A friend of mine (hi, Joey!) was driving by a local Buy Here Pay Here lot and noticed something that didn’t quite belong there – a yellow Lambo. How strange, right? A bright yellow Lambo among a sea of gray and black mid-level mid-size vehicles that are totally not salvaged, poorly repaired, and have original odometers. There has got to be an interesting story there.
That made me think – what type of vehicle does one never see at a Buy Here Pay Here lot?
Hooniverse Asks: Least expected vehicle on a Buy Here Pay Here Lot?
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14 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Least expected vehicle on a Buy Here Pay Here Lot?”
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“what type of vehicle does one never see at a Buy Here Pay Here lot?” Good ones with low miles that are reasonably priced.
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One of our local lots like this has two Maseratis parked out in front. I always wonder how they were obtained since everything else looks like hot garbage.
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I buy clean, low mileage older vehicles at the bottom of the depreciation curve. For example, my most recent purchase was a 1995 OBS F150 with 75K miles. The trick is finding these gems, they never make it to a lot.
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I bet the owner takes it home every night.
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This is probably the correct answer – bury something nicer (albeit with just as questionable a history than anything else on the lot) as a business expense.
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The BHPH businesses model is all about low down payment and repo risk mitigation. That points straight to POS’s that momentarily run, but aren’t likely to for very long. You make your money on the delta between your borrowing costs and the 20% interest you get for 5 months before default minus whatever the repo man charges for his services, and then it’s a quick hose down, a new black ice air freshener and back into the hopper for another round.
The reliable cars that run nearly forever would be the least likely to end up there IMO. Eventually someone that just needs basic transportation will buy it for cash and drive it until it or they die. -
Locally I’ve noticed a dearth of voitures sans permis, three-wheeled experimental vehicles from the late ’70s to early ’80s gas crisis era, and pretty much anything made before WWII. I’ll keep checking, though.
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It’s a real shame, isn’t?
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Honestly? Yes.
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You know… in my life I have met a lot of old, really old, but healthy people who are ready to die. Not because there is anything wrong with them. They were just ready to die… but I never understood why.
Now, years later, I think it’s because the world they knew does not exist anymore at that time. The world changed faster than they, humans, could adopt. It’s shit that they have seen that changed, things that will never be printed is history books. The people, the world, they knew is gone. Absent. Missing. no longer existing. And they just don’t like it. People don’t adapt to changes well – it takes generations and no one sees is happening.-
Ouch. Normally I only feel this old when talking with my students.
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However I believe that mdharrell’s collection is an absolute necessity for looking forward to a new future. We’ve seen ’57 Chevvies, ’60 Mustangs and other pretty bits of auto ‘history’, they are good for a look, a few quick questions and you move on. Even someone like me, whose Corolla and Subaru are serviced by a shop mechanic (*gasp*) because I have neither the time nor ability to do so for myself, knows a lot about these cars, cylinders count, no. of gears, rough power outputs etc. because that’s what the placards say, and I can read about them on Wikipedia.
A collection like mdharrell’s makes you stop and question more than just cars’ vital statistics: you need to know what culture or crisis made it necessary for these vehicles to exist. Why people bought them: was it through necessity? a lack of choice? A ‘collectible’ car is more than a lovingly restored thing on a pedestal, it has more than it’s own personal history, it is a window into the times or culture that necessitated it’s creation, and something that is quirky, unusual or even downright ugly is one of the best statements of ‘life in the day’.
Don’t stop looking mharrell. There mere existence of your oddball passion makes me happy.
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The oddest thing I’ve seen at a BHPH dealer was an extended early ’00s Ford van with a completely customized interior for an owner who was wheelchair bound. No seats behind the diver’s compartment, but there were mounts and brackets for the owner’s wheelchair in addition to the electric wheelchair lift in the side door. Plenty of custom wood and carpeting, TV, VCR, dual A/C, and a fancy stereo.
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I guess its still a regular car, but a BHPH near me had a Mercury Marauder. It had over 150k miles on it at they wanted something like $12,500 for it. I checked their site and its gone… so I guess they got a sucker
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