Dealer glossary
Promise to pay
A recorded commitment from a customer to make a missed or upcoming payment by a specific date.
Definition
Also called PTP
When a Buy Here Pay Here customer is late and says they will pay Friday, that is a promise to pay. Recording it turns a phone call into something the store can work: the account moves out of the immediate queue until Friday, and if Friday passes the promise is broken and that fact is now known.
The pattern is the useful part. A customer who keeps every promise is a different risk from one who has broken four in a row, and neither is visible from the payment history alone.
A promise is worth recording with three things attached: the date, what was said, and who took the call. Without the last one it is hard to follow up, and without the first two it is not really a record.
See how this works in one system.
DealersCloud runs inventory, the CRM, desking, the books and your dealer website on the same records - so the things in this glossary stop living in separate places.
Trusted by 500+ independent dealerships · 4.7 on Google