years, only to find out their credit score is identical to what it was just 3 years earlier.

Tip: If you are already stuck in a buy here/pay here deal or are going to get into one, make sure that you retain copies of all payments that you made. Get a receipt for each payment, and keep them in a safe place. If the buy here pay here doesn't report the credit, atleast you will have proof to provide to the banks in the future that you made all of your payments, on time, every month.