Extra Comfort More Important than Power to New Car Buyers
October 25, 2007
A new survey of car buying habits, by consumer advice and price quote web site BuyingAdvice.com, shows that new car buyers are more likely to spend money on features that will add comfort to their next vehicle rather than power or safety.
In response to a poll conducted by the automotive web site almost half, 43 percent, of new car buyers said they intended to add optional features to their next car purchase.
When asked to identify the most likely area in which they would add options, 46 percent of respondents said they are most likely to add comfort and convenience features.
That is almost twice as many as chose safety equipment, 23 percent, which was the second most popular area beating out performance, 20 percent, and external looks, 10 percent.
Forty-five percent of the sample said that they expected to add dealer or manufacturer options at the time of purchase. Overall, only 40 percent of respondents expected the options to add value to their new vehicle.
"Our survey shows clearly that even in today’s tight economy buyers are willing to spend extra to add comfort to their vehicles," said BuyingAdvice spokes person Colleen Mylott.
"It was also interesting to see the margin by which comfort features were favored over performance and safety options. Although, more and more safety features are becoming standard with each model year" she added.
The survey was taken among 1737 users of the BuyingAdvice.com web site. They all stated they were within 30 days of making a new car purchase and were drawn from the 50,000 consumers who request new car price quotes from the web site each month.
The study was the latest in a series of surveys being taken by the consumer advice and price quote web site that provides one of the most current and comprehensive pictures of the buying habits of online car buyers.
