1:10 pm, June 8, 2017
A NEW survey from the AA has revealed that used car buyers favour reliability, safety and trust in the dealer before the price tag.
The survey complied the opinions of more than 18,000 drivers, interviewed by Populus between April 26 and May 3, 2017.
A quarter of the participants’ valued safety above all else, with 31 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men noting they are drawn to used cars with a strong safety record. 23 per cent of the 18,077 surveyed listed the condition of the car as a matter of high importance.
Trust in the dealer 14 per cent was ranked ahead of the price tag, which received a surprisingly low 12 per cent score.
Low emissions levels were almost a non-factor at one per cent, despite recent press attention on diesel cleanliness and the ever-increasing appetite for alternative fuels. Style (two per cent) and performance (one per cent) were also judged to be unimportant to the majority of the buyers.
Less than one per cent considered the convenience of the dealership as a priority. ‘The Internet has fundamentally changed the way that people buy used cars, but not necessarily what they want from their next vehicle’, said Simon Benson, Director of Motoring Services at AA Cars.
‘Just how influential the impact of online car shopping has been is born out in how few people are bothered about the convenience of a dealership’.
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