Third of new car buyers don’t shop around

Hyundai Motor has found that over a third of Brits don’t now shop around before buying a new car, opting for the first car that they go to see.

The research also finds that even though people are viewing fewer cars before making their choice, many will still bring someone with them to help look over their new potential purchase. Men are more confident than women, though, with only 40% taking someone along, compared with more than 71% of women. In both cases, it’ll most likely be their partner, with dads coming in at second most popular. A 66% of men claim they made the final decision on buying a car, compared with 55% of women.

When it comes to top priorities, men and women generally want exactly the same things when it comes to their cars. From the 2,000 drivers surveyed, over 71% said that price was the most important factor in their buying decision – with the average cost of their current vehicle at £11,313, compared with £1,596 that they typically paid for their first car. Although regionally, it seems that those in the North East are most concerned about price while Londoners are the least concerned.

Tony Whitehorn Hyundai Motor UK President and CEO said “Clearly today’s car-buyers are better informed than ever, and they’re making very concrete decisions on which car they want before even going to see it. This is a trend that we’ve seen grow in recent years and we want to be ahead of it.”