DealerVLO
Sign inStart free trial
Free · No signup · Shareable URL

BHPH Down Payment Calculator

On an in-house note the down payment isn't about the biggest grab — it's about getting your cost back fast without pricing out the buyer. Enter your cost in the car and see how much is still on the street and when the note pays it back.

Size the down to recover cost, not to maximize it

Every BHPH sale puts your own cash on the street. The down payment's real job is to pull that cash back in as fast as possible — the sooner your cost in the car is recovered, the sooner the note is pure margin and the less a default can cost you. That makes “how much of my cost does this down cover, and when do I get the rest back?” the number that actually matters, not the headline gross.

It also cuts the other way. Push the down far past your cost and you leave the buyer thin — a payment that's hard to keep current, and a repo you have to recondition and re-sell. The calculator shows both sides so you can find the down that protects your cash and holds the deal.

Structure the note, then collect on it

Sizing the down is step one. DealerVLO carries it through: structure the note on the deal, generate the payment schedule, and keep the running ledger so you can see whose cost you've recovered and who's falling behind — with a collections dashboard and automated payment reminders built in, no add-on.

  • Structure the note (amount financed, APR, term, frequency) on the deal
  • Auto-generated payment schedule + running per-customer ledger
  • BHPH collections dashboard — who's current, who's past-due, at a glance
  • Automated payment reminders so notes stay current
Start your 14-day free trial BHPH software overview

$29/month · 14-day free trial · Cancel any time

More for BHPH lots

Common questions

How much down payment should a BHPH dealer take?▾
Enough to recover your cost in the car — purchase plus recon — quickly, not the largest amount you can grab. This tool shows how much of your cost the down covers and how many payments it takes to get the rest back. Pushing it far past cost mostly prices out the buyer and raises the odds of an early repo.
What does 'cash in the deal' mean?▾
It's your own money still tied up in the car after the down — your cost minus the down. On a $6,500 cost with $1,500 down you have $5,000 in the deal, and the payments have to bring that back before the note makes a dollar.
How long until the note pays back my cost?▾
It's the point where the principal you've collected covers the cash you had left in the deal. The calculator reports the number of payments (and roughly the months) to get there. Everything after is margin.
Is a bigger down always better?▾
No. A down that recovers cost is protective; one pushed much higher leaves the buyer thin and the payment harder to keep current. A note that defaults into a repo costs more than the extra down was worth.
Put this calculator on your site — free

Paste this where you want it to appear. It stays up to date automatically.