A Quick Guide to Buy Now, Pay Later (or, Give Your Customers More Ways to Pay!)

It’s a fascinating time to be a customer, isn’t it? You’ve got more products and services to choose from than at any other point in human history, and you have seemingly endless ways to pay for them. Some people want to swipe a card. Some want to tap their phone. Some want to pay from a digital wallet. Some are balking at all that and opting for cash or their smartfridge. We’re sure payment from a toaster can’t be far away.

What customers really want is free stuff, but you can’t give them that. Not if you want to stay in business. What you can do is give them a reasonable imitation of free stuff in the form of buy now, pay later (BNPL), which is basically a fun new phrase for financing or even a short-term loan. 

Holy gorgonzola, Fullbay, you might be saying, I like my customers, but I am NOT giving them a loan!!!

Dude, of course not. Someone else does!

Well, sort of.

Fullbay’s BNPL options are Affirm or Klarna, which are available through our payment processor, Stripe. Your shop will pay a small fee to enable the BNPL option; once it does, customers can use it for payment. When they do, Affirm or Klarna will pay you in full, and that’s it — your side of the work is complete. The customer then pays them in installments over a set period of time. It’s really more like financing for your customer than a loan, now that we think of it, but both terms have been tossed around in regards to BNPL and we wanted to make it clear. 

Now, let’s get into it.

How Does BNPL Help My Customers? 

BNPL is a way to meet your customers where they are. You still get paid, and they don’t have to shell out a gob of money to get their vehicle back. Everyone wins.

OK, as usual, it’s a little more complex than that. When an owner-operator or manager of a small fleet comes in with a repair bill, sometimes the biggest pain point isn’t what needs fixing. Instead, they find themselves worrying about how to pay for said fix without nuking an entire month’s cash flow. Giving customers access to BNPL services can make life (and financial stuff) a lot easier for them.

That kind of option becomes quite tempting if a customer is juggling multiple trucks or gearing up for a seasonal push. Hey, it’s the twenty-first century. Customers often want to see a variety of available payment options. Offering them a BNPL option alongside cards and ACH gives them a sense of security — you’ve got a modern shop and you’re on top of things.

In short, accepting more payment types removes friction from the process. Removing friction leads to faster approvals and more completed repairs. Oh, yeah, and customers who keep coming back because you’re meeting them where they are. 

Customers Can Work with Their Cash Flow & Budget Cycles 

Fleets (especially smaller ones) often operate within strict cost-center budgets. BNPL lets them complete necessary work within their current incoming cash flow without asking your shop to extend new net terms. 

BNPL can be particularly useful during the spikes that accompany big seasonal and compliance pushes; think winterization, the holiday rush, or the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s International Road Checks. 

More Authorizations, Less Downtime 

Downtime is bad for everyone. Every hour a truck isn’t on the road means missed delivery windows and the penalties that come with them. When BNPL is on the table, decisions and subsequent authorizations can be made a lot faster. That leads to swifter part orders and the subsequent work that follows. 

Your customers protect their delivery metrics and you get the revenue stream. Everyone wins! 

How Does My Shop Benefit From BNPL?

You’ll like this: When a customer checks out with Fullbay’s BNPL options, you get paid right away. There is no chasing of invoices. There is no wondering if the check is in the mail. You are spared the awkward “Heyyyyyyyy just circling back on that balance” calls and emails. 

Your shop is also spared the horror of chargebacks. When you use BNPL through Fullbay, disputes and fraud concerns fall on the BNPL provider, not on your shop. You still get your payout. 

What does this look like specifically? Keep reading. 

Bigger Repair Approvals? Yes, Please!

BNPL tends to subtly shift customer psychology. When a person doesn’t have to come up with the full cost of, say, a brake job upfront, they are suddenly more open to getting the brake job and everything else that needs repairing done. That means your average service order can grow; suddenly you’re taking care of the brake job, new headlights, and some bodywork, too. 

Offering this kind of flexibility can be particularly tempting for fleet customers, as it can encourage higher average tickets across multiple units. Fleet visits often bundle preventive maintenance, steer/drive tire sets, brake jobs, and aftertreatment work, which can turn into five-figure invoices across several trucks. BNPL spreads out the cost for the fleet: your shop receives payment, and the fleet manager breathes a little easier because they’re not forking over all that money right this instant. 

Pick Up Emergency Repairs

Roadside tows, DOT violations, and safety problems always happen at the most inconvenient times. And what if it’s happening to a driver from out of the area? These situations often can’t wait for someone to wake up and offer an authorization, or for a card limit to reset. BNPL provides an instant path to approval and payment for emergency repairs, allowing the job to start now. 

And who gets that job? Your shop. 

Perk Up Your Workflow

Bear with us as we point out the obvious: If you make it easier for customers to pay you and they approve work faster, you get more work. Techs stay busier. Revenue increases. And then, you know, you’re spending less time tracking down payments and more time just working. 

Do You Want Buy Now, Pay Later?

At the end of the day, BNPL becomes a simple equation:

Your shop gets paid + Customer has breathing room = Repairs get done on schedule.

And once again, both parties are less stressed out. It’s a win-win — pizza for everyone! 

Downtime hurts. Removing roadblocks to completing work done makes your operation a lot more attractive to potential customers. If you’re interested in offering this to your customers, well, here’s our big pitch to you: Fullbay Payments can make it happen. Join us, and together we can rule the galax…er, accept a variety of payments so you can meet your customers where they’re at. 

Or, you know, if you’re still new to this whole Fullbay thing, you can get to know us a little better by scheduling a free demo. We can’t wait to make life easier for your shop!