Buying a New Car
Published Date: 22nd Jul 2016
In the constantly evolving new car market we are regularly asked what criteria our customers prioritise when they contact us to buy a new car and it is clear this has changed considerably over the last 10 years as vehicle quality and reliability has improved dramatically over this period. It is interesting that vehicle manufacturers seem to place a high degree of importance on things like CO2 which is clearly important to business users, yet the average private car buyer rarely if ever asks about the emissions on a vehicle.
The list below is our view based on car buyer questions and feedback so here is a snapshot of the key things our customers seem to look for:
New Car Price
It is easier than ever to compare new car prices and this generally means customers are extremely well informed as to what discounts are available on a new car. Uk car discount have a low overhead/low margin/high volume business model where we sell a huge range of vehicles at extremely competitive prices. We always tell our customers we are not the cheapest for EVERY vehicle, but we offer very competitive deals on the mainstream vehicles that are usually sold in huge volumes such as Ford, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall. The unique selling point we offer is that unlike just about every dealer group and competitor out there if our customers buy a new car from us they can pay for their new vehicle after delivery.
Value
As the famous Oscar Wilde is quoted as saying, “a cynic is a man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing” and this nice turn of phrase hits to the heart of our customers desire for good value which is not simply derived from vehicle price. Put simply, there are a range of factors that influence value perception and our customers are always asking which vehicles offer the best value and we encourage them to consider lifecycle cost such as depreciation and not simply go for the lowest cost vehicle in a particular vehicle genre. It is fair to say quality is also high on the list of value perception as we all want a good product at a reasonable price.
New Car Brand
It is clear that many of our customers have a great degree of brand loyalty as they will come back every three or four years and buy the same vehicle and this is usually because they like the brand and it has been extremely reliable for them during their ownership. We call this the halo effect because customer perception is influenced positively due to their own personal experience to the point where the manufacturer badge is enough to get customers to buy a vehicle. If we said luxury vehicle many customers would think Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes or BMW and if we said safety lots of our customers would say Volvo or more recently Honda. The average new car buyer is usually making the second largest purchase (after buying a house) they are ever likely to make, so it makes sense they will take their time, consult friends, do their research by searching the internet and reading car magazines in order to help form their opinion and car manufacturers understand this process and many of them ensure they position their vehicles with this holistic customer approach in mind.
Performance, Reliability & Efficiency
At the point a customer is looking at a particular vehicle they will always review the performance and efficiency data on the manufacturer website. Another very good source of reliability information is the JD Power website as this provides a summary of owner’s experiences and covers everything from vehicle performance, driving experience, features, controls, and engine, transmission, infotainment and navigation systems.
New Car Colour
It is fair to say one of the benefits of buying a new car is that you have freedom of choice over the exterior colour, although many car manufacturers will usually advertise the vehicle in the best looking colour in order to get customers excited and interested in their new vehicle. As a general rule you need a contrast so dark exterior/light interior and light exterior/dark interior work best and lighter cars such as silver are good for long term ownership as they always look clean and don’t show the scuff’s scratches and marks that darker colours tend to and this is why just about every hire car in the country is silver or grey. We can often tell you the top three colours a vehicle is selling in as a clear pattern usually develops during the sales lifecycle of a vehicle so please ask as this does change from model to model. It is hilarious how each manufacturer has to add a positive or descriptive word to their vehicle colours so black becomes panther black or red becomes soul red.
Vehicle Safety
We all want to be safe in our cars and manufacturers are developing and improving vehicle safety systems all the time, in the last ten years vehicle safety options have moved on from ABS and Traction Control and now focus far more on driver safety with collision mitigation or active safety systems available on most vehicles. There is the Blind Spot Information system, the active City Stop, lane departure warning system and Honda have the outstanding collision mitigation system which uses radar to sense if an accident is likely to happen and starts adjusting your seatbelt to anticipate the impact.
Summary
It is clear that car buying customers are doing more online research and as a result are better informed so the choices they make are practical, logical and personal to their own requirements and circumstances. The buying process often starts with on line research and then a visit to a franchise dealer to have a look at the vehicle before coming to uk car discount to order the vehicle.