Ally Financial Inc. will be the preferred lender for a new online car buying platform called CarSaver, which is partnering with the nation’s largest new-vehicle vendor — AutoNation Inc. — as well as the nation’s largest retailer — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. — an Ally representative confirmed to Auto Finance News.
The online platform works much like other products in the online lending space: go on the app, compare cars, receive several financing offers, and test drive the vehicle at a nearby dealer partner.
However, starting on April 1, the platform will also have agents stationed at 25 Wal-Mart Supercenters in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City, Automotive News first reported. Those CarSaver representatives are there to explain the process to customers and assist them through the touch screen kiosk interface stationed by checkout lines at the store.
Ally’s dealer clients will get first dibs at applying for the platform, and will receive a $1,000 credit each month for the first six months on their CarSaver bill. Consumers who finance through Ally on CarSaver will also receive a $100 Wal-Mart gift card.
“We’re all collectively trying to find a better customer experience. CarSaver is really taking a lead in trying to create that through the buying program to try to provide comfort, transparency, fairness to the consumer,” Ally’s President of Auto Finance Tim Russi said, in a published report. “With the reach that Wal-Mart has, this could be a very large-scale buying program, and I think dealers are going to want to participate in it.”
The program is in part based off of CostCo’s car selling program, which generates 1,000 new car sales a year per store. Between new and used sales, CarSaver expects to match that volume at Wal-Mart stores and expand the program to all of the company’s 3,500 Supercenters nationwide within the next two years, CarSaver’s chief executive Sean Wolfington said.
All current partner dealerships are within 15 miles of participating Wal-Mart stores, including 16 AutoNation stores in Phoenix, Houston, and Dallas.
This program is an expansion of a previous pilot CarSaver, Wal-Mart, auto lenders, and 20 participating dealerships conducted back in April out of Stuart Florida. On average, customers saved more than $3,000 off the sticker price and 80 percent of people who made an appointment led to a sale, Wolfington said.
