The BHPH Morning Show

Hosted by Jim & Michelle Rhoads

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486

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Jun 2026

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June 12, 202646 min

The Fed Went Digging: What Washington Just Learned About the BHPH Business

The Federal Reserve doesn't study industries without a reason — and in May 2026, they published a deep-dive report on the Buy Here Pay Here sector that every independent dealer needs to read. Five Fed economists spent months analyzing real loan data, bank records, and portfolio performance metrics to answer one question: what exactly is the BHPH business model, and what risks does it carry for the broader financial system? What they found will surprise you ... in both directions. Yes, the scrutiny is real. The Tricolor collapse put Washington on notice, and the banking community is now looking at every BHPH operator differently because of one bad actor. Capital is being repriced. Risk ratings are shifting. The regulatory environment is changing in ways that aren't always visible from the lot. But the Fed's data also tells a story the industry rarely gets credit for. BHPH loan balances have grown 214% since 2018. Dealers have been quietly moving toward less risky borrower segments for years. And the integrated dealer-financier model — done right — is one of the most effective tools in the market for serving customers traditional lenders won't touch. Today, Jim and Michelle Rhoads breaks down the full Fed report through the White Hat Way lens: what it means for your capital access, your collections strategy, your customer relationships, and your long-term viability as an operator. If you want to understand the environment you're actually operating in right now, this is the episode. 🔗 Full Fed Report: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/subprime-auto-lending-trends-in-buy-here-pay-here-auto-lending-20260508.html BHPH Morning Show | White Hat Way | whitehatway.com Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

June 5, 202622 min

"Ready to Trade, Mr. Customer?" One Advantage of Lease Here Pay Here

Every dealer wants repeat business. But in the Buy Here Pay Here world, getting a customer back in the door for their next car is more art than science — and more hope than system. You finish financing their car, they make payments for a few years, and then... what? You cross your fingers and wait to see if they come back. Lease Here Pay Here changes that equation entirely. When a customer drives off in a leased vehicle, the end of the road is already built into the deal. You know when the term ends. You know what the car is expected to be worth. You know when they're coming back — because the lease brings them back. That's not a repeat customer strategy. That's a repeat customer machine. In today's Morning Show, we're talking about one of the most compelling advantages LHPH has over traditional BHPH financing: the built-in trade cycle. We'll explore what it looks like when a dealer can plan their next deal before the current one is done — and what that means for customer retention, inventory flow, and the long-term value of every relationship on your books. Whether you're already operating an LHPH program or you're still on the BHPH side of the fence watching this model grow, this episode is going to paint a picture of what's possible when you stop waiting on customers to come back — and start building the road that brings them home. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 29, 202651 min

BHPH Economic News According to Claude AI

The economy looks fine — unless you're in it. In today's episode, Jim and Michelle break down the biggest headlines shaking the BHPH world right now, with a little help from AI. From the billion-dollar fraud collapse to a 32-year delinquency record, there's a lot your dashboard isn't telling you — and a lot your competitors aren't paying attention to yet. We share the latest on the Tricolor Holdings implosion — how a vertically integrated BHPH giant allegedly double-pledged $800 million in collateral, took a big chunk out of JPMorgan and Fifth Third Bank in the process , and ended with federal fraud indictments. Then we unpack what the big delinquency data actually says about your customers right now: subprime 60-day past-dues just hit their highest level since 1994, and the K-shaped economy explains exactly why — and how that influences today's best practices in BHPH underwriting and collections. We also look at the regulatory wildcard in the room and how tariffs are likely impacting the auction lanes. If you want to know what's happening in the world your customers are living in, this is the episode. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 24, 202639 min

BHPH Report Cards Are In ... WHW's New Business Model Index™ [Episode 2 of 2] 📱

[Episode 2 of 2 - find #1 by same title on YouTube] For decades, Buy Here Pay Here and Lease Here Pay Here dealers have run their operations on instinct, experience, and fragmented data — never quite sure how well their business model or strategy was working. Profitability looked fine on paper. Maybe volume was OK. But the deeper questions — Is my deal structure building a portfolio that actually pays me back? Is my finance arm supporting itself or quietly bleeding? Is my inventory strategy serving my cash flow or fighting it? — went largely unanswered. Until now. In this expanded LIVE Sunday episode, Jim will take viewers inside the methodology behind the WHW Business Model Index™ — a first-of-its-kind framework that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate six core pillars of a BHPH or LHPH operation and assign something operators have never had before: an honest, data-driven letter grade on their overall game plan. We'll start with the 'why' behind the Index — the blind spots it was designed to expose, the weighting of the chosen metrics, and what it actually means to have your business model graded against a standard that looks beyond your best month or your worst excuse. Whether you're running a single lot or managing a multi-dealer group, the WHW Business Model Index™ is built to show you where you stand — and more importantly, where the math says you could. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 22, 202630 min

Report Cards Are In! Introducing the WHW Business Model Index™ [Episode 1 of 2]

The BHPH industry will never grade itself the same way again. For decades, Buy Here Pay Here and Lease Here Pay Here dealers have run their operations on instinct, experience, and fragmented data — never quite sure how well their business model or strategy was working. Profitability looked fine on paper. Maybe volume was OK. But the deeper questions — Is my deal structure building a portfolio that actually pays me back? Is my finance arm supporting itself or quietly bleeding? Is my inventory strategy serving my cash flow or fighting it? — went largely unanswered. Until now. In this episode, White Hat Way introduces the WHW Business Model Index™ — a first-of-its-kind framework that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate six core pillars of a BHPH or LHPH operation and assign something operators have never had before: an honest, data-driven letter grade on their overall game plan. We'll walk you through the why behind the Index — the blind spots it was designed to expose, the metrics that matter most, and what it actually means to have your business model graded against a standard that looks beyond your best month or your worst excuse. Whether you're running a single lot or managing a multi-dealer group, the WHW Business Model Index™ is built to show you where you stand — and more importantly, where the math says you could. Part 2 drops LIVE on Sunday at 2:30e, only on YouTube. Subscribe to the channel (@Jim_Michelle_Rhoads) to be notified. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 15, 202649 min

Your Recon Bottleneck: How to Permanently Break the Dam!

Every BHPH dealer I've ever talked to knows the feeling. Cars sitting in the shop. Techs backed up. Inventory that can't hit the lot because recon isn't done. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you know — if I could just get those cars ready faster, I could sell more. So why are so many dealers still clinging to the idea that they have to do it all in-house? The answer, almost every time, comes down to one word: cost. In-house labor is cheaper per hour, and that feels like smart business. But here's what that math leaves out — every day a car sits waiting on your shop is a day it is NOT generating a sale. No sale means no profit from those dollars and that unit. Now sale this means no payments next month. Dealers know this. In today's Morning Show, we're making the case for farming out more of that recon labor. Not because outside labor is cheap — it isn't. But because the profit waiting on the other side of a faster recon cycle is worth far more than the dollars you're saving per repair order. It's time to stop letting your shop limit your volume! Watch this episode and let's break the dam! Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 8, 202643 min

[FRI] The New Standard: What Great Dealership Customer Service Actually Looks Like in 2026

The bar has moved — and the dealers winning right now know it. Jim sits down live with operators who are in the middle of it, talking candidly about what great customer service actually has to look like in 2026. The conversation includes a look at the first dealer LOIs signed to deploy White Hat certified AI personas in customer-facing roles — and what that really means for the human side of this business. Real dealers, real answers, no fluff. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

May 1, 202636 min

Into the AI Frontier: Dealers, DMS, and the 'Early Warning' Rollout

We’re stepping into new territory—and we’re not doing it alone. In this episode, we officially announce the launch of a new documentary-style podcast series that will follow the real-world rollout of White Hat Way’s “Early Warning" AI subscription service. This isn’t theory or a lab test. Dealers are already stepping forward, opening their operations, and allowing the industry to watch what happens when agentic AI is deployed with a clear purpose: improving customer retention in BHPH and LHPH. But pioneering in this way works best when it’s collaborative. Even better when it's transparent. Today, we’re extending the invitation to the DMS providers of the enrolled dealers since they sit at the center of the data. As Early Warning AI goes to market, it will do so publicly - successes, snags, real stories. Today, we’ll lay out: What “Early Warning AI” actually is—and what it is not Why customer retention is the proving ground for this technology How participating dealers are approaching the rollout Where DMS providers fit into the equation (and why their role matters) What this documentary series will capture as the story unfolds There’s no established playbook here. Just a shared belief that when we get this right, the result won’t just be better technology—it will be better outcomes for dealers and the customers they serve. This is the starting line. Join us. Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

April 25, 202650 min

[YouTube Saturday] Hold the Line ... or Move the Metal??? The Down Payment Dilemma 📱

Every BHPH dealer faces it: do you hold firm for larger down payments because of the perceived reduction in risk per contract, or do you accept lower money down in order to move more units, grow receivables, and increase incoming cash flow? On this episode, we break down one of the most important judgment calls in the business. Is more cash up front always the safer move, or can it quietly choke sales volume, future payment streams, and overall profitability? On the other side, when does lowering the down payment create smart growth—and when does it simply invite trouble? We’ll walk viewers through real-world calculations that show the very real financial impact of both strategies, including volume, collections cash flow, exposure per deal, and the long-term effect on the portfolio. This is not theory. It’s math dealers can use immediately. LIVE Saturday at 11:15 EST, only on YouTube.  Find the BHPH Morning Show on Video (Live or Archived) Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.

April 17, 202626 min

[FRI] The Kitchen Table Conversations: When Business Comes Home

Some of the most important business decisions aren't made in boardrooms — they're made at kitchen tables. Late at night, when the house is quiet, and the weight of what you've built sits right next to the people you built it for. This podcast is for business owners navigating the parts of entrepreneurship that don't show up in spreadsheets — the new baby, the pressure of a lender call you weren't expecting, the question of whether to put your home on the line for a business plan you believe in. The squiggly lines between ambition and real life. This episode pulls from real stories — anonymous, but true — from owners across industries who are figuring it out in real time. No polished highlight reels. Just honest conversation about what really happens when running a business and a life at the same time. Find the BHPH Morning Show LIVE on YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook every Mon, Wed, & Fri at 11am eastern where we (Jim and Michelle Rhoads along with featured guests) talk #buyherepayhere #bhph #subprime #automotive #finance #ethics #whitehatway #customerretention #customerengagement #marketing and much more!  We are pleased to use our sometimes-scratchy morning voices to speak up on behalf of BHPH Dealers. Don't forget to LIKE the videos and SUBSCRIBE to The Octane Group channel. Also, please add your comments or questions right here in the BHPH Institute.    