DETROIT — As a part of Ally Financial's "Success Stories"
campaign, which celebrates the dealers and their leadership in the communities
they serve, the company is ramping up its efforts to provide brochures and
other documents in both English and Spanish.

Ally already has converted all of its auto finance brochures
and a number of insurance pamphlets into Spanish, materials that are provided to
dealerships at no extra charge.

The company is now in the process of converting contracts
and other forms into Spanish, too, a more complicated process Ally hopes to
complete by the end of the year.

"Obviously, the Hispanic population growth in this country
has been significant," Ally Dealer Financial Services chief marketing officer Andrea
Riley told SubPrime Auto Finance News during an interview earlier this week.

"We do business with a lot of Spanish speaking customers,"
Riley continued. "You think about markets like Miami, Los Angeles, big pockets
in Arizona and Texas and all through the Southwest, there are customers who
aren't dual-speaking customers yet.

"One of our big objectives is not only to provide a
world-class customer experience so that we can do business with everybody wants
to come into a dealership and do business with us, but we also have a dealer
centric focus where we want to provide tools to our dealers that will help them
sell cars and trucks and make them more successful at what they're trying to do
every day," she went on to say.

Riley explained that the origin for the idea of making Ally
materials available in Spanish came from her experiences within the marketing
department at Chevrolet, which put together a similar strategy.

"We're really taking a page out of my past life," Riley
said. "We did a lot of Spanish translation because we saw such a big need for
it in terms of the catalogs and point of purchase materials. When I got to
Ally, I saw there was an opportunity to do the same thing. We talked to some
dealers directly and they said, ‘Absolutely. It would be something of great
use.'"

Currently, dealers can hand out brochures translated into
Spanish that provide an overview of the finance process and options for
customers.

"It's all part of this diversity effort to not only
highlight dealers but provide a better customer experience for our customers
and to make it easier for our dealers to do business in markets that demand
that type of material," Riley said.

And soon, F&I managers who are finalizing Ally contracts
can offer customers who are more comfortable communicating in Spanish the
option of finalizing financing with documents in that language.

"We're just working through those translations with the
right people internally," Riley said. "When you're talking about forms and
contracts, it's a lot of work to make sure everything is right from a legal
standpoint."

Background on Advertising Campaign

Ally intends to introduce the first of several new ads this
month that showcase diverse dealers. The company highlighted the ads are the
latest addition to Ally's "Success Stories" campaign.

Josefina Hooker of Freedom Buick-GMC in Odessa, Texas, and
Bill Perkins of the Perkins Automotive Group, which owns Merollis Chevrolet in
Eastpointe, Mich., and Taylor Chevrolet in Taylor, Mich., are the first minority
dealers to be featured in this new segment of the Success Stories series.

"The reason we decided to kick off with Bill Perkins and
Josephina Hooker is because part of our strategy beyond really shining a
spotlight on dealers relative to their business accomplishments and business acumen
is to select dealers that give a lot back to their communities and do a lot for
the constituencies they're a part of," Riley said.

Riley went into more detail about why Perkins is a "tremendous
dealer," according to Ally.

"What impresses us about Bill is that he tends to take over
dealerships that are performing very poorly in the marketplace and he turns
them around," Riley said. "He provides a lot of jobs for the community and
gives a lot back to the community.

"The other thing that's really impressive about Bill is that
he has dedicated himself to helping a lot of other minority dealers get
dealerships and be successful in business," Riley continued. "We think from
that standpoint that's a really tremendous story and he's a tremendous example
of what dealers are about."

Meanwhile, Riley mentioned how she has seen the
philanthropic efforts by Hooker first-hand. Last year, Riley attended a special
luncheon Hooker championed during organizers awarded college scholarships to
women who overcame significant life challenges.

"It's just a tremendous event that she's personally invested
herself in. Not only does she give a lot out of her own pocket, but she's able
to round up sponsors and local participants. It's just a tremendous event,"
Riley said.

And Hooker runs an award-winning franchised dealership in
west Texas, too.

"Josephina is in unique situation because we have such a low
number of female dealer principals and on top of that she's Cuban American,"
Riley said. "It is two really incredible hurdles for her to overcome to be able
to start a business and be successful."

Five ads featuring different dealers are expected to run
through the end of the year.

The new ads will also feature videos, which will be
available through a QR code and on www.allydealervideos.com. The videos will
give background about the dealers as well as their perspective on their
successful businesses.

"The auto industry has always been a great place to find
diversity of thought, perspective and people and we're proud to recognize the
diverse dealers who share our values and serve as leaders in the communities in
which they operate," Riley said.

"We recognize that dealers are heroes in their communities
and we are proud to recognize their efforts and the very real difference they
make in people's lives every day," she went on to say.

Ally is also a proud sponsor of the TIME Dealer of the Year
program, which helps the company showcase the many significant charitable
efforts that dealers sponsor. Profiles of these dealers can be found at
www.allydealerheroes.com.

The ad featuring Hooker and Perkins started to appear in automotive
trade publications this week. It also will appear in non-automotive
publications that focus on diversity.

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@subprimenews.com. Continue the conversation with SubPrime Auto Finance News on LinkedIn and Twitter.


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