In surveying the COVID-19 pulse of car-shopper trends, TRADER conducted a new survey in January of 300 Canadian car shoppers on autoTRADER.ca who intended to purchase a vehicle within the next six months. They then compared that data to March 2020 findings to understand how buying intentions may or may not have changed.
Compared to the March 2020 report, TRADER found that both the new and used vehicle purchase intent amid the pandemic, within the six-month timeframe, remains relatively stable — fluctuating between 16-18% over the past few months until it reached 17%, as of the last survey.
Looking at the timeframe for purchasing a vehicle, the March 2020 data reveals that 72% of shoppers indicated it would take them longer than usual to purchase a vehicle due to the crisis. In January, that number declined significantly — to 46% — for respondents seeking to extend their timeline for purchasing a vehicle.
The report also indicates that while 68% of car shoppers said they would consider delaying their purchase due to COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic, that number decreased by 20% to 48% for the January survey. Consumers are now less likely to delay a vehicle purchase.
Finally, in March 2020 TRADER found that 56% of consumers indicated they were nervous about their ability to afford a vehicle due to the crisis. However, the most recent survey shows that figure that dropped to 38%.
TRADER gathered the data into an infographic, which also reveals that automotive marketplaces are among the main sources of information for used vehicle intenders (57%), followed by OEM websites (39%), and dealership websites (32%).
The top triggers for consumers to purchase a vehicle are: their current vehicle is too old (29%), they want to upgrade to a nicer vehicle (24%), and they want a larger vehicle (6%).
