Prestige carmaker websites lead the way for dealer referrals

Buyers of prestige brand cars are the most likely to find the dealer they purchase from by visiting the carmaker’s website first, according to new consumer research from JudgeService.

The JudgeService Industry Report September 2021, which polled the views of 73,778 car buyers, identifies the online role played by each car brand in appealing to the loyalty of existing customers and the aspirations of new ones.

Prestige brand websites were the strongest performers, especially the German marques, led by Audi with 12.8% of its customers saying they visited the brand’s website first before being referred to one of its dealers.

Other upmarket brands in the top 10 included second placed BMW (12%) followed by MINI (11.4%), Volkswagen (10.9%), Volvo (9.5%), Mercedes-Benz (8.9.%) and Jaguar (8%).

“Our research reveals buyers of prestige brand cars are the most likely to choose the badge before finding the car itself,” said Neil Addley, managing director of JudgeService.

“For them brand equity or loyalty are vital considerations. They may aspire to own one of the brand’s cars, currently own one, or they’ve had a good experience in the past and therefore associate it with good product quality. Consequently, for many of these buyers the dealership they purchase from is almost a secondary consideration.”

Carmaker websites were less important for customers of volume brands, with Ford, the UK’s biggest seller of new and used cars, first online port of call for only 4.4% of its buyers.

“Volume brand dealers have much less traffic coming from manufacturer websites as it’s likely their customers had little existing brand preference before they found the car they wanted to purchase.

“These buyers are more likely to settle for a good value car with the features they require, rather than sticking to a brand they know or opting for a brand with a perceived status,” said Addley.

“Our advice to all dealers, even those representing prestige brands, is not to depend on the websites run by their manufacturer partners. Nearly a third (31%) of all buyers said they found the car they eventually bought on a website, highlighting the importance of online marketplaces, while over a quarter (26%) had bought after first visiting dealer websites,” he said.

ENDS

Further details and comments available from Neil Addley on 07795 665927 or neil@judgeservice.com

About the JudgeService Industry Report September 2021 The data in this report is based on results from JudgeService’s ReAct Used Car survey which has been running since January 2016. The total number of surveys completed for data regarding trends since 2016 is 606,937. For figures concerning only 2021, 73,778 customers completed these surveys between 1 January and 31 July.

About JudgeService

Launched in 2011 by Neil Addley, JudgeService is the UK’s only customer review platform developed exclusively for the car retailing sector. By ensuring all reviews are verified and genuine, JudgeService builds a solid foundation of trust and respect between customers and sellers enabling car retailers to actively manage their online reputations.

JudgeService shares granular insight reports with dealers to help them identify opportunities to improve customer satisfaction levels, with many achieving 100% recommendation scores. Based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, JudgeService has published over 1 million customer reviews and is used by over 1,000 franchised, independent and car supermarket sites across the UK.

Issued by Curtis Hutchinson Communications

Did you find this post insightful? Subscribe to our newsletter to be updated when we upload new content!