Trust and transparency key issues for auto shoppers

A new Ipsos poll commissioned by Clutch.com reports that buyers are having more difficulty buying the car they want due to low inventory and current market conditions, exacerbated by a low level of trust in the dealership buying process. The survey, conducted early February, found that 84 per cent of car purchasers “wish the process of shopping for a car was easier, with 76 per cent stating they would prefer to spend less time visiting dealerships to find the right car and 71 per cent agreeing that they would prefer not to negotiate with commissioned salespeople.”

“It’s not surprising that Canadians have grown tired of the dated car-buying experience where they’re required to spend hours of their valuable spare time travelling between dealerships, haggling with salespeople or combing through the classifieds,” says Dan Park, CEO of Clutch. “A car is the second largest purchase that most people will make in their lifetime, yet so many Canadians dislike the car purchasing experience.”

Other results of the survey revealed that:

  • More than half (55 per cent) of those who purchased a vehicle from a dealership in the past two years felt that they needed more information
  • 43 per cent of Canadian car buyers do not enjoy the process of shopping for or purchasing a vehicle from a dealership, and this is especially true in the prairies (59 per cent Saskatchewan/Manitoba)
  • 21 per cent of car buyers have felt taken advantage of
  • 27 per cent of Canadian car buyers say they do not trust salespeople to give them all the relevant details about a car and offer a fair price

A lack of trust in dealers and dealerships appears to be a driving cause of the difficult car-buying experience, as 83 per cent either do not trust, or only somewhat trust the sales person.

When it comes to effective solutions to improve the car-buying process, more than half of Canadian car purchasers (58 per cent) cite “pricing transparency, followed by 38 per cent who want the option to test drive the car for multiple days, 37 per cent who want to skip the interactions with commission-based salespeople, and 32 per cent who desire more online options to skip the dealership all together.” Only 12 per cent of recent car purchasers state that nothing needs to be changed.

The report also says that “of those who recently purchased a car or plan to in the next two years, 61 per cent indicate they would consider purchasing a car online without seeing it in person first.

“At one point in time, people would have thought that purchasing a car online was absurd,” says Park. “But once the pandemic struck and demand for contactless services skyrocketed, more Canadians began to explore online retail experiences.”

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