5:53 pm, April 8, 2020
Consumer research expert TLA shared the results of its latest study on Car Dealer Live today (Apr 9).
‘Demand hasn’t disappeared,’ explained Tony Neill, head of data insight at TLA. ‘There are still consumers out there needing to buy cars. Just because the majority of consumers can’t be sold to, it doesn’t mean they can’t be spoken to.’
TLA, a lead generation agency working with manufacturers and several third-party sources, is independent and has many touch points with in-market buyers.
While the data is changing all the time, its latest research, polling 600 consumers, shows that 40 per cent of buyers are not looking to push their next car purchase. Of the 60 per cent that are, 60 per cent are expecting to delay it by one to three months and the remaining consumers are looking to delay further.
Ed Clarke, CTO at TLA, commented on the importance of planning ahead, saying: ‘Build funnels for coming out this. Everyone is going to want to sell as many cars as possible.’
Currently, many dealers and manufacturers are desperate to know what – if any – demand there is out there.
Chief executive Anton Hanley explained that initially things looked bad, but already the market has been coming back.
‘We saw the market turn off but since then we’ve seen the market slightly open back up.’
He added: ‘This is going to lead to changes in the way consumers research and the number of customers who transact remotely.’
Research is now king, and the team verified that they’ve seen a rise in consumers researching cars, and that they expect that to grow over the coming months.
Neill added a warning for customers looking to buy fast when restrictions are lifted: ‘If you are a consumer you may not be aware, but there will be an extension on delivery times. Now is the time to be doing that research to get your car in your hands.’
TLA – which sends leads from its network of websites of in-market car buyers to car dealers and manufacturers – has been busy talking to car buyers via its call centre since the lockdown began.
It works with some of the biggest automotive content providers in the UK – and has done since 2002 – engaging with 600,000 car buyers a year.
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