More consumers are ready to ‘Buy Now’, carsales’ latest consumer sentiment survey confirms
Australian new car buyers are ready to transact out of lockdowns, with one out of four car buyers ready to buy immediately¹. That’s according to carsales’ latest consumer sentiment survey of car buyers conducted in October.
The carsales Buyer Sentiment COVID survey – which has been run by carsales’ in-house Customer Advocacy and Research team since COVID took hold in early-2020 – asks in-market consumers how they approach researching and purchasing vehicles during the pandemic.
“Regular check-ins with consumers have been vital. It’s helped us understand how they feel about vehicle purchasing and how their hopes and concerns have evolved,” said Deborah Heaphy, carsales GM of Customer Advocacy and Research.
“With key eastern states emerging from lockdown in October, we wanted to capture sentiment as restrictions were eased,” Heaphy said.
While August’s survey was conducted in the midst of severe eastern-state lockdowns, the present findings were recorded in mid-October as New South Wales emerged out of lockdown. Victorians also had reason to be buoyant with lockdowns announced to end at 11.59pm October 21 – the day this survey closed.
Immediate purchase, please
Nation-wide consumer demand to purchase a new vehicle in October sat at 26 per cent¹, one per cent higher than the August survey². Significantly it was the COVID-restricted states that led this charge, recording 29 per cent (NSW) and 32 per cent (VIC)¹.
Pushing the purchase timeframe out to a month covered 58 per cent of respondents’ intentions, indicating that dealers with strong inventory management have ready buyers for quality stock.
Our latest carsales webinar, titled ‘Supercharge Your Supply Chain’ offers insight onto inventory best practice to ensure you have vehicles ready to supply this demand.
Affordability is biggest hurdle
While August’s results showed lockdown travel restrictions were the highest concern around the purchase process², October shows that affordability is now the biggest purchase hurdle.¹
Affordability concerns hit 18 per cent; the highest figure since surveying commenced in March 2020. The travel limitation fell from 19 per cent to 14 per cent, while those reporting that COVID has had no impact on their purchase decision increased from 24 to 26 per cent over August figures.¹ ²
carsales offers its dealer partners a range of finance options that simplify the consumer’s purchase process, including Finance Extension.
Western Australian respondents clearly stood out when asked about their COVID concerns, with 52 per cent saying they have ‘no concerns’.¹
In contrast Victorians recorded just 18 per cent with ‘no concerns’, the lowest of all states.¹
The greatest concern for lockdown-emerging Victorians remained the ‘logistics of taking a test drive’, with 21 per cent of respondents affirming this statement.¹
Just a (research) phase
While 35 per cent of participants indicated they had just commenced their new car search, 27 per cent stated they had been researching for over two months.¹
This may point to those holding off a purchase decision until there is more clarity around COVID, although a look at the most severely impacted states suggests this isn’t the case.
One-third of New South Wales respondents confirmed their research journey had just commenced, with 27 per cent (the national average) over two months into the phase.¹
In Victoria, 34 per cent have just commenced; 26 per cent had been looking beyond two months.¹
While 45 per cent indicate they are ‘still deciding’ what car they want, 29 per cent haven’t found a vehicle in the right price bracket, further enforcing the affordability constraint previously mentioned.¹
Supply is also emerging as an issue with 22 per cent of new car intenders identifying they haven’t purchased due to not having available stock of their chosen vehicle.¹
October’s results show 50 per cent of buyers are not prepared to wait over a month for their chosen new vehicle to become available.¹ This is unchanged from August and indicates continued impatience among consumers. To ensure you can fulfil this customer pain point, check out our latest stock acquisition tips.
Trade talk
Of the vehicle purchase intenders surveyed, 61 per cent indicated they have not yet sold their current vehicle while they research a replacement.¹
When it comes to the selling process, 42 per cent of participants stated they would sell privately, with 33 per cent indicating dealer trade-in as their preference.¹
But when the conversation moved to those who have sold, 55 per cent ended up selling privately, with only 10 per cent going the dealer trade in route.¹
Of those that used the dealer trade-in facility, 78 per cent¹ said they were satisfied with the process with verbatims including:
“Good service and easy discussion with the dealer.”
“Easy (process) but not as much value.”
This last point resonates with the broader sample when asked about the advantages of dealer trade in, with 46 per cent agreeing it’s the most convenient selling method available.¹
¹carsales Buyer Sentiment Survey COVID Wave #9, October 2021 (n= 1562 completed surveys)
²carsales Buyer Sentiment Survey COVID Wave #8, August 2021 (n= 1695 completed surveys)
