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Facts vs. Fiction
The simple truth about how we do business
Fiction: You’re one of those companies that lure unsophisticated consumers into a thicket of debt.
Fact: We don’t put customers in cars they can’t afford. Long before we get to the closing, our proprietary risk assessment program and budget analysis enables us to determine if the customer can afford the deal, and whether he or she is capable of meeting its terms.
And we recognize that our typical customer is less savvy than we are about the buying and financing process. That’s why our closing process is so detailed and structured, and why every customer must watch a video that explains everything in easy-to-understand terms. And to make sure we don’t overlook anything, we even videotape the closing, always with the customer’s consent.
Watch our pre-closing video
Fiction: You have sophisticated technology to determine the price a customer can afford, and then you increase the price of the car accordingly.
Fact: This is so not true. We do have sophisticated and proprietary technology but it’s used to assess the risk we would be taking on with each customer. Then we combine that with a detailed budget analysis that we go through with each customer, to determine which vehicle he or she can afford or if the customer can afford a car at all -- only 46 percent of applications are approved. But the price of each vehicle is not affected. Our prices are displayed in the dealership, and they don’t go up.
Fiction:Your customers are being encouraged to live beyond their means. You take advantage of low-income people.
Fact: That’s not us. We’re meeting the customer’s need, not some whim. People need cars to get good jobs. Studies have shown that 88 percent of American workers drive to work. One study by a UCLA professor found that residents of the poorest section of Los Angeles who can drive to work have 59 times as many jobs to choose from as their neighbors who must rely on public transit. As one theorist said, "Few things are better at helping the poor pull themselves out of poverty than improved mobility."
There may be some bad players in the low-income industry, but we want nothing to do with that crowd. We show our customers the type of respect they don’t often receive from other merchants. And if our customers aren’t satisfied, we’ll make it right. That’s why so many of our 5,000 customers every month are either returning customers or referrals.
Fiction: You sell junk cars.
Fact: That’s a sure way to lose money. We’re better businesspeople than that. The straight business truth is that we win when the car operates as expected, and the customer completes the contract. We lose when the car doesn’t run, and the customer cancels. That’s why we pick the best used cars to sell, and then invest more than $1,000 in each one to make sure it meets our standards.
Fiction: You charge sky-high interest rates.
Fact: The fact is that interest rates are regulated in every state. We follow the law. What’s more, in most cases, the interest rate we charge is less than what the law allows us to charge.
Our rates reflect a business truth: Because of past credit challenges, our typical customer brings risk to the table. The higher the risk, the higher the interest.
Fiction: You use cars as an avenue to a higher profit item -- an expensive loan.
Fact: Our customers need cars to get to work. Most of them can’t pay cash for a dependable car, and most conventional lenders turn them away. Our core business is selling good cars to people who need credit. By providing affordable financing and we make sure it’s affordable -- we can enable those customers to advance in life.
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