Appeal of Online Car Buying Increases

Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - 09:44 by Simon Crisp

80 per cent of Brits would now be happy to buy a car via safe shopping online without ever visiting a physical showroom.

This is according to the results of a recent study from search giant Google, which found that consumer trends in the auto industry have also been significantly impacted by COVID-19, with the attraction of being able to browse and purchase vehicles from home increasing dramatically in the past few months.

Indeed, as the industry recovers from a significant slump in sales brought about by lockdown restrictions related to the pandemic, it looks like online car transactions could be the saving grace, since a fifth of people questioned in the survey said that they would snap up a car more quickly if they were able to do so via the web.

Nine out of ten respondents said that they made use of the web to look up prospective vehicle purchases before heading out to any bricks and mortar showroom, and analysts believe that more sales will shift online permanently going forwards.

The good news for dealerships and manufacturers is that of the people who are hoping to buy a new car this year, 46 per cent said that they would be taking a trip to a show room so long as they were able to do so following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

It is hoped that because there is still plenty of interest in the automotive market amongst consumers in spite of the effects of the pandemic, the 97 per cent year-on-year fall in sales that took place in April this year will be offset by an uptick in demand over the coming months. The fact that the internet is likely to play a bigger part in directing consumer spending will help catalyse vehicle sales further.