Driving Insights by CARFAX Canada

Are customers simply browsing or are they picking a dealership? | Driving Decisions

Written by CARFAX Canada | Wed, Aug 3, 2022

Before driving away in their next vehicle, car buyers need to decide what type of vehicle they’ll buy, what make and model, and where they should buy it. Commonly, customers have decided on one or more of these items before they even start shopping, so where should you be prepared to help?

When it comes to what vehicle buyers have decided before they even start shopping, new car buyers are most likely to have decided what type of vehicle they would buy, while used car buyers are most likely to have decided how much they want to spend. Excluding the issue of price, used car buyers are less decided on topics like the make and model they’ll purchase when compared to new. But perhaps, most importantly, the item all vehicle buyers know the least is where they’ll buy their next vehicle.

While customers often need help deciding what make and model they’re going to buy, with only 53% of new and 35% of used vehicle buyers knowing where they’ll buy their next vehicle, the question on the mind of the most vehicle buyers is why they should purchase from you. If you’re an online listing site where and you can’t do a needs assessment to understand what the customer wants, you’ll find that the best way to help the most customers is focusing on why they should buy a specific vehicle from you.