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History

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In the early days of the motor vehicle industry, dealers paid cash to stock their inventory, purchasing just a few vehicles at a time. With the raising popularity of the automobile, dealers like customers, wanted more selection.

As a result, General Motors Acceptance Corporation was formed in 1919 to provide GM dealers with the financing they needed to maintain their vehicle inventories as well as give dealers' retail customers the ability to purchase new vehicles easily and conveniently. Insurance products soon followed.


GMAC Historical Highlights

  • 1919: Branches open in Detroit, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Toronto.
  • 1920: Expansion to Great Britain.
  • 1928: Four millionth retail contract.
  • 1939: Motors Insurance Corporation (MIC) formed, replacing earlier insurance products. Now a part of GMAC Insurance Holdings. Post WWII: GMAC growth surges with that of parent GM.
  • 1958: GMAC finances 40 millionth vehicle.
  • 1977: 75 millionth vehicle mark.
  • 1985: 100 million vehicles and first-ever annual earnings of $1 billion. GMAC enters the mortgage business.
  • 1999: Highest earnings ever; purchase of Bank of New York's asset-based lending and factoring business unit creates new Commercial Finance Group.
  • 2000: $1.6 billion earnings, a record. Global growth in all sectors of the organization. North American Operations (NAO) launches SmartAuction, an Internet-based remarketing channel for GMAC off-lease vehicles.
  • 2001: $1.8 billion earnings, a record. Since its inception, GMAC has provided more than $1 trillion of financing for 150 million cars and trucks around the world.
  • 2002: Nearly $1.9 billion earnings, a record. GMAC has a presence in 41 markets.
  • 2003: Earnings surge to nearly $2.8 billion, an all-time record. SmartAuction emerges as a top Internet remarketing tool with cumulative sales to exceed one million in 2004.
  • 2004: Net income of $2.9 billion in 2004, marking yet another year of record earnings and tenth straight year of increased profits. International Operations makes historic entrance into China; sales of insurance to GM customers increases eightfold; GMAC Automotive Bank opens its doors.
  • 2005: Net income of approximately $2.4 billion in 2005.
  • 2006: GM sells a 51-percent controlling interest in GMAC to a consortium of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, L.P.
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