The auto buyer’s journey

The four phases of car buying are thinking, researching, buying and caring.
There are three types of buyers that walk into your dealership: “self-serve,” the “facilitator” and the “handhold.”

90% of shoppers make up the self serve and facilitator category, of which most are experienced buyers

Top online sources include OEM sites, search, dealer sites, review sites, auto related sites and video series.

The average time spent thinking about buying a car but not actively researching it is 26 days.

Car buyers spend 19 days researching make, model, features, prices and dealers. At the research phase, buyers are considering three brands. Of those three brands, 80% of shoppers will end up with one of them.