A survey conducted in the USA has found over 80 per cent of consumers looking to buy a new car prefer to see and drive it before buying.

After it was reported Tesla had considered closing all its stores to sell cars exclusively online, Urban Science conducted a survey of over 2000 American potential new car buyers.

Tesla’s concept to remove the dealer stores would mean that cars could not be seen or experienced before purchase. It would mean potential customers would be purchasing either via a virtual experience or from word of mouth.

After the survey was completed, Tesla changed it’s decision.

The survey also revealed younger customers would visit up to four dealers before making a decision, whereas older buyers are likely to only visit two.

Urban Science dealer services global director Randy Berlin said one of the important findings from the survey was that most data and studies had shown that customers are only visiting around one dealer, but this research shows that buyers visit more.

He also said that the perception that the younger generation prefer to do all their shopping online is not true; they are the ones visiting over three dealers before purchasing. He said, “They’re the ones that are looking at multiple brands, but also multiple dealers, to make that decision.”

Berlin explained that young car buyers are not tied to brand loyalty, as it is their first significant purchase so for them they are very involved in the purchase.

In addition, the survey indicated 81 per cent of car buyers trust information provided by a franchised dealership.

16 August 2019

Source: http://evtalk.com.au/new-research-says-dealership-experience-still-valuable/