Despite the internet becoming the most common source for researching a car, consumers still rely on car dealers when actually making a purchase, according to the second iteration of the Britain Under the Bonnet report produced by Close Brothers Motor Finance.
The findings reveal that well over half (57%) of motorists used the internet to help inform their choice of car – a significant increase on last year’s study, of which 40% went online. This year sees the internet overtaking dealerships for the first time. However, despite the internet revolutionising the way we research vehicle purchases, almost four out of five (79%) consumers actually bought their last vehicle via a dealership, against just 2% who purchased online.
While consumers may have researched their purchase via the internet, the amount who actively visited a dealership to do first-hand research closely followed. Turning to friends and/or family and using auction websites also ranked highly.
Overall, nearly half bought from a main dealer, a third from used retailers and 12% sourced from a private sale. Only 2% bought over the net, the same percentage as attended auctions to buy.
