SL Founder in Focus: Brandon Cavalier - CARPAY

We recently sat down with CARPAY founder Brandon Cavalier for an episode of Social Leverage Founder in Focus. Brandon helps independent used car dealerships finance their customers in-house or online. These customers typically have no credit, or poor credit. Commonly referred to as buy-here-pay-here (BHPH), this segment of the market is unable to get financing from a bank. About half of all independent car dealers extend credit using the vehicle as collateral – and this is where CARPAY helps dealerships grow; through capital, and through scaling collection operations with loan management software.

Right out of high school, Brandon opened a used car dealership in Pensacola, Florida. He was buying cheap cars at auctions. These were too old for banks to finance, and within a year he’d sold over 250 cars totaling over $1 million in sales. His BHPH was all handled in-house. There was a clear disconnect between the tech offered to him and other mom-and-pop shops. He began working the software side himself to handle operations. He quickly realized other dealers like him could use the same tech. That’s when CARPAY was born.

In addition to the tech, Brandon worked out there was opportunity in the finance side. He was slowing down his dealership, sold most of his loans and sold the real estate. He took on a co-founder, moved to Oklahoma, and finally ended up in California where he continues to grow and scale the company.