MERCEDES-BENZ is the UK’s most trusted car brand, according to an inaugural report by CarGurus.
The 2020 CarGurus Car Buyer Trust Index, commissioned by the online automotive marketplace, saw the German car-maker top a list of 21 manufacturers. The new independent report provides what CarGurus calls ‘unprecedented insight’ into how perceived trust affects decision-making among genders and age groups.
Audi, Ford, Toyota and Volvo completed the top five, with Fiat recording the lowest overall brand ranking.
Researchers at GlobalWebIndex asked 2,183 car-buyers to rank car-makers on five key factors that build trust: integrity, transparency, genuineness, social conscience and reliability. This formulated the overall performance for each brand.
Twenty of the manufacturers were based on sales data from the SMMT, with Tesla – which doesn’t report to the industry body – added as a brand of topical interest. It finished mid-table when it came to consumer trust, slotting into 12th place.
The report also showed how men and women differ when it comes to trusting automotive brands.
Mercedes-Benz was most trusted overall by male car-buyers, whereas Audi and Ford shared the top spot as the brands in which women put the most faith.
There were greater differences of opinion among some of the other brands, though. Kia, rated as second overall for men, was a lowly 15th for women. Mini, on the other hand, was ranked fifth overall by women and 15th by men.
CarGurus UK editor Chris Knapman said: ‘For consumers, having trust in a purchase – and who they are buying it from – is fundamental to the buying journey. Therefore, we created the CarGurus Car Buyer Trust Index to help gain a deeper understanding of how trust is built, and the extent to which it informs car-buying decisions.
‘The index provides unprecedented insight into the role that trust plays in the car-buying process, while at the same time showing our commitment to becoming the world’s most trusted and transparent car-buying platform.’
Pictured is a Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe
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