Driving Insights by CARFAX Canada

Used Car Buying in 2023 – What’s Changed and Why it Matters

Written by CARFAX Canada | Wed, Dec 13, 2023

As you know, time changes everything, and your customers are not immune to this.

We looked at some of our previous stats and asked Canadian used car buyers the same questions to see if their answers changed. Here’s what we found, and why it’s important to know:


Trade-in preparation

Why does this matter? More of your customers are prepping their vehicle for a trade-in, which means more are expecting that their hard work will be noticed, and rewarded, while trading in.

 

Turning down the trade-in offer

Why does this matter? Obviously, customers want to get as much as they can for their vehicle. One thing that you can do to combat this rising trend is to make the customer fall in love with a vehicle that is on your lot, and only your lot. Find out what their needs are and find their perfect match.

Importance of reviews

Why does this matter? It’s important to know where your customers look to learn about your dealership. When allocating your marketing budget, you want to make sure that you’re spending it in places where your customers are looking, so while Google is still the leader, 1 out of 5 of your customers are looking at social to learn more about you.

Online listings

Why does this matter? Plain and simple, 4 out of 5 customers are using online listings to find their vehicle. So, selling the vehicle now includes making your website work as a digital salesperson to get them interested in the vehicle on your lot.

The industry evolves quickly, so read about the updated insights and how to adapt to these changes at https://go.carfax.ca/blog.