Revealed: the cities where buyers are prepared to spend more on a new car

2:34 pm, October 18, 2016

PEOPLE in Glasgow spend more on their new cars, on average, than those living in any of the other 10 biggest cities in the UK, according to new research.

The comparative spend between different locations was revealed by carwow.co.uk as part of the data team’s ongoing research into buying trends.

With three per cent of all new cars in the UK being bought through carwow’s platform, the team were able to analyse sales to uncover purchasing trends.

The average spend on new cars by those living in the UK’s 10 biggest cities was as follows:

1. Glasgow: £26,271

2. Edinburgh: £26,166

3. London: £26,160

4. Cardiff: £24,199

5. Birmingham: £23,621

6. Sheffield: £23,495

7. Bristol: £22,988

8. Leeds: £22,753

9. Manchester: £22,118

10. Liverpool: £21,979

The carwow data team also discovered that in England and Wales, men spend an average of £24,844 on a new car, whilst women spend considerably less at just £20,992. However, in Scotland, women outspend men on new car purchases by £2,000, on average.

James Hind, founder of www.carwow.co.uk, said: ‘What’s interesting about these findings is that although London has higher earnings, on average, than any other city, no correlation can be found between the cities in the list and the average earnings in those locations.

‘Whilst it’s easy to assume that the average spend on new cars varies depending on people’s extravagance or frugality, we shouldn’t jump to that assumption. We’ve found that the exact same make and model with the same specification can vary in price from city to city.

‘We’ve had plenty of people buying vehicles through carwow that have opted to buy a car from a dealership many miles away from their home town, purely because the price being offered was more competitive (and they could get the car delivered straight to their driveway).

‘We also found that 75 per cent of buyers class location and dealer review considerations as more important when buying a new car than price.’