carsales has today announced a new advertising solution for car finance where dealers can promote weekly car finance estimates directly to consumers on the cars they are researching and buying.
Dubbed ‘carsales Finance Extension’, the new product enhances the visibility of dealer finance offers and is a direct result of car buyers’ needs for convenient, clear finance options.
carsales Finance Extension provides dealers with the ability to engage with consumers via weekly finance estimates attached to new, demo and used inventory published for sale on carsales.com.au.
With the introduction of more flexible payment methods and an abundance of credit options available, car finance has been a hot topic in recent years.
A recent study conducted by carsales found that consumers are researching finance longer and choosing their finance solutions earlier than ever before. They are also undertaking more research to understand the merits of various car finance offers, determine their budgets and assess eligibility.
Consumers that purchased cars within the past year were 12x more likely to spend three months or longer researching their finance options, compared to consumers that purchased between 12-24 months ago.¹
The study showed 45% of consumers cite convenience as the most influential factor on their finance decision1 In addition, 62% of finance consumers say purchases are easier to rationalise if finance payments are expressed as a weekly amount.¹
“carsales Finance Extension puts clear, convenient finance options in front of consumers when they are at all stages of their car-buying journey. Soon they will be able to search for cars to buy on the basis of estimated weekly payments,” said carsales Executive Director – Dealer, Michael Holmes.
“We see this as a win-win. It’s great for consumers and carsales Finance Extension is an important tool for our dealer customers. It allows them to present finance options to car buyers at all stages of their purchasing journey in a format they readily understand,” Holmes commented.
carsales is Australia’s #1 for cars and its Unique Audience (UA) grew 31% year-on-year to 4.56M, significantly outperforming the auto category’s 12% UA growth over the same period.² As a result, carsales’ UA is now 2.3x larger than its nearest competitor.
carsales presented its consumer research study on auto finance at this week’s Australian Automotive Dealer Association Convention and Expo Virtual Event.
