Ally Seeks to Expand Blinker Partnership During ‘Innovation Period,’ Russi Says

LAS VEGAS — Blinker’s newly inked alliance with Ally Insurance will likely be expanded to the retail financing side of the bank, said Ally
President of Auto Finance Tim Russi.

“I certainly think it will [turn into a lending partnership]” Russi told Auto Finance News. “We want to do more with [Blinker].”

Last month, Blinker partnered with Ally Insurance to allow customers to add Ally’s vehicle protection coverage, including GAP and service contracts, to the private-party transactions conducted on its platform. “We’re impressed with [Blinker’s] management team, the quality of what they’ve built, their vision,” he said.

Blinker is the latest startup to partner with Ally Financial, which is seeking these relationships to foster innovation in the auto finance space. “We have a number of those [partnerships],” Russi said. “This is the innovation period, and we want to be with all the innovators, working with them to help them fulfill the vision of their models. We think we have a lot of expertise to do it, and we’re enjoying it tremendously because it helps us think about the future, as well.”

Two weeks ago, Ally partnered with Drive Motors to bring the startup’s online retail experience to dealerships in the bank’s network. Last year, Ally inked financing and insurance arrangements with private-party platform Tred and provided a $2 billion line of credit to Carvana, an online car retailer that bypasses dealerships.

“Like most innovation periods, you’ll have a period where many great ideas come to the marketplace, and then you’ll have a period of consolidation,” he said. “In this space, maybe you end up with three or four players that help provide the solutions.”