Despite Unusual Market, Customers Say Car Buying Is Easier

Vehicle inventories are down. Prices are up. It’s a seller’s market. Yet, 82% of respondents to a CDK Global survey described car buying as relatively easy.   

"That surprised me," Peter Kahn, senior director-research, CDK Global, tells Wards.

The company’s new "Ease of Purchase Scorecard" takes a monthly look at consumers’ attitudes toward purchasing vehicles.

The report, which launched in August, is compiled from responses received by more than 1,000 U.S. consumers surveyed on topics including vehicle availability, ease of finding vehicles of choice and whether the shopping process took longer or shorter than expected.

Shoppers struggle to find a vehicle of choice because shortages of parts – particularly semiconductor microchips – have cut auto production, leading to thinned-out dealer inventories.

Conventional wisdom might indicate the inventory dearth makes it tough on car buyers. But only 12% of people polled in September described the purchase process as hard.

How is that possible?

Peter Kahn_0

"Shoppers, interestingly enough, are getting used to a new world," Kahn says.

Demand surpassing supply puts consumers in a weak spot for negotiating car prices. Sometimes there is no negotiation. Some consumers are paying more than MSRP for vehicles they want, a transaction rarity.

But whatever sticker dickering remains seems palatable to most customers. Findings included 58% of respondents found negotiating easy. Only 15% called it hard. There remaining 27% had no opinion on the question.

Similarly, when it comes to agreeing on a trade-in value – often cited in previous surveys as a customer pain point – 53% of respondents say it was easy, 27% were neutral and 10% said it was hard. The rest of the people polled didn’t do a trade-in.

The greater use in recent years of third-party trade-in valuations often is credited with eliminating or at least narrowing the differences between what customers and dealers think a trade-in is worth.

Kahn cites another factor that can lubricate the rails of the trade-in transaction: "Dealers are paying pretty high prices for trade-ins right now. It’s often more money than the customer expected."   

How long it takes to buy a vehicle is another perennial pain point often seen in customer satisfaction surveys.  

That time period remains an issue, CDK polling suggests. Forty-five percent of respondents say it took longer than expected, 40% report the time was what they expected and 16% report it took less time than anticipated.

Kahn says a previous survey indicates that the time customers perceive they spent at a dealership is more than what dealers perceive.

 Digital retailing now plays a significant part in auto purchases "Dealers have really adapted to digital technology," says Kahn. "More and more of them are looking at the best way to leverage it."

Still, professional in-store salespeople who show strong product knowledge and value the customers’ time remain indispensable.

"A good car salesperson thoroughly answers customer questions and builds trust," Kahn says. "It’s become more of a customer-experience job."