Is The Green Light On for You To Go To a J.D. Byrider?

With over 150 branches, J.D. Byrider is one of the largest buy-here-pay-here dealerships in the U.S. It has been helping people with bad credit buy used cars for more than 20 years now.

But the Indiana-based dealership has always been getting a bad rap for poor service and lemon cars. Is J.D Byrider then worth giving a try? Let’s find out.

Website

Let’s begin with the dealership website. JDByrider.com greets with a simple and straightforward homepage. From there, you can find the nearest J.D. Byrider dealership and the vehicle you want to purchase. You can also go straight to the application form for financing.

In general, the website is easy to use. But we don’t like or hate a dealership just because of its website. Let’s take a look at the application process for an auto loan.

Auto Financing Application Process

When you click on the “Get Me Financed” button at the homepage, you will be directed to J.D. Byrider’s auto loan application form. The form requests minimal information:

• zip code
• first and last names
• email address
• phone number

If you already filed an application in-store but haven’t received a decision yet, you can fill out the online application form to expedite the process. You would have to provide additional details, though.

After submitting your application, someone from a J.D. Byrider dealership nearest you will contact you to discuss possible payment schemes that are suitable for your financial condition. When the sales person requests you to come over, here are the things you will need to bring:

• valid driver’s license
• most recent pay stubs and utility bill (as proofs of stable income)
• down payment
• information about your character references
• trade title (if any)

Shopping Experience

The inventory pages of J.D. Byrider are easy to read. When you click on a vehicle, you will see several photos of the vehicle, dealer information, store hours, and some of the vehicle’s features.

Every vehicle on J.D. Byrider’s lot comes with:

• pre-sale inspection and reconditioning
• limited warranty
• vehicle protection plan of up to 36 months/36,000 miles
• low-cost oil changes
• preferred service pricing on parts and labor

You can request a copy of a vehicle’s history report from AutoCheck but you may only access it at the dealership.

We cannot say that the details provided for each vehicle are comprehensive, but they are enough to give you an idea about a vehicle’s condition and performance. If you want to see the car up close, you can request an appointment right away by clicking the designated button for it.

Service and Payment

The service department is exclusive to J.D. Byrider’s customers. The good thing about this is you can expect fast and good-quality service because of the mechanics’ undivided time and energy. J.D. Byrider also boasts that most of their technicians are ASE Masters.

As for the payments, they have CNAC in their network that facilitates online payments. It uses your Facebook account, Google account or Microsoft Windows Live account to access your information in the system. J.D. Byrider promises to report your payments to the credit bureaus so that your credit will improve.

In addition, J.D. Byrider can help you set your budget if you let them peek at your income, source/s of income, expenses and the down payment you’re willing to pay.

Pros

• The limited warranty included in every vehicle purchase has no extra charge.
• J.D. Byrider’s dealership website provides quick guides that can help first-time car buyers to jumpstart their loan application and car purchase experience.

Cons

• You cannot access vehicle history reports online.
• Car prices are not provided in the inventory pages. They are only available at the dealerships.
• The inventory in some J.D. Byrider dealerships is not viewable online.

Recommendation

J.D. Byrider is a longstanding used-car dealership and special car finance provider. Although it is surrounded by controversies, you may still want to check it out if you take experience and tenure in the industry as big factors in choosing a dealership to work with.

Nevertheless, let us give you some tips on how you can safely and successfully do business with any buy-here-pay-here dealership.

1. Always shop around for the best offer. BHPH dealerships tend to charge really high interest rates. Find the one that gives just the right offer.
   
   
2. Do not purchase a car without test driving and running an inspection on it. Don’t go home complaining that you’ve got a lemon when you skipped these things before handing the cash to the dealership.
   
   
3. No matter how good you are in making your payments, your credit will never improve unless your performance is reported to the credit bureaus. A lot of BHPH dealerships do not report to credit bureaus. Make sure the dealer you’ll be working with does.