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

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 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtJMGeHy2itJFxncgyS6pQ], 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.

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 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtJMGeHy2itJFxncgyS6pQ], 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.

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 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtJMGeHy2itJFxncgyS6pQ], 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.

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 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtJMGeHy2itJFxncgyS6pQ], 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.

[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 [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPtJMGeHy2itJFxncgyS6pQ], 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.