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Direct Car Finance, the vehicle loan company, has aligned with the

WPP group with the appointment of Red Cell and MindShare to handle its

through-the-line account, backed by a reported £20 million

budget.

The two WPP subsidiaries were chosen after a full-scale creative and

media review involving ten agencies at the end of last year.

Direct Car Finance specialises in buying thousands of used cars each

year to sell to customers who find it impossible to get credit through

the usual channels.

The company has been an almost daily advertiser with commercials

featuring the comedian Jim Davidson and the former soccer boss Jack

Charlton. It also spends heavily in national press and on direct

marketing, which will be taken over by the DM specialist Perspectives

Red Cell.

Launched in 1996, the company has been spending between £10

million and £12 million above and below the line. Sources say the

figure will rise significantly in line with Direct Car Finance's plans

to increase business by 40 per cent this year.

Concluding the pitch was one of the first tasks of Pat Farrell, Daewoo's

former director of sales and marketing operations, who was appointed as

the group marketing director last month.

The moves end the company's seven-month relationship with Brilliant

Media in Leeds and the Bournemouth-based Blair Fowles, which handled

creative work.

New national TV and press advertising will break at the beginning of

next month.

Nick Kerr, Red Cell's managing director, said: "Direct Car Finance has

developed a successful business out of spotting and creating a new

market sector. It is exactly the sort of company which puts into

practice the 'challenger' thinking that the Red Cell network was

launched to cater for."