Private-Party Sales Platform Seeks Retail Financing Through Ally

Peer-to-peer vehicle marketplace Swap Motors is in talks with Ally Financial Inc. and a “couple other banks” to provide financing for car purchases on the platform, Alex Johnson, chief executive of Swap Motors, told Auto Finance News.

The Chicago-based company wants to “offer everything a dealer is offering,” including warranty, GAP, and financing. While discussions are still ongoing to land a lender partner by yearend, Swap Motors is redirecting consumers to Wells Fargo Auto’s peer-to-peer direct financing portal. Ally declined to comment for this story.

Johnson believes what sets Swap Motors apart from competitors like Blinker in the peer-to-peer space is its inspection team that provides in-person evaluations of the
cars. “Sellers are only going to put up good things about their car, and you don’t want to waste the buyer’s time,” Johnson said.

The company has plans to build five “Swap Centers” in Chicago for consumers to bring their cars for evaluation. Sellers could trade vehicles to other private-party consumers or to a network of independent dealers, resulting in higher profits than if the vehicles were sold to franchise dealers, he said.

“Franchise dealers take the car in, make a little money, sell it at auction, and the small, independent dealers buy it and it goes through a couple hands,” Johnson said. “[Independent dealers] can buy it a little cheaper and consumers get a little more money for it.”