More than three-quarters of people who were looking to buy a car in November will continue shopping despite the potential impact of England’s lockdown according to the latest What Car?’s poll data from more than 5500 whatcar.com users.
The poll revealed that 15.86% of in-market buyers are still looking to purchase a vehicle in the next four weeks. This is down from a typical 20% for the same time period, but still indicates strong levels of buyer intent as the majority of dealers look to sell on the phone and internet and offer ‘click-and-collect’ services.
The poll also revealed that 50% of those planning to buy in the next month were pulling forward their purchase, potentially as a result of England and Wales’s recent lockdowns, as they look to buy their new car as soon as possible in case of further restrictions.
More than a third of respondents to the poll also said they were now more receptive to using online tools such as live video tours and live chat as part of the research process. Encouragingly, 29.74% of all respondents said they were more comfortable with the prospect of buying a car now than during the last round of showroom closures.
“While March’s lockdown resulted in a near-total freezing of any new car sales, the industry has subsequently embraced online sales, with the impetus provided by the pandemic accelerating online sales trends exponentially”, What Car? says.
