Car buyers still prefer showroom experience

More than six in 10 drivers would still prefer buy a car from a dealer than online.

A YouGov study commissioned by The Motor Ombudsman found that 62% of the 1,873 UK drivers surveyed would opt to visit a showroom over a virtual experience.

The principal reasons cited by those who were less inclined to buy a car from start to finish using the web, were namely, not being able to get behind the wheel of the actual vehicle being purchased to assess whether it met their requirements (85%), needing to rely on third party photos, reports and documentation to determine the condition of a car (73%), having to do more research to ensure that it was being supplied from a legitimate source (45%), and concerns about not having the opportunity to enter into negotiations regarding the price of the vehicle (41%).

Conversely, from the 33% of respondents who said that they would be comfortable with ordering and paying for a car at the click of a button, the majority (67%) said that buying ‘at a distance’ gave them the ability to shop around and compare prices more easily than when visiting a seller’s premises, and that it granted a greater degree of freedom through not being restricted to retailer opening hours or temporary closures (61%).

The research found that 18 to 24-year-olds would be the most likely to entertain the idea of going online to buy a car, with nearly half (45%) saying that they would consider doing this.

Bill Fennell, chief ombudsman and managing director, said: “Our research has shown that, despite online shopping becoming an even more talked-about phenomenon during the pandemic, visiting a showroom in person, and seeing and trying the vehicle for themselves, is the overriding preference for the majority of drivers if they were to buy a new or used car this year.

“A completely digital purchase process from beginning to end is clearly proving to be too big a step for most, but what our research has highlighted, is that there is demand in the vehicle sales sector from motorists for a more physical and tangible experience, as well as for one that is purely virtual from start to finish. This means that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach if the needs of consumers are to be successfully catered for by retailers when selling cars in 2021 and beyond.”