While boomers are generally satisfied with their car buying experience, that’s not the case for younger buyers, found CarGurus.
According to the company’s Canadian car shopping survey, younger shoppers reported a lower degree of satisfaction with their current or most recent car shopping experience (45 per cent were “satisfied”) than shoppers over the age of 60 (62 per cent were “satisfied”).
Compared to boomers, younger shoppers were less likely to place high importance on their experience at the dealership and were less comfortable negotiating price — with only 28 per cent of them fine with it. Only 24 percent of younger shoppers cited dealer reputation as “extremely important” to their purchase decision, compared to almost 40 per cent of shoppers over 60.
The CarGurus study also found men were more comfortable than women negotiating price, and less likely to consider dealer reputation of high importance when car shopping. Women viewed price as more important to their car purchase decision than most men.
“Millennials grew up shopping online, so it makes sense they would be less comfortable or interested in the traditional, off-line aspects of the car buying experience, whether that’s negotiating price or visiting a dealership,” said Amy Mueller, Director of Communications for CarGurus, in a written release.
“For Canadian car dealers, understanding and adapting to the digital mindset of this always-on, mobile generation is critical. The best opportunity to engage them is likely occurring before they ever step foot on the lot, if they ever do.”
