Journey When Purchasing a Car

• Only 32% of car purchasers know exactly what vehicle they will purchase at the beginning of their journey. Many consumers are open to purchasing both new and used cars (40% of new car buyers are open to both options while 55% of used car buyers are open to both options).
• More than half of car purchasers are loyal to brands. Approximately 56% of consumers who have previously purchased a car, purchase a car of the same make again.
• Consumers with children are among those more interested in the monthly payment on a car than the total price of a car.
• Approximately 61% of the time spent purchasing a car, is spent doing online research. Twenty-one percent of the time is spent with the dealership where the consumer will purchase the car.
• Car buyers do their research on third-party sites (78%), the sites of dealerships (53%), and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sites (29%). These car buyers spend 62% of their time on third-party websites and 13% of their time on dealership websites. The time spent on websites differs for new and used car buyers.
• Car buyers usually start and end their research journey on third-party websites (56% and 46% respectively). However, this is slightly different for those purchasing new cars as they start their journey on a third-party website (41%) and end it on the website of the dealership (45%).

Insights Purchasing Behavior New Parents

• First-time parents often use social media to inform their purchasing decisions. They first do their research online and afterward go to a friend or family member for recommendations.
• Millennial parents are those that are currently becoming new parents. They use their smartphones at each step during their purchasing journey and "78 percent use their phones to research products (compared with 58 percent of other parents), 75 percent to check prices or availability (also compared with 58 percent)".
• Millennial parents are more loyal to brands than other parents. "The survey found 49 percent remain loyal to a brand despite cheaper options, compared with 30 percent of other parents. And 52 percent will remain loyal despite more convenient options, compared with 35 percent of other parents, and 64 percent will shop at a brand they are loyal to before looking at a competitor, compared with 54 percent of other parents."

Summary of Findings

• During the initial hour of research, we focused on finding information on the consumer journey of first-time parents purchasing a car.
• During the search, information was found on the consumer journey of car purchasers in general. While it provides interesting insights, it does not zero in on new parents. We were unable to find information specific to this consumer segment in the initial hour.
• Most of the information found, provides advice to new parents on what aspects of cars they should research before purchasing a car.
• To complement the general information found on the car purchasing journey, insights were provided into the purchasing behavior of new parents.
• The consumer journey of new parents buying a house was not researched.