New Research Reveals Motorists may be loyal to the same car type but not brand?
New Research Reveals Motorists may be loyal to the same car type but not brand?
New research by Auto Trader in the UK has revealed that motorists are more loyal to a certain type of car rather than the actual brand of the car. Car buyers tend to buy the same type of car everytime they change over but they are not particularly loyal to the brand.
It has been revealed that 81 per cent of used-car owners and 76 per cent of new-vehicle buyers repeatedly purchase the same type of car, whether that is a saloon, hatchback or SUV but the brand will most likely to be different.
The figures show that 68 per cent of used car buyers changed brands when buying a used car and 47 per cent of new car owners changed brands when they changed their car.
One should be aware that you cannot apply such findings too literally to the Irish market but with the volume of used car imports from the UK, it would suggest that the findings are relevant here too.
Motorists seem to be constantly sifting and shifting their options on their car buying choices.
Among some of the survey's findings in the 1,000-consumer sample were:
- Volkswagen was the brand to which most people remained loyal - with 26pc of owners repeat buying. (this figure may be much higher in Ireland).
- Fewer of those interviewed said they would buy a BMW a second time around but this may not be the same in Ireland. (Again, it is open to conjecture if Irish buyers would switch that much at that level of the premium market.)
- The core element for loyalty was trust in the brand and dealer.
- After-sales was least influential in determining if they came back again.
- New hatchback drivers are the most loyal, with 38pc choosing to repeat buy.
- Not surprisingly, loyalty for SUVs was up 17pc.
- Superminis and convertibles suffered small declines in repeat purchases.
Author
Justin Kavanagh
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